Ok guys, I need a favor. Please hold back the nausea for a moment and ponder an SS amp speaker replacement.
The Fender Princeton Chorus in question was my first guitar amp. Now it has seen storage in some very "weathery" places as I moved on to bigger and tubier things.
Lately, I have been listening to some newer artists who've recycled the 80's sound I loathed as a kid. I heard this bit of pure cheesy goodness in the layer of sound. Like heated velveeta squishing out of a sandwich... or maybe even double the processed pseudo cheese oozing and gushing out of two sandwiches at once! STEREO CHORUS!!
The Princeton chorus isn't as pretty as it used to be but it works! The speaker cones look wrinkly (weathering?). It sounds a bit boring, flabby, middy, compared to what I remember. I want more of a full low end and sparkling highs in the clean channel and a lightly overdriven sweetspot somewhere in the gain channel. It has midboost, so I imagine that I can compensate if something is lost there.
This amp is known for its clean channel, muddy gain channel, and true stereo chorus that is a thing to behold.
Could a speaker upgrade help my old toy? If so, what would you recommend?
Here are the specs.
INPUT IMPEDANCE: INPUT 1 only-1 meg Ohm. INPUT 2-131k Ohm.
NOMINAL LEVEL: INPUT 1 only-100mv., INPUT 2-200mv.
POWER OUTPUT: 25.5 Watts R.M.S. per channel = 51 Watts R.M.S.
RATED LOAD IMPEDANCE: 8 Ohms per channel.
MONO EFFECTS LOOP: Nominal Level: -10dBv.
Send Output Impedance: 1k Ohm.
Return Input Impedance: 25k Ohm.
STEREO EFFECTS LOOP: Nominal Level: -10dBv.
Send Output Impedance: 1k Ohm.
Return Input Impedance: 150k Ohm.
(Specifications for each channel Left on Tip, Right on Ring)
POWER REQUIREMENTS: 120 Volts AC 60 Hz., 1.2 Amps Max., 145 Watts Max.
SPEAKER COMPLEMENT: Two 8 Ohm Fender Special Design 10 inch (P.N. 029753) speakers.
SOUND: “TUBE or not TUBE!”
Its probably one of the nicest SS amps Fender ever built. If only the last spec could be true.
Also, Its fine for me in the volume department. I know a lot of people complain about that.
Thanks
-J
Dude, I hear you! Lots of 80's tech is cool again! & yea, some SS amps are actually real jems ... check out my blog on the Lab Series amps. http://wgs4.com/lab-series-l5-l7-l9-ultimate-sleeper-amp
Put a pair of G10C's in that little gal & she'll quickly turn into one of your favorite muses ... I promise!
I have already been enjoying your blog. Those amps sound awesome! I love your super-duper strat configuration. I have a couple bodies with swimming pool routes and way too many pickups laying around. What did you use to route the pickguards? Nice job!
You must not have looked too close at the Frankenstrat! My original pickguard routing was done with a dremel tool ... and it's not bad, but the extra slot (where I was first gonna put the secondary bridge pup) being covered with aluminum tape is totally tacky ... although, who would notice on an ultimately tacky 5-pickup strat!
:-)