1979 Fender Princeton

[beauzooka]

I have an '80 Princeton non-reverb. The circuitry is supposedly the same as the 70's ones. It sounds very good to me - clean and loud. I do have a replacement speaker in there (Jensen Neo 10) that makes it louder than a stock speaker.
The only thing I would change with it is the cab is made of MDF instead of plywood - heavier and less resonant than plywood. I don't know what '79s used for cabs but you may want to check if it's important to you.

[cestlamort]

I'm not sure when they switched to MDF cabs. Way heavier. The plywood cabs can sound better, too, but I think it's a fair trade for how much cheaper the later ones are, especially if you're not hauling it around lots. (Different story for the big amps, though)

[muchxs]

I have an '80 Princeton non-reverb. The circuitry is supposedly the same as the 70's ones. It sounds very good to me - clean and loud. I do have a replacement speaker in there (Jensen Neo 10) that makes it louder than a stock speaker.
The only thing I would change with it is the cab is made of MDF instead of plywood - heavier and less resonant than plywood. I don't know what '79s used for cabs but you may want to check if it's important to you.

I'm not sure when they switched to MDF cabs. Way heavier. The plywood cabs can sound better, too, but I think it's a fair trade for how much cheaper the later ones are, especially if you're not hauling it around lots. (Different story for the big amps, though)

Late 1970s Fender cabinets are chip board or beaverboard, compressed sawdust and glue. Same stuff the pre- 1970 baffles are made of. It's o.k. until it gets wet. Then it wants to return to its original state, sawdust.

It's one more thing that makes me question the adamant insistence on unmodified amps. If the cabinet is crap... change it! It's super easy to put your chassis back into it pristine original cabinet after years of gigging it in a replacement cabinet.

[HNB]

Amp came today and I am a little disappointed. Two of the knobs have broken pieces, some of the metal pieces are more tarnished than I was lead to believe by the pictures, the back tube cover is bowed in, the three prong cable has a weird taped up end, and the speaker has a rip in it that makes a buzzing noise when turned up. It sounds ok, but it is hard to judge with the speaker rip. The tremolo is actually pretty weak sounding. The knobs I can replaced I suppose and the metal parts are just cosmetic as is the back piece. What are your guys thoughts? I paid $850 including shipping. It was described as in "Excellent" condition.

https://reverb.com/item/4080481-fender- ... silverface

20170408_183513 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20170408_183526 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20170408_183542 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20170408_183519 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20170408_183446 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20170408_181858 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

[Ursa Minor]

Ouch!

Not excellent condition if that's how it was described. I'd seen it back if you're not happy with it, or see if you can negotiate some money back to address these issues. The speaker is the big one. Recone is expensive, replacement even more. Low trem intensity just means it needs to be biased properly. But as discussed, also needs a cap job. That will sort sort out those issues most likely.

Not mention a new cord, also can happened during cap job and would have to happened if your were replacing an original 2 prong. Not to mention, who knows if it's got the death cap in there anymore.

Gut shots?

What kind of tubes are in it?

[HNB]

It has JJ tubes in it. I don't want to take it apart for gut shots until I hear back from the seller. I asked him for a partial refund to cover the new speaker, repairing the vibrato, and replacing the ground cable.

I was already going to be paying a really good tech $160 for the capacitor job. This was his comment on the work.

it's impossible to give you an exact estimate without looking at the amp but I would add $40 labor to the job for replacing all the caps if you go with the original style can. The can itself is $50 and I would have to order it, pretty sure there are three small axial caps that are $4 each for the good ones (Atoms). This would all be on top of the $60 basic charge to inspect, clean, tighten, and test the amp.

This guy worked on my Showman and my Champ. His cost is a little higher, but he is a tech a lot of Seattle bands use because he does great work.

How much is reasonable to ask for the vibrato repair, new speaker, and new ground cable? I am pretty sure I won't be able to find the exact same speaker, but having a new speaker would have lowered the selling price of the amp right?

[StevenO]

While definitely not excellent condition, all is not lost. The knobs can probably be replaced for decently cheap (they are the push on kind, not of the set screw variety), the speaker can be fixed by yourself for very cheap with some black/grey tissue paper and diluted Elmer's white glue, the tremolo strength is dictated by the bias level, the tarnished metal can probably be brought back to life with some 0000 grit steel wool and something like maybe Brasso (take the parts off to do this, and keep the steel wool and any particles away from any speaker or pickup magnets), and the back panel can maybe be fixed by placing a slightly damp towel over the exposed/non-Tolex side and then put something flat and heavy on it while it dries.

Everything else is general maintenance. Not too bad!

[HNB]

Seller would only do $50 refund, so I am going to send it back. Too many extra costs. I could buy one that is in better shape for the money I would drop into it.

[HNB]

I guess offering to return for the full refund is the way to go? He is going to refund me $100 to either repair the speaker or buy a new one. I should be able to get the tremolo and power cable fixed when I get the cap can and electro's done.

[StevenO]

Hmm... I guess $750 is an okay deal for a SF Princeton. But, not great IMO. I could see you getting a bit of a better overall package with a Princeton Reverb, that is if you enjoy Reverb, for a little more or around the same.

[HNB]

Just dropped it off to be worked on at Velvetone. He said he can repair the little hole no biggie and will work on the rest of the stuff. One of the electrolytics had actually burst and one resistor so far was toast. He will replace the three prong with one not spliced, new knobs, repair the speaker, new cap can, new electrolytics, bias it, test all the other resistors and such to make sure they are within spec, clean the amp, glue some of the loose tolex, etc. Jeff is really attention and detail oriented so I know he will do a great job getting it all sorted out.

[Ursa Minor]

Not bad considering the refund! I wasn't being as optimistic as Steven. Maybe I was feeling grumpy?!

He's right though, it will clean up well and you'll be back in tip top shape with minimal effort. I guess my earlier thinking was based on feeling like you're not getting what you paid for. But as we all know, old amps will always need a fair amount of work that we have to factor into price.

Hopefully this is back to you soon for your enjoyment! If you're not into that speaker, btw, let me know.

[HNB]

Will do. I thought about buying a Weber to be able to A/B the speakers and keep the one I like the most. LOL

[StevenO]

If you don't need a loud clean, and say the speaker for whatever reason can't be fixed or you don't like it, buy something like a 20 watt Jupiter or WGS Veteran speaker. That should get the speaker giving a little more and you'll get more colour and character from the amp. They're also silly cheap, too. The stock speaker is pretty good, though, but quite rather bright and aggressive sounding. Makes neck pickups sound really sweet and sparkly, though.

[HNB]

It was brighter than any amp I have ever heard. I had bass at 10 and treble at 4-5. I like bright, but this was pretty shrill. (Granted there are parts on the circuit board that are broken/messed up so I will have to try it out once it is all back to 100%.)

The funny thing is I was advised to get a birch cab made for it, but I think the MDF speaker board probably helps make it less shrill than it would be otherwise. I would imagine a more solid speaker board would accentuate that treble?