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Post subject: Re: Help with troubleshooting a '68 Custom Princeton Reverb
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2015 2:26 pm
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stevieraygovan wrote:
strings10927, the tubes aren't the problem here. It's something in the chassis. Besides, about all I've ever owned are tube amps, 99% of which were as reliable as the few SS amps I've had. None of my other Fenders, Mesas, Marshalls, Carvins, Traynors or Victorias ever gave me a lick of trouble. My Bogner crapped out on me, but the issue wasn't tube-related.

I expect to be able to count on my tube amps. Will tubes ever fail? Sure, and they're easily replaced. I don't expect the rest of the amp to consistently malfunction, though, tube amp or otherwise. In my experience, the problems I'm having with these '68s right out of the box are a decided anomaly, not the rule.



+1 The only tube amp I've ever had a problem and I've had plenty in my 40+ years of playing guitar, with was my POS Hot Rod Deluxe. Good riddance to that one. I never have taken any amp out of the store in a box, ever. I need to try it out before I take it home.

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Post subject: Re: Help with troubleshooting a '68 Custom Princeton Reverb
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2015 3:42 pm
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If it's a new amp, it's unlikely that its a bad component. If you can affect it by banging on it, its a connection problem. Since it's new, It 's probably the lead free ROHS solder that the factories all have to use now. Thank you EU. It bonds poorly to the pads. It makes a perfect looking joint that just isn't stuck to anything but the lead. I've watched all the solder on a PCB pad run right up my soldering iron, revealing no wetting had occured on the pad.
This stuff needs more heat and a more active flux to stick properly. The only reliable fix is to resolder the entire amp. Heating up the joints with a little paste flux will also do the job. Be sure to clean it off with solvent as that stuff is conductive and can cause it's own problems.
A factory will run off 50 to 100 boards per run on their big wave solder machines at a time. If the operator doesn't get the boards clean enough or not preheated of if the solder isn't hot enough or if he runs the boards through too fast, the whole batch could suffer from early failures. There is no way they can detect it until their warranty returns include a lot of serial numbers from the same batch.
The Princeton is a great little amp. The Silverface had a lot more bass than the old blackfaces. The RI probably is closer to the BF in bass response, but probably has a hotter gain than either of the old ones.
If you have a ROHS soldered amp and ever need to open it up, figure the the best way to a reliable amp is to resolder the whole thing. Then the joints will be more reliable than the old solder because the lead free stuff is mechanically stronger and won't burn or break as easily. If you can just get it to stick....


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Post subject: Re: Help with troubleshooting a '68 Custom Princeton Reverb
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2015 3:52 pm
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63supro wrote:
+1 The only tube amp I've ever had a problem and I've had plenty in my 40+ years of playing guitar, with was my POS Hot Rod Deluxe. Good riddance to that one. I never have taken any amp out of the store in a box, ever. I need to try it out before I take it home.


What he () said!

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Help with troubleshooting a '68 Custom Princeton Reverb
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2015 4:52 pm
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63supro wrote:
stevieraygovan wrote:
strings10927, the tubes aren't the problem here. It's something in the chassis. Besides, about all I've ever owned are tube amps, 99% of which were as reliable as the few SS amps I've had. None of my other Fenders, Mesas, Marshalls, Carvins, Traynors or Victorias ever gave me a lick of trouble. My Bogner crapped out on me, but the issue wasn't tube-related.

I expect to be able to count on my tube amps. Will tubes ever fail? Sure, and they're easily replaced. I don't expect the rest of the amp to consistently malfunction, though, tube amp or otherwise. In my experience, the problems I'm having with these '68s right out of the box are a decided anomaly, not the rule.


+1 The only tube amp I've ever had a problem and I've had plenty in my 40+ years of playing guitar, with was my POS Hot Rod Deluxe. Good riddance to that one. I never have taken any amp out of the store in a box, ever. I need to try it out before I take it home.


I'm guessing you never had an a-hole drummer smack into one of your tubes and shatter it then (for example). That's more the kind of mishap I'm referring to.

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Post subject: Re: Help with troubleshooting a '68 Custom Princeton Reverb
Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 12:45 am
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stevieraygovan wrote:
Just got this amp, brand new. It's bone stock, and here are its problems...

Simply bringing the amp to a music store today was enough to induce the loud static sound. It's very unstable. Again, though, even when it's working at its best it still gives off the chassis buzzing and the metallic-sounding ghost notes.

Playing my amp alongside an identical new one in the store, their amp was dead silent. Turning it up to 10 allowed for a normal amount of white noise hissing, but there was zero humming. It was a commendably quiet amp. Mine gave off a noticeable hum, in addition to the chassis buzzing.

Any ideas?



It's brand new - should have left it at the store and brought the good one home.


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Post subject: Re: Help with troubleshooting a '68 Custom Princeton Reverb
Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 5:27 am
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strings10927 wrote:
63supro wrote:
stevieraygovan wrote:
strings10927, the tubes aren't the problem here. It's something in the chassis. Besides, about all I've ever owned are tube amps, 99% of which were as reliable as the few SS amps I've had. None of my other Fenders, Mesas, Marshalls, Carvins, Traynors or Victorias ever gave me a lick of trouble. My Bogner crapped out on me, but the issue wasn't tube-related.

I expect to be able to count on my tube amps. Will tubes ever fail? Sure, and they're easily replaced. I don't expect the rest of the amp to consistently malfunction, though, tube amp or otherwise. In my experience, the problems I'm having with these '68s right out of the box are a decided anomaly, not the rule.


+1 The only tube amp I've ever had a problem and I've had plenty in my 40+ years of playing guitar, with was my POS Hot Rod Deluxe. Good riddance to that one. I never have taken any amp out of the store in a box, ever. I need to try it out before I take it home.


I'm guessing you never had an a-hole drummer smack into one of your tubes and shatter it then (for example). That's more the kind of mishap I'm referring to.



Your kidding right? No I didn't. I've played everything from festivals, auditoriums, large clubs and neighborhood dives for over 40 years and never had a tube shattered by anyone. Maybe you should stop playing with a$$holes drummers. :lol:

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Last edited by 63supro on Fri Mar 20, 2015 6:34 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: Help with troubleshooting a '68 Custom Princeton Reverb
Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 6:33 am
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63supro wrote:
Maybe you should stop playing with a$$holes drummers. :lol:

if I can ever locate a drummer who isn't I surely will! :P :lol:

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Post subject: Re: Help with troubleshooting a '68 Custom Princeton Reverb
Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 7:00 am
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strings10927 wrote:
63supro wrote:
Maybe you should stop playing with a$$holes drummers. :lol:

if I can ever locate a drummer who isn't I surely will! :P :lol:



I know plenty of them who aren't. They're called Professionals. :wink:

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Post subject: Re: Help with troubleshooting a '68 Custom Princeton Reverb
Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 3:08 pm
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strings10927 wrote:
63supro wrote:
stevieraygovan wrote:
strings10927, the tubes aren't the problem here. It's something in the chassis. Besides, about all I've ever owned are tube amps, 99% of which were as reliable as the few SS amps I've had. None of my other Fenders, Mesas, Marshalls, Carvins, Traynors or Victorias ever gave me a lick of trouble. My Bogner crapped out on me, but the issue wasn't tube-related.

I expect to be able to count on my tube amps. Will tubes ever fail? Sure, and they're easily replaced. I don't expect the rest of the amp to consistently malfunction, though, tube amp or otherwise. In my experience, the problems I'm having with these '68s right out of the box are a decided anomaly, not the rule.

+1 The only tube amp I've ever had a problem and I've had plenty in my 40+ years of playing guitar, with was my POS Hot Rod Deluxe. Good riddance to that one. I never have taken any amp out of the store in a box, ever. I need to try it out before I take it home.

I'm guessing you never had an a-hole drummer smack into one of your tubes and shatter it then (for example). That's more the kind of mishap I'm referring to.

You're guessing correctly!

:lol:

Which reminds me, you're not Guthrie Govan, are you?

See...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE9ferjyZ1k


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Post subject: Re: Help with troubleshooting a '68 Custom Princeton Reverb
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 12:44 am
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Buy mine. Absolutely no issue. But not on sale :D
Just to say that you can find a good one.

And i bought it because i was fed up fixing my HRDX!


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Post subject: Re: Help with troubleshooting a '68 Custom Princeton Reverb
Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2015 12:02 am
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I just bought and returned 2 these. The first rattled bad above 4, not the tubes. And the second rattled as well while the reverb was hissing. I was very disappointed really liked the tone. Never would have thought I'd get so unlucky 2x. Bummer


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Post subject: Re: Help with troubleshooting a '68 Custom Princeton Reverb
Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2015 12:49 pm
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The replacement '68 CPR that Sweetwater sent me is flawless. The cosmetics are perfect. Everything is tight and straight. No burnt bulbs, blown fuses, or dead tubes. No excessive hissing. No humming. No chassis buzzing. No glassy-sounding ghost notes. The reverb and trem work. The footswitch works.

Everything works correctly. Finally. Hopefully this will remain the case after I swap out the stock speaker for a Warehouse ET-10. With the last '68 CPR that hummed so badly (in addition to its other issues), the louder, thumpier ET-10 only exacerbated the chassis-buzzing problem.

I'm going to wait a week or two before doing the speaker swap. I want to give this new amp plenty of time to screw up. Also, I want to establish a solid performance-baseline so I'll know exactly which changes occurred, if any, upon swapping the speakers.


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Post subject: Re: Help with troubleshooting a '68 Custom Princeton Reverb
Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2015 2:12 pm
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stevieraygovan wrote:
The replacement '68 CPR that Sweetwater sent me is flawless. The cosmetics are perfect. Everything is tight and straight. No burnt bulbs, blown fuses, or dead tubes. No excessive hissing. No humming. No chassis buzzing. No glassy-sounding ghost notes. The reverb and trem work. The footswitch works.

Everything works correctly. Finally. Hopefully this will remain the case after I swap out the stock speaker for a Warehouse ET-10. With the last '68 CPR that hummed so badly (in addition to its other issues), the louder, thumpier ET-10 only exacerbated the chassis-buzzing problem.

I'm going to wait a week or two before doing the speaker swap. I want to give this new amp plenty of time to screw up. Also, I want to establish a solid performance-baseline so I'll know exactly which changes occurred, if any, upon swapping the speakers.


I hope it works out for you. Caution would be a great idea. I'd push the snot out of it and ring it out good while it can still be returned if need be. :wink:

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Post subject: Re: Help with troubleshooting a '68 Custom Princeton Reverb
Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2015 2:32 pm
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63supro wrote:
I'd push the snot out of it and ring it out good while it can still be returned if need be. :wink:


+1!

Beat it like a rented mule. If no problems develop after a week or two, you got a good one.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Help with troubleshooting a '68 Custom Princeton Reverb
Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 5:44 pm
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63supro wrote:
strings10927 wrote:
I'm guessing you never had an a-hole drummer smack into one of your tubes and shatter it then (for example). That's more the kind of mishap I'm referring to.
Your kidding right? No I didn't. I've played everything from festivals, auditoriums, large clubs and neighborhood dives for over 40 years and never had a tube shattered by anyone. Maybe you should stop playing with a$$holes drummers. :lol:

Boy this is funny timing! Check this thread out regarding such a mishap I had on Monday this week :arrow: Link

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