any ideas why a princeton's reverb is really quiet?

[Chickenwings]

Usually fender reverbs sound huge, but this one even on 10 is still very subtle.
Its a silverface princeton reverb in a new cab with a cannabis rex 12. The toobs are all new and at some stage the rectifier was changed to SS.
Its a sweet sounding amp...but im sure the reverb is under powered. It works...but its just very quiet. Any ideas?

 

[kjrocks]

Re: any ideas why a princeton's reverb is really quiet?

You need to turn it to 11

 

[crusty philtrum]

Re: any ideas why a princeton's reverb is really quiet?

Are you certain that the spring is connected the right way around ?

 

[jeremy]

Re: any ideas why a princeton's reverb is really quiet?

first thing id do is swap the tank with another one and see if its the tank itself or the circuit. all the old fenders use similar tanks

 

[Scott Marceau]

Re: any ideas why a princeton's reverb is really quiet?

I use one of the reissues and the reverb is really huge sounding. Not like a Twin Reverb, but for what it is. I'd have a tech check it out.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: any ideas why a princeton's reverb is really quiet?

Interesting. I have a '68, and I was just commenting the other night at a jam session how strong the reverb is on it. It is almost sopping wet at 3 on the knob. I'd say something is wrong with the reverb wiring, or the tank.

The tank is easy to check. I would look inside and see if it perhaps lost a spring. That happened to my Ampeg once, and I found the spring stuck to my speaker's magnet. Easy $45 fix, done at home.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: any ideas why a princeton's reverb is really quiet?

actually the owner has tried three different tanks....it originally had some random tank in there, so the owner bought both a two and three spring accutronics tank. All 3 tanks are very quiet.
The issue is in the amp somewhere.

 

[glassman]

Re: any ideas why a princeton's reverb is really quiet?

The first thing to do is to determine if you have a drive or recovery problem. Smack the tank with your hand to make the tank crash; if it's loud, you have a drive issue, if it's subdued, you have a recovery issue. The first thing to suspect is the tubes; swap them out with known good ones one at a time. The reverb circuit is literally identical to all the other Fender reverb circuits so once the problem area is identified, start looking at the usual suspects.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: any ideas why a princeton's reverb is really quiet?

thanks for the help glassman. ill try some tube swapping before sending it off to the tech.
I did swap v2 and v4 at some stage but thats the reverb send and the PI. I thought a 12AT7 (from v2) would increase clean headroom in the PI slot and the 12ax7 would increase gain to the reverb. Ill swap em back and see if it helps.
If its the return then V3 is the culprit.
Ill let you know if anything changes.