Any luv here for Fender Princeton Chorus amps

[sbpirate]

I got a super good deal on one at my local pawn shop, and have been messin around with it. It's a great living room amp, the chorus is just amazing. I would like to know if you guys ( or girls ) have one , and how your dials are set. Does anyone gig with theirs? Mine is made in the USA and i'm not sure of the year it was made. Late 80's early 90"s ? ( pic is to the left )

[Humbuster]

Picked up mine on Ebay for a song.
Great amps, for the time being it is my only amp.

[Joe-Bob]

I have a DSP version. Bought it new. I use it every week at big band jazz rehearsal, and sometimes when I do jazz gigs. Sounds good, and is very versatile. Also works well as an acoustic amp.

[tomringg]

I've been checking these out at pawns shops & Music Go Round. Hopefully will pick one up soon. They seem to range from about $120 to $170, is that what you are seeing?

[Wingherder]

Just picked one up on Ebay for $128, freight and all. Really impressed so far. Just living room duty currently, but hoping for better things eventually.

[bgood]

I bought a red knob one new in the 80's. Nice amp for cleans and chorus. Crap OD. For a clean amp it was quite nice - punchy.

[mellecaster]

They are Pretty cool little Amps...but like most Fenders on the lower end, they benefit Greatly from Speaker upgrades....and I'm not wild about the plastic input jacks...but still a good Bang for the Buck $$$

[unbridled]

I have one with the black knobs and silver face. I've had it since it was new and have gigged it. Great clean amp and takes pedals well. I really like the real spring reverb. It has taken a beating and has never failed me.

I'm not sure what the timelines are on these amps, but I know there's the black knob ones, the red knob amps, and the ones with DSP, probably more.

Besides the black knobes, mine has metal jacks instead of the plastic ones. As for settings on the chorus, I usually run the rate below 3, and the depth at 9 and use it to thicken things up.

[atroy]

Originally Posted by unbridled

I have one with the black knobs and silver face. I've had it since it was new and have gigged it. Great clean amp and takes pedals well. I really like the real spring reverb. It has taken a beating and has never failed me.

I'm not sure what the timelines are on these amps, but I know there's the black knob ones, the red knob amps, and the ones with DSP, probably more.

Besides the black knobes, mine has metal jacks instead of the plastic ones. As for settings on the chorus, I usually run the rate below 3, and the depth at 9 and use it to thicken things up.

I have the one with black knob/metal jacks as well. Made in USA. I bought it new in 1995 and I love it. As far as SS amps go, it's pretty amazing. The clean channel is nice. I like going with my Strat's neck/middle pickup here for a sweet bell-like chime. You can here a bit of a "Tunnel of Love" Dire Straits sound here. With or without the chorus sounds really good. The chorus is really as good as I've heard, lush and in stereo, really fills the room.

The overdrive channel is good but, like most SS amps I've tried, it's hard to get a good lightly overdriven sound out of it. However, with the gain maxed out or nearly so on this channel, it sings pretty well.

This amp has great reverb, big and springy. Also, it's built like a tank.

[RobBnTX]

Originally Posted by Joe-Bob

I have a DSP version. Bought it new. I use it every week at big band jazz rehearsal, and sometimes when I do jazz gigs. Sounds good, and is very versatile. Also works well as an acoustic amp.

I just picked up a very nice Princeton Chorus at GC in Plano for $150 and it sounds fantastic!

Hey that is great news to hear that it works as an acoustic amp since my next guitar purchase will probably be an Ovation.

Robert

[atroy]

One thing, and this is huge, that I don't like is that it does not sound very good when it's cracked. Might just be my speakers but it gets muddy at louder volumes. For getting a wide range of nice tones when my kids are asleep it's awesome, but I can't imagine gigging with it.

[Ultrastick]

I've got a mint black knob version I picked up on CL for $100. Works great. Beautiful lush chorus although I play with just a touch. Usually play through a Bad Monkey which kind of adds a roundness to the notes.

Changed the speakers to a couple of Eminences although the stock ones were fine. Had the gain up on the Bad Monkey last night and the amp volume up. Getting some nice sounds! Great amp, nice portable size. Would do great for the kind of gigs I do. It's a keeper.

[1962guitargeek]

I like mine.

It takes pedals well, as mentioned. I have a modded SD-1 I use. And a Mesa Boogie V Twin floor unit. That thing is fun

I have been contemplating a speaker change....any suggestions?

[thegiftofyears]

I like it much but opted for the Ultra-Chorus - I believe it's the same circuitry with a little more power. I love the clean sound, Chorus, and reverb. I actually like the overdrive for a little edge for blues.

[sjsrocks]

I bought mine back in 1988 or 89. It's a great practice amp and good for recording to. Nice clean tones but the gain side is hard to dial in. The Chorus is the best I have heard for inside the amp. I have a Marshall 8280 stereo chorus that does not come close to the Chorus in the Fender Chorus.
Put a nice TS-808 clone in front and it rocks.
I used it for recording for some time. Now that my son started playing guitar, I'm giving it to him. I built him a David Gilmour Strat and a 808 clone pedal.
The picture of Stevie Ray Vaughan stays with me.

[unbridled]

I never liked the overdrive channel until I started messing with the limiter and presence controls. Still not the best overdrive, but, much more usable when you get the hang of those controls. Also, the mid boost on the OD channel is quite useful.

[Joe-Bob]

Originally Posted by unbridled

I never liked the overdrive channel until I started messing with the limiter and presence controls. Still not the best overdrive, but, much more usable when you get the hang of those controls. Also, the mid boost on the OD channel is quite useful.

Yes, the drive channel is a unique circuit to this amp, and it works quite differently than you might think. This is where the manual and some patience and willingness to experiment come in handy.

[unbridled]

Originally Posted by Joe-Bob

Yes, the drive channel is a unique circuit to this amp, and it works quite differently than you might think. This is where the manual and some patience and willingness to experiment come in handy.

That is for sure!

One of my Dad's favorite sayings is "When all else fails, read the directions."

[roadrider502]

I picked a red knob model up as cheap as they get...$0.00. I stopped thinking about buying a new amp at least temporarily. It has a real nice clean channel that sounds compressed and a bit like a tube amp to my ears. I'm using a cheap bad monkey od pedal and it sounds excellent IMO for practice and home use. I was going to pick up Blues Jr until I started reading about all the mods needed.

[weeladdie]

I just picked up a Princeton Chorus to give me some more watts than my Blues Jr for gigging.

Can't seem to get any volume improvement without the sound getting muddy and boomy. At least when adding bass...

Curious as to why you need to turn the tone controls up to get any volume at all? I can run my Bjr with all the tone knobs turned to zero but not the Princeton.

Saw a suggestion for replacing speakers in a post above, any recommendations?

So far I'm not really impressed, it doesn't seem like much of an improvement yet.

[Mike Bruce]

Mine served well for a few years as a small gig and lesson studio amp. I kinda dug the cleans. Wish I still had it around sometimes, it never gave me any grief and always sounded consistent.

Peace, Mike.