Princeton Reverb 68 Custom hand-wired to blackface WITH AUDIO

Rich210

Congrats! I've been following this with interest. Great to see it complete

Keefy

I have now recorded a short solo sound clip.

Fender MIM Tele Deluxe - neck pickup (Creamery WRHB)
Princeton Reverb - Volume 2.5 / Treble 7 / Bass 8 / Reverb 4.5
SM57 > Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 > Reaper

ICBM

Keefy said:

To be pedantic, you've got the fuseholder connected the wrong way round. The incoming live connection should go to the inner end, not the side ring - this is so that you can't give yourself a shock if you change the fuse while the amp is live, and the inner end of the fuse touches the side contact while you're holding the other end. I think it should be possible to turn the holder round the other way if the wires won't reach.

Keefy

ICBM said:

Keefy said:

To be pedantic, you've got the fuseholder connected the wrong way round. The incoming live connection should go to the inner end, not the side ring - this is so that you can't give yourself a shock if you change the fuse while the amp is live, and the inner end of the fuse touches the side contact while you're holding the other end. I think it should be possible to turn the holder round the other way if the wires won't reach.

I did wonder about that. I have some changes to make to the tremolo circuit so I’ll change that round when I pull the chassis.

Thanks as ever @ICBM !

vanlooy1

Sounds lush!

Keefy

vanlooy1 said:

Sounds lush!

Cheers! Sounds even better 'in the room'.

bencowling81

That sounds lovely and nice playing too btw

BahHumbug

Chimey!  Nice.

Keefy

bencowling81 said:

That sounds lovely and nice playing too btw

BahHumbug said:

Chimey!  Nice.

Thanks fellas!

strat84

That sounds really nice! Great playing, great work as well

Jimbro66

Keefy said:

I have now recorded a short solo sound clip.

Fender MIM Tele Deluxe - neck pickup (Creamery WRHB)
Princeton Reverb - Volume 2.5 / Treble 7 / Bass 8 / Reverb 4.5
SM57 > Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 > Reaper

The combination of rebuilt amp and Creamery pickup sounds excellent in that sound sample. There’s a chime and airiness to the sound that is very appealing and quite far removed from the standard Princeton reissues. Very nice work in the build too. Thanks for sharing.

Keefy

strat84 said:

That sounds really nice! Great playing, great work as well

Jimbro66 said:

Keefy said:

I have now recorded a short solo sound clip.

Fender MIM Tele Deluxe - neck pickup (Creamery WRHB)
Princeton Reverb - Volume 2.5 / Treble 7 / Bass 8 / Reverb 4.5
SM57 > Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 > Reaper

The combination of rebuilt amp and Creamery pickup sounds excellent in that sound sample. There’s a chime and airiness to the sound that is very appealing and quite far removed from the standard Princeton reissues. Very nice work in the build too. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you both. The rebuilt amp has much more clarity than before. I've never heard so much sweet top end from a neck humbucker.

It occurred to me that both the amp and the guitar are Mexican-made Fenders that have been treated to worthwhile upgrades, confirming this as a valid route to acquiring top-class kit for not too much money. 

Keefy

I have now tweaked the tremolo circuit for more depth. The maximum speed is faster than I'm ever likely to want, but none of the settings that I will use are at the extremes of the controls' operation, so that's all good. While I was in there I corrected the wiring of the mains fuse. As @ICBM suggested, it was easy enough to rotate the fuse holder through 180 degrees.

I've just been playing my Strat through the amp, and it now sounds and feels like a 'real' Fender amp rather than a generic valve amp put out under the Fender brand. There is so much more clarity compared to the PCB version, which always sounded a bit 'veiled'. The background noise is so low that I find myself checking whether it's still on. Also the ticking I used to get when engaging tremolo and reverb together is gone.

Wins all round

PhilKing

That's a great outcome.  I had an old blackface Princeton Reverb, which I sold, thinking that I would use my Deluxe Reverb more, but there is something about the sound of the Princeton that is very classic.  It can do everything from spankingly clean to nice harmonic feedback rock.  I'm sure you'll enjoy this with the added satisfaction that you built it.

If I had your skills, I'd rebuild my Princeton II that was damaged in a flood.

Keefy

PhilKing said:

That's a great outcome.  I had an old blackface Princeton Reverb, which I sold, thinking that I would use my Deluxe Reverb more, but there is something about the sound of the Princeton that is very classic.  It can do everything from spankingly clean to nice harmonic feedback rock.  I'm sure you'll enjoy this with the added satisfaction that you built it.

If I had your skills, I'd rebuild my Princeton II that was damaged in a flood.

It’s a great grab-and-go amp. I did gig it once with an acoustic-based 3-piece (no drums) and I’d love to do that gig again with the rebuilt amp.

I forgot to mention that I fitted some new output valves, a pair of TAD Summer of ‘69s - basically Russian NOS metal-base 6V6 equivalents from 1969! They sound great.