Fender Princeton Chorus opinions?

[rwingsfan]

I have a chance to buy a real nice Fender Princeton Chorus for $150. I have read the reviews at HC, but I value the opinions of the folks here much more. Anyone want to chime in? BTW I play mainly country and blues with some ac/dc being about as hard as I go.

[Highway_61]

Preface: I'm limiting all my comments to the solid state side of the equation. Tube amp lovers need not flame me.

 

To me, the Princeton Chorus is Fender's best solid state amp.

There are no richer Fender cleans. The two tens provide all the punch you will need, and the chorus, IMO, has no equivalent.

It's a loud amp. Like many Fender amps, it has a volume pot that goes from off at 0 to too loud for your apartment at somewhere between 0 and 1.

The amp is too big for the places I play--and for the car I drive--so I've continued to look for a Fender amp that is its equivalent but smaller. I haven't been able to find it.

If you're going to do AC/DC, get a Jekyll and Hyde or some other stompbox, because I highly doubt that you'll be happy with the drive side of the PC. But the cleans will make you very happy.

Be careful of one thing: the input jacks are known to be the weakest links. Make sure that they are in good shape.

[magentaplacenta]

For $150 grab it. I have a red-knob version (late 80s or early 90s?) and think the cleans are outstanding for that price. The dirty chanel can do some surprisingly decent 80s rock/metal as well. I'm surprised they don't sell for more, a great bargain amp IMO.

[csm]

 

Preface: I'm limiting all my comments to the solid state side of the equation. Tube amp lovers need not flame me. To me, the Princeton Chorus is Fender's best solid state amp. There are no richer Fender cleans. The two tens provide all the punch you will need, and the chorus, IMO, has no equivalent. It's a loud amp. Like many Fender amps, it has a volume pot that goes from off at 0 to too loud for your apartment at somewhere between 0 and 1. The amp is too big for the places I play--and for the car I drive--so I've continued to look for a Fender amp that is its equivalent but smaller. I haven't been able to find it. If you're going to do AC/DC, get a Jekyll and Hyde or some other stompbox, because I highly doubt that you'll be happy with the drive side of the PC. But the cleans will make you very happy. Be careful of one thing: the input jacks are known to be the weakest links. Make sure that they are in good shape.

 

 

Excellent summary. I used to own one of the red-knob models back in the day -- sold it to a friend when I got my Valvetronix AD120VT, and it's still going strong. Fabulous rich cleans, cool reverb, crap fizzy overdrive, dodgy plastic input jacks ... and a cute trick you can play with the chorus: turn both 'rate' and 'depth' knobs on full and you'll get a gorgeous, vintage-sounding vibrato.

[giliposha]

for an amp on that price range is the closest you get to a fender tube clean sound

Overdrive sound isnt much appreciated by people out there but i kinda like it, and the limiter control lets you find a sweet spot.

Plus a deep reverb and very good real stereo chorus.

 

As a matter of fact, i found that the distortion channel has exactly the same sound as a tube driver (which is supposed to be good stuff) plugged in the clean channel. So it may be the best it can get for a cheap ss amp.

[GarysBlues]

Are you talking the 210 with the foot-switch? If so I would BUY-IT. Its a very good sounding solid-state amp and its a Very good price for it. The sell regularly at around $250.00.

I had one for a spell and its a great little amp. The headphone jack makes it usable for late night gigging at Home. The clean and OD sounds pretty good. Nothing to sneeze at! Great 210 Fender!

[csm]

Yep, Gary, that's the one: 25+25 in stereo, 2x10. I enjoyed mine a lot during the ten or so years I had it and my mate, who bought it off me 3 years ago for

[Karma1]

I had one for a while and thought it was a great-sounding amp for clean tones - one of the best perhaps. The distortion was not so good, but I use pedals for that so it didn't matter to me. I gigged with it a bit, but I sometimes had to really turn it up to be heard over the drums, etc. The bass end of it was also quite boomy. I'd turn the bass knob down to maybe 2, and it was still too much. Maybe it was just this particular amp - I haven't heard anyone else mention that. But for clean sounds at low to moderate volume levels it's generally a very sweet-sounding amp. And at $150 the price is right. You could easily re-sell it for more if it didn't work out for you.

[23miles]

 

Are you talking the 210 with the foot-switch? If so I would BUY-IT. Its a very good sounding solid-state amp and its a Very good price for it. The sell regularly at around $250.00. I had one for a spell and its a great little amp. The headphone jack makes it usable for late night gigging at Home. The clean and OD sounds pretty good. Nothing to sneeze at! Great 210 Fender!

 

 

+1

 

Really nice amp. I have one, got it for a song. Replaced speakers with two Eminence Rajun Cajun 10" speakers (others prefer the Eminence Copperheads). I use a Duncan SFX-03 Twin Tube Classic tube powered 2 channel overdrive pedal. When adjusted it gives me 3 channels: PC alone, PC+ Twin Tube Clean, PC + Twin Tube Drive. Nice set up at 2 X 25 watts.

[MetalGuitar08]

I used to have one and I'm letting my buddy borrow it. The built in effects work pretty well, and the clean sounds really good. The only drawback to me was as the overdriven channel got louder--it lost a lot of clarity and definition, but that's pretty typical of solid state amps. I loved that amp!

[SteelyD2]

I've had one for 15 years and used it regularly for nearly 10. For cleans, I think it's in the same league as a Roland JC-50. Excellent reverb and chorus. One earlier poster said that it's a loud amp, but I don't think it's very loud at all; there's no way it will cut through a band unless you crank the gain channel which doesn't sound very good. Mine's been cycled one and off thousands of times without a hitch and a friend of mine continues to use it every week. Check for damage, especially the input jacks because they're board-mounted plastic items that aren't very sturdy, otherwise they're pretty bulletproof. You certainly can't buy anything new in it's league for less than $400.

 

D

[steve_man]

I'd snap that up in a heartbeat! I had a Fender Ultimate Chorus for a while, but had to part with it due to financial woes back in the 90's. The cleans were to die for, and no one tops Fender's chorus, IMO.

 

I've been looking for one of those smaller Princeton Chorus amps for a while. Had a Princeton 112, and kick myself every day for selling it!

 

Don't think about it....BUY IT...or send me the guys info.

[process sherpa]

It's surprisingly versatile if you have a lot of pedals or a v-amp, pod, etc. It really sounds good with that kind of preamping -- you can get almost any sound out of it you want. The chorus is amazing, it has good reverb, and once in a great while the "distortion" channel is even useful depending on what you're doing.

 

The one thing is that the volume is kind of weird with this amp for some reason. Yes, it gets loud, but it's not really a "cut through" kind of loud, as SteelyD2 said. It's a "soft" kind of loud, if that makes sense. I'm not really sure how to describe it or why it's like that, but personally I think it's better suited for recording, practice, or if you do solo or coffee house kind of stuff. With a band and drummer it just can't keep up and tends to get buried pretty quick. It just doesn't have that kind of midrange frequency or power I guess. ? Upgrading the speakers probably would help, or just improve it in general, but for me it's good enough stock for practice or solo playing. It is very "fendery," that's for sure. If that's what you're after it's hard to beat for the price.

[rwingsfan]

Well I bought the Princeton Chorus. It is in very good condition. You guys are right, the cleans are to die for. The od channel will b useable with some tweaking, but I will be looking for a dirt box or two to go with it for some versatility. Any suggestions,I like simple? The one thing that suprised me was the volume, or lack thereof. No way to use this without miking it.

[BootRoots]

Well I for one don't think the cleans on this thing are all that. I've had one for about 12 years now and it really doesn't get used all that much. I've tried to sell it a couple of times and I couldn't get any takers locally for like $125 a year or so back. this thing is great shape too. I hardly got a call or an email. I took it to about 4 or 5 shops to see if they would take it off my hands and all of then flat out refused to by it for any amount of money. It was almost comical.

[csm]

 

Well I for one don't think the cleans on this thing are all that. I've had one for about 12 years now and it really doesn't get used all that much. I've tried to sell it a couple of times and I couldn't get any takers locally for like $125 a year or so back. this thing is great shape too. I hardly got a call or an email. I took it to about 4 or 5 shops to see if they would take it off my hands and all of then flat out refused to by it for any amount of money. It was almost comical.

 

 

Put it on eBay. They currently go for $169-$299.

[mark7171]

the SS princeton chorus is awesome. many of those 80's SS fenders arent bad amps. if you already have a keyboard and vocals going through a SS PA, it blends nicely.

 

i have mine since the 80's. i run two in stereo. with boss buffered effects it sounds like high school.

 

the will sound just as good as the modelers and other SS amps. barring the marshall hybrids(i recently purchased a AVT20 for $100 off CL, it sounds a little better).

 

i dont know if people are asleep or what, but there are some crazy deals on craigs. fender SS can go under $100. marshall avts 100-200. buddy got 150avt head for $150 !

[kbearsx4@myfrontiermail.co]

I saw a princeton chorus for sale for $135 dollars. It has Peavy blue marvel speakers in it. Do you think it will hurt its sound.

[Phil O'Keefe]

1 hour ago, kbearsx4@myfrontiermail.co said:

I saw a princeton chorus for sale for $135 dollars. It has Peavy blue marvel speakers in it. Do you think it will hurt its sound.

 

If the rest of the amp is in good condition and runs properly, I wouldn't let the non-stock speakers keep me from buying it. Those are good sounding amps IMO, especially for a solid-state amp. The speakers aren't bad either - IMO, they're certainly no worse than the stock speakers. As long as they're the correct impedance, I don't see a problem.  

 

 

[jtr654]

KBear they are JUNK ( PR C) pure and simple No speaker change will save it.

 

[Phil O'Keefe]

5 hours ago, jtr654 said:

they are JUNK

 

I don't know if I'd call them "junk." I personally never thought that they were deserving of  the legendary Princeton moniker (being the huge fan of tube Princetons that I am...) but for what they were, I thought they weren't bad, at least as far as solid state amps from that era go. Horrible for overdriven sounds, but they have a fairly nice clean tone IMO, and at $135, I think it's not a bad deal for a used practice amp as long as everything works okay. I certainly don't think the speaker swap is going to make a huge improvement or anything like that, but it shouldn't hurt the sound too much either. 

 

[gardo]

[jtr654]

I have a 64 PR and some Pro Jr. and have played through PC . Dosn't deserve the name Princeton or Fender. Their SS amp alway have left something to be desired.