Woo Hoo! My little amp is here!

[Top Jimmy B]

I found this little machine in the classifieds of a local newspaper. One owner, 1958 Fender Princeton. The only apparent mods to this amp are the power cord and the volume and tone knobs have been replaced. The original cord is actually in the back of the amp.

The Metrotones was the original owners band, back in the 60's.

I don't have a guitar with me here at work, so no opinions on tone yet, but I did snap a pic. I will add a few more later after a bit of research and getting the chassis out.

I paid $200 CDN. Seems like a score to me. Opinions?

[hippietim]

holy crap. that's awesome. totally fucking awesome. wait. you were screwed. i'll give you fifty bucks and that's a gift.

seriously, those are fantastic. congrats. find a worthy tech to check it out. if it hasn't been serviced you will probably need to change the filter caps and tubes. but damn - $200 CDN - that's a great deal.

[jgcable]

thats like hitting the amp lotto.

[MBreinin]

Jesus FUCKING CHRIST!!!!!!!!!!!!

$200 Canadian? That's like, what, $20 American??

That thing is worth a fuck of a lot more than that, James. What a score!!!!

There is only one way to play those...balls to the wall. I hope you have a Strat and like Derek and the Dominos...I can hear "Bell Bottom Blues" already....even though that was Champ....

You fuck!

Mike

[krimson]

Yeah, Nice score. I had a 73 Fender Princeton Reverb that had so much tone I almost kept it, even though my original intention was to sell it for a hefty profit which is what I finally did.

[Twisteramps]

I bought one of these back in '96 or so... found it at a yard sale.

Paid $5 for it, but it didn't work. Had to resolder one wire that came loose.



Sold it for $400 at the time... right now, those are worth probably $800 and up depending on condition. Whatever you do, do NOT redo the tweed on it, and if you're going to actually play it much... you might want to pull the speaker and replace it with a Weber, then put the original speaker back in if you ever sell it. A LOT of these amps have blown speakers from people cranking them up. A replaced speaker really screws the value too.

Pete

[Top Jimmy B]

Thanks for the input guys. I've taken a couple more pics for now and will take more when I get the guts out tonight.

Pete, I dont have any plans of replacing the tweed or doing anything other than making it sound its best. I'm going to pick up my Eric Johnson strat this afternoon so I can give this a proper test drive.

Thanks again for the help.

[catzodellamarina]

Dang! It's always the other guy who finds the sweet deals. Great find!
We had one similar to this at my tone party. I forgot what year it was but it looked like your's. It was a nice blues amps.

On Ebay earlier this year I found a Carvin Nomad that was bidding at $25 until the last min. It sold for $125. Poop! I missed out.

[DonP]

if it hasn't been serviced you will probably need to change the filter caps and tubes.

+1

[fuel0707]

Definitely an awesome score! And you'll have a cool story to tell when people start telling tales about deals they've scored because you really came out great on that amp.

[zeegler]

Jesus FUCKING CHRIST!!!!!!!!!!!!

$200 Canadian? That's like, what, $20 American??

Mike

$200.00 Canadian = $180.73 U.S.
1 USD = 1.10660 CAD

The US dollar has been heading south in a big way compared to the Canadian dollar lately. It's lost about 2 cents in the last couple of weeks.

[Joe_Steeler]

That thing sweats mojo.
Killer score.

[RacerX]

If that was at my local GC's "Vintage Room" they'd probably have it tagged at $999.99!

[Top Jimmy B]

Well, I've been playing through this for two hours and am pretty happy with it. There's no question that it needs some tweaks...filter caps, tubes, pots cleaned...but man, it sounds awesome. The way the notes bloom and how the amp reacts to touch, is very impressive. I was surprised at how sensitive those two little knobs are. Kinda like, amp testicles. I have amp envy.

My wife made the comment after the first twenty minutes, "that amp sounds really good." Trust me, that's like Abraham telling MBreinin he's a good Jew. High praise, indeed.

It's going to my tech tomorrow for whatever it requires to make it as good as it can be.

I appreicate all the input, thanks!

[Twisteramps]

If the speaker is stock, I'll say it again... take it out if you're going to play the amp. That amp wants to be cranked, and if you blow the stock speaker you are going to lose several hundred dollars in value instantly. Go to webervst.com and see what he recommends... That's a killer amp! Also, if you can, specify USA filter caps for your amp like Atoms. If you cheap out on the filter caps or any other parts, it will cause you to lose money if you ever sell it. One bad thing about amps like this is the people who are most interested will be looking at every freakin' solder joint in the amp. When I sold my '58 to a guy, he probably spent half an hour examining every last detail.

Pete