1988 Fender Princeton Chorus (Red Knobs!) - Teardown, Input Jack Replacement & Sound Test
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- Опубликовано: 20 окт 2024
- I stopped using this amp a few years ago, now it's time to fix it and put it back to work!
Amp details:
As per title, it's a 1988 Fender Princeton Chorus solid state amp, red knobs edition (USA made).
It has 2x 10" 25W Jensen speakers for a total rms power of 50W (125W peak).
Tipical bright and clear Fender sound with built in Chorus effect, a very interesting and effective combination.
The overdrive channel not only has gain and volume controls, it also has limiter and presence knobs and a mid boost button, however as you can hear at 15:29, the overdrive sound isnt all that great. For this reason I usually prefer to stick to the clean channel and use an overdrive pedal when needed.
This amp has a 2 way footswitch (channel slection and chorus), mine is strapped in the back, you can kinda see it at 1:14
Let me know in the comments if you need any additional info!
I have this amp, The 1980 Fender Princeton Chorus Red Knob (Made In U.S.A), I found it, someone was throwing it away. After I cleaned it up, I tried it and the sound was Spectacular!
Came here to see how to remove the chassis, stayed for the whole thing. Great little amp that money can still buy. I just had my tolex reconditioned (Music Nomad conditioner) about to clean up the pots and replace the power cord (mine is missing the ground prong). I've owned 2 of these prior to purchasing my current one. It's a great solid state amp with a beautiful tone, quiet enough to play at night in the bedroom, but is also loud enough to play in small bars. Beautiful chorus and spring reverb!
Literally have to replace the exact same input. Probably would have ended up working it out myself eventually, but thanks for taking the guesswork out. Invaluable. Thanks.
I just got one with the same input broke...this was really informative...and makes me appreciate I have NO business with doing the job...and my tech guy deserves what he asks for it...I,m happy with the $125.00 I paid for the amp which sounds different ( but good) from my Fender tube amps for sure! Thanks.
Hi my friend, it is ironic that I have an amp like yours. Not sure of the age. I got it from a friend many years ago for seventy dollars because it makes a humming noise sometimes. I used it in a garage band to become a regular lead and picking maniac among my fellow musicians, considering that before I had only be known as an acoustic song writing guy. Lol. I have always used the second input jack. I know that the first Jack is broken. While I've sense used a line six flextone two, with lots of volume and effects it's not a fender. My Prinston has remained in the closet. By seeing how you repaired yours, I hope to repair mine the same way. So glad to see your disassembly process. I will let you know how I fair with my repair. Word up, I have and use a Fender pro 100 accoustic amp that I love. It has two identical channels with some basic effects on each channel. But the killer parts is that I can use one of the lxr plugs in the back to plug into the ps system. I can play my strat or accoustic electric takamini thru it with some variations of halls effect and it sounds killer. If you have a chance you should try one. The sound is best coming thru the pa. Of course we have an all Bluetooth controlled pa and powered speakers. Thank so much for getting me excited about fixing my old clunker that I love. ☮️.
This is exactly the job I need to do. Awesome 👏🏾!!
Good memories. Played that amp coupled up with an old Ibanez TS9 and a Dunlop wah. Sounded awesome with it's open sound and the effective chorus. The guitar was a headless Washburn Bantam.
Just bought one used today with the same issue on the clean channel (CH1). Thanks for the video. This will make it easy, and found the genuine Fender parts inexpensive and will be here in just a few days.
So I am going to tear it down, clean the pots, clean all the other input & output jacks, and replace the CH1 and CH2 input jacks for my niece for a Christmas present.
It was a pretty sweet deal for a Fender Amp that I think does a fair job of creating a classic overdrive. IMO, it did not sound good, because your clean settings cannot be the same, and usually Fender amps are bright and sparkly, and are meant for single coils like the Strat and Tele. So if you have an HSS, or an HH, try this: Treble @ 6, Mids @ 5, Bass @ 8, Gain @ 4, Limiter @ 8, Presence @ -1, Reverb @ 0 (to start), and Chorus OFF. I ran my PRS Custom 24 Core 35th Anniversary on humbuckers, and then split the coils for the clean channel. I rolled up the Reverb to match the room I was playing in (ending up at a 3), and then plugged in a set of Shure 840A Professional Monitoring Headphones to see how it sounded. It cleaned up well with the guitar volume rolled off for a nice warm crunch.
So I slammed a TB-2W Tone Bender Fuzz in the pre-amp, and a DD-6 Digital Delay in the FX loop.
I m convinced it an inexpensive, versatile, low maintenance practice guitar amp for someone just learning to play for a couple years now (niece), especially with a headphone jack so it doesn't bother the parents.
Thank you so much for posting this! I have this same amp and I need to replace a pot or two on it.
Just got one real cheap online.. should be here in a week or so. I like the sounds you got here so know its good.. cant wait :)
Francesco, thanks a lot for this maintainance video.
A buddy gave me one of these havnt tinkered with it yet
hey, im thinking of buying a princenton chorus because roland amps are expensive as hell .
Have u tried this one with dirt pedals like big muff, RAT or Blues Driver? Does it take them well?
I use mine with a Tube Screamer all the time and it sounds really good!
Yep, threw a tube screamer in front of mine as well, sounds great. What a great amp for the money, great sounds plus made in the USA.
I bought mine for it’s clean tone, I could care less if the dirt channel is there or not
I thought the same thing but experimented with the dirty channel. Put a tubescreamer in front, make adjustments now it sounds killer.
I just picked one up for $45...red knob from '92, everything works properly but someone spray painted the top & sides w gang graffiti, pot leafs..lol. I just spray painted over w a gloss black, came out great. Pots need cleaned and most the red knobs are missing, ordered a set of the standard fender knobs. Anyone ever do a speaker swap ?...speaker suggestion ?
Nice. This Amp is enough to play on stage ? Does it cover the sound of a drummer in reharsal ? Thank you
Hi, I used it on several small gigs with and without drummer. It was fine indoor but I really had to krank the volume up for outdoor use and it still was a bit lacking.
That's a lot of work to replace a single input/output Jack. I wish they were all hand wired.
Oh and the one I found also has the foot switch and 2 original cables which are very rare
Why can't you upgrade the jacks to standard cts good ones instead of those closed plastic box ones?
It would definitely be possible, but I preferred to keep it original.
what is the part number on that jack
I will buy this amp tomorrow;another one ofc...,i wnatto use it with my Boss gt 100;so can i get it into the amp-stereo-?,btw;in your video the sound ist nice,thx.
I would sell you mine.
@@theugliestamerican got one,thx!
How was the amp with the GT-100? Did you plug into the amps input or to the power amp in?
after he says it sounds fake, the rest of it sounds pretty great. tweak the eq a bit and you're good
wait tho, are the speakers good enough? always wondered if people like these speakers
Great job. I am spoiled by my temp controlled soldering pen and automatic desoldering, gun. Clean solder. If I am using your equipment it would not be as nice.
what is the part number on that jack? amd where to buy? i am Dutch
Part number is 0990913000, it is readily available in EU from Amazon and other online retailers, I bought it on Ebay from a german seller.
@@francescodipietro166 Many thanks!!!
@@francescodipietro166 many thanks, but i have a question? first channel 1 did nothing, so i take a part for a good ceaning. after de cleaning channel 1 is now making omly a noise sound, better than before ! so there is action? on the mother bord is everything (?) oke no cracking or what ever, what is the cause of that ? only noise now! the said most of the time iit is the conecting on the MO. but i think it is the input jack
@@robertjansen5504 could be the input jack itself or another problem with the board, you should try following the signal path with a multimeter in continuity mode.
Sounds fake?? Depends on how you dial it in and the type of guitar and your playing ability.
As I mentioned in the video, the clean channel is fantastic and the chorus effect is a nice add-on, but the overdrive channel is kinda crappy.
To achieve a better dirty sound I use an overdrive pedal on the clean channel with great results and that's what I advise you to do.
You'll definitely hear the difference regardless of hou you dial the amp.
Francesco Di Pietro that is what I do I use a Roland (boss) overdrive pedal
Francesco Di Pietro this amp is mainly made for clean sound though so the overdrive is already extra
By foot switch I mean the original 1980 one
These are good amps and the red-knobs get a bad rap in my humble opinion. Seems like gear snobs love to talk bad about these amps. But value is in the ear of the beholder. I think vintage Fender Champs are over-rated in my humble opinion.
Forget it
Great video. Just don’t use flux ever. It will degenerate your soldering in time.
Thanks! But I use this cheap no-brand flux since 2006 and never had any issue over time. My old solder joints still look good and shiny after all these years.
Also most solder wires already contain a bit of flux so it'almost impossible not to use it ;)
Don't blame the amp because you're too scared to turn the gain up. It sounds fake because you don't know how to dial it in. Work on that.
Don't know if you ever tried this amp, but the more you turn up the gain on the overdrive channel, the faker it sounds!
@@francescodipietro166 No, I've owned this amp for about 18 years now and I've owned its big brother, the M80 Chorus 100w head since 1990. Similar circuitry but, way louder and I never had an issue dialing in an 80's, Boston-style distortion on either of them. You obviously don't really like distortion and that's ok just don't do the "it sounds like crap" thing when if you really wanted a good distortion sound you'd be able to find it.
@@73challenger5031I had one when it was new and I thought the distortion was very “creamy” and the limiter was a great addition…yes m80 chorus and an ultimate chorus as well
@@francescodipietro166 Have to agree with you here. I have had this amp for 5 years now. I try the overdrive channel every so often and it reminds me how bad it is. Only use pedals for this one. Which is fine with me, the clean is so good I don't mind.