Fender Princeton Chorus

Most of what I can tell you about the features has already been posted. This is the Mexican made model and I'm sure the features are about the same as the USA model so my only concern is the craftmenship in side the amp, time will tell. The reverb sounds like a Fender amp should and the Chorus is okay, but I would rather have tremolo. Mono and Stereo FX loops are fine but would rather have a exention speaker out (Mono). I would like to point out one misconseption, this amp has two 25 watt power amps, some call it a 50 watt amp, it's not 50 watts. It's all in how you measure wattage two 25 watt amps do not perform the same as a single 50 watt amp.

I picked this amp up used as a practice amp and for small gigs so it doesn't need to be very loud, but it's plenty loud. Those who complained about not enough volume to play with a drummer should find a better drummer or wear ear plugs. The amp is a bit to bassy (dark) for my Les Paul and I set the Bass control low, 4-5 and the Mid about 6-7 and adjust the Treble to what sounds good. The amp or the speakers break up at about the 4 or 5 on the clean channel volume, okay for Blues but bad for Jazz and clean Rock. The distortion is good but a bit to chemical sounding rather than tube sounding for my taste. However; I can get a good Santana sound and I can almost nail Clapton's Cream guitar sound with some auto wah, by using the stereo Chorus, very cool.

I'm the third owner of this amp, the first was a Church the second a home studio. I think it's been well taken care of, looks like it's brand new, I think it must be about 5 years old. No problems yet. Since it's solid state I think it will last many years.

No clue.

As I said earlier I picked this up as a practice amp and possible small gig amp. In the past I've mainly used a '75 Twin Reverb as my standard gig amp but who wants to lug around a 70 pound vintage amp for a $100's a night? (I did back when I was in my 20's). For a while I used a Blues Jr which was a great little amp but it wouldn't quite cut it for clean Jazz turned up. That's why I bought this amp, hopping it will do a better job. I've been a profesional and semi-profesional musician all my life and played guitar for 48 years. To me this is just another amp, if it proves it's self useful I'll keep it, if not it will find a new home. So far I like it for it's size and wide range of tones.

This is a 2008 update on mid-90s classic, primarily to emphasize one feature I don't think has been adequately mentioned by others. I've bought and sold a dozen amps since first getting one of these, then "upgrading" to the DSP model (disappointing), doing without one for several years and, fortunately, being able to re-buy the original model from a friend. In my youth, I thought the Princeton Chorus was a two-trick pony: Clean, or full-overdrive metal. Now I realize this classic amp also does a convincing impersonation of the Vox AC-30 (or AC-15) tube classic. The trick is to make full use of the LIMITER control, something I haven't seen on any other amps in this price range. Recapping, this amp has THREE distinct personalities. More...

Crank the GAIN and the LIMITER each each to 8 or more, and the overdrive is harnessed, leaving a beautifully creamy tube tone with high compression and INFINITE SUSTAIN! Others have gushed over the chorus, and it is excellent. Too much gives it a dated 80s sound, but rolling the RATE and DEPTH to a minimum adds a subtle stereo fullness, without the gimmicky sound. A little reverb, and you're good to go.

Tough stuff. And if I have a problem, my retailer can take care of it.

See above.

Great sound in a small 2x10 speaker box. If I needed more power, I wouldn't hesitate to hunt down its bigger brother, the Fender Ultimate Chorus, with more wattage and 2 x 12s. The stereo effects loop makes it all the more versatile for me. No pedals. Something better - the Fender G-DEC. The little practice amp doesn't have much power, but I run a stereo cord from its headphone out to the Princeton Chorus and - voila -- the G-DEC becomes a powerful amp with all its top-notch models of Fender tweeds, blackface, Dynatouch, Vox, Marshalls and Mesa. Total cost for all this aural sweetness - $500 for the two amps. Me? I'm 57, been playing since "Louis Louis" was on the charts.

As far as features go, I don't have any complaints. The clean channel has your typical three tone controls (high, mid, and low), volume, and reverb depth. The chorus has both depth and rate controls, and Fender gives you quite a few controls for the drive channel, for all that's worth. There's plenty of stereo and mono outs and effects loop jacks on the amp, although I don't have a use for any of them. Since I just go straight through my pedals into the input, I've never messed around with any of the other connections.

So far, I've only used this amp in my bedroom, although it's plenty loud and I'm sure it would hold its own with drums and bass. I've never had to turn up the volume past 2, and it's still pretty loud even at that low setting.

The sound quality on this amp is (for the most part, anyway), excellent. The clean channel sounds clean and crisp like it's supposed to and it's very easy to get a nice sound out of it. The reverb unit is a real spring reverb--not digital. I don't think I've ever gotten a bad sound out of the reverb. It's never overpowering or cheap-sounding, and I almost always play with the reverb turned up half way because it adds a nice little element to the sound.

The chorus sounds truly amazing. I've got a Boss CH-1 in my pedal chain, and while the amp's chorus isn't nearly as powerful or intense, I almost like it better than the pedal. The chorus on the amp has a nice, warm, analog sound to it, and I've never gotten a bad sound out of it either. Also, I love the little LED that blinks at the chorus rate. It makes it quite easy to dial in the chorus to a tempo that fits the song you're playing.

The only reason I gave it a 9 for sound quality is because the drive channel is pretty lackluster. I'll give Fender an A for effort because they give you plenty of control over your overdriven sound, but I've messed around with it and I've never found anything that sounds good. There are a few passable settings, but I've heard much better from cheaper amps. In any case, it doesn't really bother me THAT much because I have a Boss OS-2 Overdrive/Distortion in my effects chain that I use for overdrive (or distortion, depending on my mood).

I've never gigged with it or used it live, but that's mainly because I don't really have any reason to. Most of the playing I do is at church, both at our youth group and on Sunday mornings. On Sunday mornings, I go acoustic-electric into the PA system, so the only time I ever use an amp is at youth group. I've got a nice Marshall AVT half stack that I use there, so I've never had any reason to take the amp and try it live. The only reason I got this amp was because I got it (essentially for free) with an almost new Gretsch G5120 and a matching Gretsch case. I paid $550 for the guitar, case, and amp.

I've had a cheap Fender amp (the Indonesian-made kind), and it's acted up on me before, but this amp is made in the USA, so I'd trust it a bit more than I'd trust the other one. I'll probably take it live eventually, and when I do, I probably won't have a back up. It seems like a pretty solid amp to me.

I've never had to deal with Fender before, so I can't really say anything about their customer service. They do keep good archives of old manuals, though. They don't manufacture this amp any more, but I didn't have any trouble finding a PDF manual for it on their Website.

As far as guitars, I have an Ovation CU247, and Epiphone LP Standard, a Seagull S6+CW, and a Gretsch G5120. My pedal chain runs something like this:

Boss CS-3 > Boss PH-3 > Boss OS-2 > Boss EQ-20 > Boss CH-1 > Boss NS-2

I've been playing for 4 or 5 years now, and most of the stuff I play is Christian worship music. I don't play solos or riffs or anything like that--mostly just rhythm guitar, and occasionally I'll do some vocals as well.

If this amp got lost or stolen, I' don't necessarily know that I'd get a new one, simply because I don't really have much use for it. It sounds great and it's a sweet amp and I'd recommend it--don't get me wrong--it's just that I got it essentially for free with the Gretsch, and all I use it for is practicing in my bedroom. I'd definitely miss it if it disappeared, but I don't know if I would miss it enough to go seek out another one.

Overall a great amp. If you want something with great clean sounds and both great reverb and chorus effects, then I would definitely recommend checking one of these out.

I found this beauty in a pawn shop here by the Jersey shore. I play a Squier Standard Strat and use my Digitech effects pedal. This amp is great for my funk, jazz, and reggae, but the gain is powerful on this one...I plug in my ole Washburn shredder w/powersound and I'm in Linkin Park....I have the Mexico amp without the red lights..probally a 1996 - 98 model...try one they are all over the web.

I have low budget axes, so the amp improves the sound..bright..the chorus is rich/deep..you have to do some tweekin..there's no dsp on this

it's a Fender, so it's tough and the cosmetics are easy to maintain. any dealer can help you with this one

This is an update to my earlier review in March 2005. I now have two of these amps and use them in stereo. They are both black knob, made in USA amps. I found that although the Jensen P10R speakers had a sweet sound, they also had low volume. I replaced them with four (2 for each amp) Eminence Rajin Cajuns. The other features stay the same except for the reverb tank which I also switched out for an 18" unit. The features are perfect.

Sound is everything for an amp. For a guitar sound, playability and probably looks to a lesser degree are important. For an amp, it's the sound. By switching out the speakers to the Rajun Cajuns, I picked up an incredible amount of headroom for the clean channel. It's now louder than my Deluxe was (sold it, didn't like it). The lows are so powerful that I have to tone them down. I also use a mixer and plug in a Martin acoustic 6 or 12 string J40. I use the Fishman, plus a mike in front of the soundhole. I also mike the voice into the mixer and plug all three into input #1 on the amp. I've got them on two amp stands bought at Musicians Friend. The combination is so successful I don't have to use a separate PA for voice in the small to mid-sized venues that I play. In larger spaces a PA for the voice is mandatory. The Princeton Chorus, in stereo, with the Rajun Cajuns can play in ANY venue. The distortion is also much better through these speakers, although you have to be careful to dial it properly. All solid state distortion can give you the hissies, if the gain and treble are up too high. Excellent blues distortion, but pedals are mandatory for serious metal fuzz. I have a great time with this amp. The stereo chorus effect is great because it alternates between both amps. I place one on either side of the bandstand, stage, or room and it really fills the space with lush sound

Never had a problem with reliability. I love my vintage 1968 Fender Super Reverb, but I realy have to baby it. Tube life, biasing, capacitors that need replacing are a constant worry. The princetons are rock solid. The good thing about using two is that I always have a backup to drive both. If one quits entirely, there's still one to go.

I have NEVER used Fender for any kind of customer support. My local music store does the job.

These amps are light. I'm not a gorilla and can carry one in each hand and walk up a flight of stairs. These amps sound WAY BETTER than any other Fender solid state I ever heard, and I prefer them to some of the tube re-issues. The instruments I use are ALL Strats. I have five of them including a 12 string. The combination is great. As I wrote earlier, it's also fine for acoustic instruments. The total price for both amps, and four speakers was still WAY less than the cheapest re-issue. Price paid reflects TOTAL PRICE for everything

This was originally purchased as a practice amp and it became my favorite amp. 2 channels reverb and chorus. more than I'll ever need I'm not an effects guy. But these features always sounded good. An effects loop with stereo outs I rarely ever used but it was nice to have. I've used this as a preamp into a twin reverb and to my recollection this was the greatest sound I'd ever heard. I often found myself practicing with the amp by itself then preamping a tube amp when giging. but my favorite feature was the weight, its alot of sound in a small light wieght package. Its plenty loud for small or medium sized gigs unless you want tinitus.

The only solid state of that era that I could say was a 9. Tweaking it to any style is quick and easy. I play all styles and all types of gitters Les Pauls with humbuckers,I got a bluse hawk with P90s and an american dlx stat. all of them sounded good with this amp.I am amazed how that fender tube clean was so faithfully reproduced in this amp.

100% satisfaction! I drug this amp ever where and played it hard. I never did anything but enjoyed its performance.

I've own several fender products and swear by them. I've had no problems with fender or fender dealers. they have all been great.

Ive blown up countless marshalls and it didn't really bother me I'd just go buy another, or trade or steal one. I bought a new tube combo marshall and it went to the shop 3 times. I took it back to the dealer and trade it for the princeton and never looked back. I play exclusivly fender amps now. Unfortunatly marshall is the only product I can compare them to. Ive been playing 30 years and usually I'm almost always got the best sound in any room. Due more to experience than anthing else. I'm a true sound hound. We all know you can beat a tube amp. but the princeton chorus has enough good atributes to make it a contender in all aspects.

Black knob version. Standard Fender speakers. Ditto on all the other features outlined in previous reviews. Not loaded with a lot of extras. Would love a master volume knob. Has two inputs, which can be very helpful for rehearsing if you need to plug someone in unexpectedly and for using the amp as a makeshift PA. I'll give it an 8 because of the missing master volume and no headphone jack.

I bought this amp new in the late 90???s. As a gigging musician in LA, I wanted to help clarify some of the reviews that might confuse other users, particularly about 1) loudness and 2) the ever elusive ???overdrive??? channel.

My setup: 1972 Fender Mustang Competition or Parker Fly Deluxe>MXR MS-1 Super Comp>Menatone Red Snapper Overdrive>Boss Blues Drive>Boss CE-3 Chorus>Boss DD-6 Delay>Digitech Digiverb. In the past, I have also used a Digitech RP-20 on the front of all this for other effects.

This amp sounds awesome. And I agree with all the other users who cite the built-in chorus ??? it truly is beautiful ??? lush and full ??? better than any pedal you are going to be able to purchase and it is foot switchable, so who could ask for more. The clean channel is a joy to behold and only gets better with good effects ??? nice, warm, round, clear and super clean. As for loudness, however, my experience as a gigging player in most of Los Angeles??? mid to large-size clubs, is it is not loud enough to pull off a full band situation in anything larger than a ???small??? venue, especially if there is a bar nearby. When I bought this amp, my band was a rock/R&B project with a hard hitting drummer, keyboard player, bassist and two background vocalists. After playing several gigs, I became frustrated with the inability to hear myself onstage and went out and bought a 100W Marshall combo. I continued to use that amp as my primary gigging amp for the rest of my 10-year stint in the LA club scene. For those who say it???s plenty loud, I would say their use would have to be one of the following: playing at home (let???s face it ??? you can be on 3 and be too loud at home), church gigs, very small coffeehouse set ups, small low-key blues/jazz clubs with very good PAs, or any other small gig where the audience is more silent than not. If you are doing anything else including any kind of rock gig where you have a full band and a talking/drinking/mind-numbingly loud audience in front of you ??? forget it. Even miced up and running through the PA, you will likely not hear yourself onstage, which I found to be ultimately too frustrating to put up with. In my later gigging years, I used it as the primary amp for an electric violin setup in a theater situation, and it was absolutely perfect for that setting. I also used it as a makeshift PA in a small rehearsal space (for vocals, loop machines, and random other instruments) and it worked very well. It???s light-weight and very portable ??? fits nicely in any car and won???t kill your back to haul around.

As for the distortion ???channel,??? my .02 as a gigging rock player was that it was absolutely useless. Whatever warm squishiness you can get out of it in your bedroom will immediately go away as soon as you are in a cold hostile hard surfaced club. Coupled with the fact that it is also not very loud and very one dimensional (you can???t get a beefy distortion with a hint of edge on it like you need in a club), it just does not have enough versatility to meet the demands of playing live. The ???presence??? knob does not give you anywhere enough control over the sound that an EQ would, the mid-boost button provides nothing but muddiness, and the absence of a master volume control on the amp in general, makes switches between the two channels very difficult as you can???t adjust one without adjusting the other. If you are solo artist, it is possible you could get this channel to work for you live if you are not too demanding of your sound. It will never sound like tube distortion to me, but I guess you could call me ???picky??? in that department.


For recording, I think you can???t get better than this amp for the price. It is quiet, clean and provides a nice balanced tone for home recording which doesn???t require a lot of gain to sound great. For clean sounds with some delay or a nice reverb, it is absolutely the bomb. You may be able to coax something out of the distortio

Excellent. I have gigged with it for many years with no noise, issues or fixes. The pots are starting to get scratchy, but that is just cleaning. I have gigged with it without a backup and not worried. Everything is solid.

Never used them.

This is a great small setting amp with a truly awesome clean and chorus sound. I???m going to do the Jensen P10R upgrade to the speakers just because I think if it can sound any better, it will just knock my socks off for home recording and my small gigs. This amp was one of the best investments I ever made, even needing to buy something more powerful after the fact. I expect that I will use it throughout my lifetime and get it worked on if it ever needs repairs. If it was stolen, I would absolutely try to find another one, even if it needed refurbishing.

Late 1990's made in USA 2X10 version. Best chorus on earth. Worst distortion on earth. See comments.

This is an update to my previous review a short time ago. I was unhappy that the amp sounded a bit dark for a Fender, so I started experimenting with different speakers and quite by accident, I came across a combination that is just phenomenal. If you want the amp to sound clearer and bloom like crazy, keep one of the original Fender ceramic speakers in it and replace the other with one Jensen P10R 8 ohm. I can tell you that the result is just incredible. If you put two P10Rs in it, the whole affect worsens and you get blackboard scratching treble. Try the combination-it works! For overdrive/distortion, I use an MXR GT-OD pedal. It's the most natural overdrive I have heard yet, at a decent price.

Mine is a used amp and so far it has been reliable for months.

Not needed it.

Once you swap the one speaker, it makes it sound like an expensive tube amp. It's a keeper!

Made in USA but not the earlier red-knob model, which seems to be attracting vintage buyers on eBay for some reason. 25 watts per channel solid state stereo chorus amp. Other postings cover the features. Use it mainly for practice, but look forward to gigging with it in small rooms if anyone ever wants to hear me play.

The reason I'm writing this review is that I swapped the speakers, replacing both standard Fender (Eminence-made) 10" with "The Copperhead" speakers, also by Eminence. This improved the amp's clarity, particularly the Telecaster (w/ Vintage Noiseless) but also on a humbucking guitar (old Ibanez Concert series solid body). I'm not too happy about the extreme clarity, though, when playing on my hollowbody jazz guitars. (You can't have everything, I guess.) I imagine for a rock sound you could try the Eminence "Ragin' Cajun," which would definitely give you more volume than "The Copperhead." (I've A/B'd them in other small SS amps and the volume difference is noticable.) I use the distortion channel sparingly (see other posts for how to do that with the gain, presence, and limiter knobs--very helpful), a DigiTech Bad Monkey, and Boss EQ pedal to boost the gain. The amp's footswitch and the two stomp boxes give me a nice variety of options, including a clean boost with the EQ. To echo what others have to say further down, there's no getting away from the fact that the PC sounds like a solid state amp, but a quality solid state amp. Gives you that glassy Fender clean that no other amp can seem to quite manage, and that's the draw for me. Stereo chorus is nice, particuarly when combined with some distortion, either the amp's or a pedal's.

Had to get it re-soldered at a local shop. I bought it used and the previous owner probably traded it in because it was getting unreliable. Developed a loud hum for me. Amp was $250 + another $65 to get it fixed, but the owner of the shop said he'd fix it again if I had problems later on. Insurance? My reliability issue seems unique, though, as most others in this thread find it pretty reliable. I'm sure mine is too after the fix, but once burned ... I baby my gear anyway.

This model has long been out of production and will only be available in the used market.

Playing since the mid-60s and now practicing a variety of styles, concentrating on Jazz since I didn't have the patience when I was a teenager. Love the blues, though; never could stay away, growing up in Chicago. With a just bit of distortion the PC is real nice for blues work, particularly with the chorus engaged and a little distortion. (Suggestions further down the thread for how to twiddle the knobs.) The stereo chorus is so nice it may break you of using a pedal. Have tried hooking this up with a small SS 25-watt Fender + a delay pedal. Terrific fun. You could also use the stereo effects loop I guess. If you're a metal guy or playing large venues, you're probably not reading this. You'd be real disappointed in this amp's distortion and lack of volume anyway. For geezers like me it's a nice amp. Not too heavy in any sense of the word. ;-)

I bought mine brand new. I went looking for an Ultimate Chorus and wound up with this instead because the overall sound of this little guy beat the crap out of the Ultimate Chorus. Go figure. Anyway, I needed an amp for low to medium output recording and some performance work so this is the one I chose. Looking back I have no regrets. This is feature laden including two 25 watt amps running in stereo with both mono and stereo effects loops that can be combined, and a nice stereo chorus effect, built in. For the venues I play in and for recording, the Fender Princeton Chorus has everything I need, including plenty of volume and a decent overdrive channel, too.

The Princeton Chorus is capable of some very lush, sparkling Fender clean tones at low to medium volume levels using a Les Paul with PAF pickups and a Telecaster.
The overdrive channel is useful only for a slight overdrive. I use the overdrive at 1 or 2 with the mid-boost engaged to provide a nice boost for the clean channel. That's what it's good for-nothing else.
A lot of people want distortion or very heavy metal type sounds from "channel 2" but that's not what this amp is about. It has a single channel with a built in overdrive. It works fine for me, but I can understand why so many put down the overdrive. Seasoned players who appreciate a little "hair" on top of their clean / blues / jazz tones will appreciate the overdrive circuitry.
Most modern guys will have to look elsewhere, or use a pedal with the clean. I have used a Blue Tube pedal and I am satisfied with the boost that it gives the clean channel. Mostly I just use the amp's OD.
The stereo chorus makes the clean channel absolutely shine. It flat out swirls and gives the amp a much bigger sound. Reverb is pretty decent, too. Stock speakers sound excellent. I love the pure tone that this amp delivers with or without the chorus. The headphone jack is stereo and the sound is beautiful.
I'm using this with a Gibson Les Paul standard and a Fender Custom Telecaster with a humbucker at the neck. Both sound good with the Princeton.
Dead quiet amp. I play clean oldies rock n roll, classic rock, blues and a little hard rock.

Never had a problem. I mean ZERO problems. This is well built. Mine is the original issue of this amp with the ugly red knobs from that era of Fender. (I bought a set of black knobs on Ebay for 10 bucks that came on the Mexican models because I hated those red knobs!) The American made models just seem to have everything done right in my opinion.

Got a schematic from them with the amp. Also came with a manual that explains all the features and tips for getting the most out of the features. Never had to call them about anything so no opinion.

Over the years this has been a perfect match for the work I do, either recording or live shows. Some have said it's a really good rendition of a Twin Reverb sound at about 25% of the volume. I have owned two Twins over the years and the Princeton Chorus can achieve some of that Twin Reverb mojo but it's never going to take the place of the real thing. For a good all around medium volume amp this is hard to beat. Sounds good at low to medium volume and with headphones. It probably has the best stereo chorus of any amp. I would buy another one of these in a new york minute.