Chapters 00:00 Princeton Reverb Reissue 05:22 68 Custom Deluxe Reverb For more info, Subscribe to this channel, join us at PsionicAudio, or email us at info@psionicaudio.com.
A couple of months into owning my 65 Princeton reissue, the speaker cut out. It was, of course, a loose speaker cable Jack socket, so I tightened it, replaced the (crap) speaker cable, then tightened the remainder of the Jack sockets. So I thank you Lyle for sharing information. Now I’m thinking “screw the warranty” and getting my amp tech to hard wire the power connections.
My 1977 Deluxe Reverb has been very dependable for the last 15 years. Just the regular maintenance items. The general in my collection is the Peavey Special 130 i bought new in 1982. one trip to the shop for a loose wire, one dead speaker for 40 years of service. It's just heavy as hell. But the 130 is good for when they absolutely positively have to hear you on the moon. Mesa Subway for the small gigs. Light, loud nice tone. Too bad you are so far away, a great tech is a gem.
Enjoy your videos Lyle. Always learn something new. You often times mention ordering the customer a new tube or tubes. I am surprised that you don't maintain an inventory of commonly used tubes considering the volume of amps that you get in your shop.
Your channel is awesome. I was really amazed to see some of the poor workmanship and design flaws on the “boutique” amps you’ve reviewed. Scary really. Aside from old Fenders and and the like are there any amp makers you recommend? There are a lot of builders doing seemingly high quality Fender style stuff like Victoria, Allen etc.
Since the "re-issue" amps are not even close to original in the 1st place, such as having circuit boards, you would think Fender would, could, and should at least make use of modern safety and longevity tweaks like proper fuse/switch wiring. I'm sure that Leo would even agree. It seems to be a recurring theme not just relegated to Fender amps either.
I love this channel. I've tinkered with a Marshall rebuild once but generally like to just read and watch this stuff! Fascinating to watch you work and decision-make. Do you have any advice on buying a Silverface Vibrolux? A '78 Vibrolux was used on some of my favourite recordings and keen to know if a reissue would be a good buy?
And this is why I own ORIGINALS! They are fairly well made, are easy to fix, and they also appreciate in value too. I still have a good supply of brown base 6V6GTY JAN USA made tubes all NOS. Those are $400 for a matched a pair now. Sorry. I am still running the original pair of GE 6V6GTAs in my 1973 Princeton Reverb, so...
a couple of videos back when repairing a blues jr you commented on a bright cap, which you removed. does the princeton reissue have anything similar? i can’t put my treble knob above a 4 without it ice-picking my ears. thanks
One nice thing about running the power to the switch first is with the switch off, there is no chance of getting a shock when pulling the fuse if you happen to be grounded by touching the chassis.....
...if you forget to unplug the amp, yes. So for safety sake, probably switch first. For the sake of the power switch (which is a replaceable part) Lyle appears to make a good point. I think I still lean toward switch first, but I will admit to there being very little difference. In a fused IEC jack, the fuse would come first, and there is no way to get at it without unplugging the power cord from the socket. Maybe that is the best way, ultimately?
A properly wired fuse holder gives that same protection. And would you rather replace a fuse or a switch? Or in this case a PT? Because the crappy switch connections fused.
Regarding the Princeton? If the PT is shorted, then yes the fuse should have blown. If the only fault was an internal failure of the switch resulting in a conductive path through the bushing of the switch to ground, then the fuse isn't in that path so the fuse wouldn't blow.
Speaking of Fender issues, I have a Pro Jr 4 that has started hissing, even with nothing plugged into it and is not dependent on volume. Goes away when the phase inverter tube is pulled. Touching the ribbon connecters to the preamp tube sockets also causes buzz. Any ideas?
@@andrewpartington7274 Unfortunately it isn't, tried swapping out preamp and power amp tubes and it still does it. May be a bad solder connection or something.
I'm lost. How does the order of the wiring make a difference in this case? The only difference I see is if the power switch shorted to ground. But in that case, Id think only one connector would be burned up. I'm thinking the power transformer went bad. I think the burned connectors on the switch was due to high resistance in the switch heating them up. That's a problem, but likely different than the failure sequence.
Either way it was wired, if the PT had shorted the fuse would've blown. Wiring to the fuse first would've (probably) saved the switch. But with crappy connections on a subpar switch.......inevitable failure.
@@wedoshotz6645 It's a series circuit so the fuse being before or after the switch really makes no difference as far as those burnt connectors. Series circuits are called Voltage Dividers so everything in a series circuit will see the exact same current. The fuse will see the the exact same current on the line regardless of where it is and blow if it exceeds its rating. Outlet strips have fuses or circuit breakers in them and the protect the entire thing, from the plug to the outlets because it's all series. Same thing here. From a safety standpoint, it is better for the fuse to be first, but in this case it wouldn't have saved the switch. Loose connectors or the bad transformer was causing it to draw much higher than normal for some time, but still under two amps and under spec'd or loose connectors that couldn't handle the extra current. I know those connectors make things easier to service, but I prefer them to be soldered connections because they are just never going to see this problem.
@@PsionicAudio Well, it worked - I bought one. :) A bit troubling that Fender would use cheap caps in a high priced "boutique" amp. At least I got it before the price increased and also got a discount. It does sound great and I hope that future maintenance will be more straight forward? I have some electronics in my past (military) so can probably manage if there is a problem. That wasn't the case when I had a problem with an Egnater Tweaker - that thing drove me nuts trying to fix and I gave up. After the fact I think it might have been a failing power transformer.
Funny the valves have, Groove Tubes, Electro Harmonix and Fender silkscreened on them, none of which I'd guess manufactured them, how and or why is that, anyone know?
…from the receptacle to the power switch, from the power switch to the fuse, the fuse to the board, the board to the power transformer… Now hear the word of the lord
actually no, at 2 amps @ 120V you can generate up to 240watts of heat which would easilly melt those connections. and connectors melting like that usually are the cause of a bad connection, which is high in resistance and acts like a resistor. ofc that's not 100% chance that it always will be that.
That's not what I'm doing. What I do is repair amps across a wide range of price points. If something fails I say why it failed. And when possible I show how to prevent that failure in the future, including how the manufacturer could have avoided that failure. Often at the same price point. The feathers this ruffles aren't a consideration for me. I'm not out to get certain companies. Neither do I gush about others. I said nice things about Germino and Top Hat because they earned it. Criticisms are also earned. I'm not a RU-vid channel that shits on amps. I'm an amp tech/designer who lets musicians know what's inside the box. Big difference.
@@PsionicAudio I dont have any feathers to ruffle. I dont make amps and the couple i do own i'm pretty happy with. That said i dont own any mass produced or super high end amps. I have been looking for a Princeton reverb and i will probably be staying away from these ones.
