rebirth of a hard working amp

[Chickenwings]

This old girl has been touring and gigging constantly for its entire life till last year. Its owned by a fellow i play in a jazz duo with, but hes recorded and used it with literally countless artists since the 80s. It had its tube rectification replaced with an SS setup bringing it up from 12 watts to 22, and the speaker was replaced with an altec. Over the years of touring and abuse it had developed a rattle that we just could not track down. Eventually we worked out it was the speaker baffle. For some unknown reason (probably cost cutting) fender decided to use particle board back in the early 70s i guess. Anyways, instead of just getting it repaired, we got Eric from Erics Guitars and PA in Petersham (aussie bros, i highly recommend him!) to build a new cabinet and build it for a 1x12. The new speaker is a cannabis rex and the cabinet is solid as a rock- much more solid than any stock fender. New knobs too. I reckon it has another 40 years of work ahead of it now.
Im a little pissed tho....its sounds so good now that it makes my number one gigging amp (a princeton reverb II) sound kinda asthmatic.
Anyways, here it is:

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: rebirth of a hard working amp

awesome post! I wouldve just had a new baffleboard built..theres mojo in that old wood, but may she rock on long after I belong to the ages.

 

[Agileguy_101]

Re: rebirth of a hard working amp

Silverface Fenders for the win. I love my bassman to death. Congrats on getting yours working again.

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: rebirth of a hard working amp

Im not a big fan of Silverface Fender sound compared to Blackface.

 

[dr. ad]

Re: rebirth of a hard working amp

looks good
i've been in contact with eric, i have samples of his available materials saved to my desktop. he's in cahoots with mitch/bob's amp shack too, isn't he?
hell of a team!

you know what you have to do, cam.
:deal:

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: rebirth of a hard working amp

what? get him to make a new cab for my old twin too?
i gonna hit him up for a bass cab shortly.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: rebirth of a hard working amp

Im not a big fan of Silverface Fender sound compared to Blackface.

Good sound is good sound.

on the old wood mojo front tho....yeh an old cab gives you bragging rights and that "worn in" look, but a new solidly constructed cab sounds better. This is a working musicians amp, not a collector's item. The guy who owns it doesnt need to prove his vintage cred to anyone. Hes a total monster player.

 

[glassman]

Re: rebirth of a hard working amp

For some unknown reason (probably cost cutting) fender decided to use particle board back in the early 70s i guess.

And the 60's...I don't think I'll ever seen a BF or SF that had anything other than a particle-board baffle.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: rebirth of a hard working amp

Thats interesting gman. My twin is a 67 and has plywood. Do you reckon a previous owner has replaced it somewhere along its history?
What do you use in your amps?

 

[Agileguy_101]

Re: rebirth of a hard working amp

Im not a big fan of Silverface Fender sound compared to Blackface.

Neither am I, but buying a Silverface and blackfacing it is much more cost efficient than buying a blackface.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: rebirth of a hard working amp

Neither am I, but buying a Silverface and blackfacing it is much more cost efficient than buying a blackface.

Early silverfaced Fenders still used the BF circuits..Easy to switch over to BF specs also if it doesn't.

Nice amp....Princetons are sweet lil amps!

 

[glassman]

Re: rebirth of a hard working amp

Thats interesting gman. My twin is a 67 and has plywood. Do you reckon a previous owner has replaced it somewhere along its history?
What do you use in your amps?

I use plywood in mine. They're 3/8" (3/4" at the perimeter) and semi floating so I need a little more "structure" than particle board can offer.

My BF 66 Super Reverb has the original particle board baffle in it and it works great.