Fender Princeton Chorus

I purchased this solid state amp, used, on ebay. Looks to be about 5-7 years old. The important thing for me that it was made in the USA, not Mexico, China, Korea or Viet Nam. The later models are built in Mexico. And, I was looking for a 2X10 like the discontinued Marshall JTM 30s-they sound pretty cool and look the best, but go for a lot of bucks on Ebay, so I thought this amp would be a good alternative. The JTMs are not built too well and apparently self destruct after a while from the inherent heat buildup from their tube-design. The Princeton Chorus has a clean channel, a distortion channel and a chorus channel; with footswitch and "Fender Specially Designed" speakers. It has jacks on the front to do a lot of stuff; personally, I can do without it all, just looking for good quality clean sound and basic amp in general. It has a lot of versatility and I use mine only at home, not gigging at this time.

To my ears, with my Strat and Gibsons, the clean channel sounds very good but not in the same league as tube Fenders nor other more recent solid state Fenders (I've owned several Deluxe 90's and Stage 100's which are very Fendery but are very loud). The Princeton Chorus does not have that true Fender sparkle but does have a very good sound overall. Perhaps I am not used to the 2X10 setup but the more I use it, I do like it. I suspect that replacing the stock speakers would help this amp to go more in a Fender direction: I know others have recommended Jensen P10rs or Webers and I am considering those options, because I want to keep this amp. The thing I do like about this amp is that the volume comes up very slowly and is good for use at home without blowing the windows out. With the 2X10 configuration, it is a full sounding amp too. The distortion channel is really really really (trust me) bad, so I don't use it. The chorus channel, on the other hand, is spectacular and is really cool to use. I have owned several top notch chorus pedals, and somehow, this amp beats them all. The best way I can describe it is that the chorus on this amp is very open, airy and natural sounding. Fender should package this chorus sound in a pedal and they would sell a million of them! So the clean channel and chorus channel persuaded me that this amp is a keeper. I would love to hear speaker replacement reviews and recommendations from others who own this amp.

So far, have used it without any problems for several months, at home. Seems gigable but I am not sure it would be loud enough with a band.

No need so far, for customer support.

I have been playing over 25 years and I play classic rock, rock, country, southern blues, etc. I would replace this amp with the same thing if I had to, as I do like it a lot. The chorus channel is a riot, really nice. I wish it had less amount of jacks on the front panel and since the distortion channel is useless, they might as well not built it into it, but nevertheless, a good quality, fun to use USA made amp. Recommended.

Mine is the later black knob variety. I've had it since about 1997, playing Strats and Teles doing everything from triphop/electronic to cowpunk altcountry dub. I didn't know per se I was going to be doing all that when I got the amp, but I had a hunch when I played it in the store that it would fit in with whatever I was going to be doing. If that makes any sense. And I was right.

Like:
- FX loop (though not switchable).
- The chorus is quite pretty.

Don't like:
- Reverb is not footswitchable.
- The channel switching is pointless ('overdrive' channel is useless).

I don't know why they include an 'overdrive' channel on things like this. I guess it's a failsafe in case you spent your last dollar on this amp and won't be able to finish buying your rig, and you just have no other distortion source. If you wanted to play straight guitar->amp, you'd buy a tube amp.

Having said that, the clean sound is just beautiful. Full, deep lows, chimey highs, maybe a little rolled off in the sparkle area but that's all right with me. Mids are solid, maybe a little honky, but again, to me that's just how guitars should sound. I love it...ten years on and I can still plug in and hit an open clean chord and just grin for a while.

It takes very nicely to my pedals/racks/devices jungle. With a tube preamp tweaked right it really sounds like an old tube Fender breaking up. I've played Rhodes and analog synths through it with great results too.

Over the past ten years it's been left in vans in bad weather for days on end, stored in leaky drafty garages, many a spider's made his home in the back. I've had it up in the mountains at music festivals in dust and rain, it flew to Hawaii, fell out the back of a VW Bus onto concrete, had beers spilled over it, been kicked over more times than I can remember. I have never given it the slightest care, not cleaned a jack nor even wiped off the grill.

It seems to really like this treatment, and has had no failures, no scratchy controls, and sounds as good as the day I bought it. I plan to be meaner to it in the future.

See above. Fender tossed this bird out of the nest and expected it to fly; why would they need to be bothered with it now?

Can you tell I love my amp? Look, I know it's a cheap solid state small-wattage piece of junk. It's not some Dumble vintage hotrod tonemeister. But I'm a gadget junky, I like sticking boxes together to make sounds, so I can get my reactive organic overdrive sounds with boxes. So for me an amp comes down to clean sound, and the clean sound of this amp is deep and chiming and full as I could ever want, even A-B'd next to those expensive amps.

I only took off a point due to the existence of the distortion channel. If it didn't have that they could have used the space in the unit to give me a parallel effects loop and switching for the reverb & loop.

Check out the previous review. Dude caught all the features but I totally disagree with his rating of the overdrive channel. Read on...

The previous reviewer talked about how good the clean sound is. I agree totally. It is beautiful with or without the killer stereo analog chorus. Thing is, I use the overdrive all the time and I think it sounds killer, too. Here's the thing on the Princeton Chorus. It is really a one channel amp. If you like the raw American guitar tone of groups from the sixties and seventies then you will really dig this overdrive sound. Limiters and active presence controls are perfect for taming gain but they are not tone controls.
Here's the deal. When you buy a cool pedal to use with an amp's clean channe you will usually mess with the amp's tone controls to get the most from the pedal, right? With the princeton chorus you have to do that, too. It's a clean channel amp so when you use the overdrive, you're going to have to mess with the clean channel tone controls. If you think you can use the presence and limiter to shape the tone of the overdrive then you'll be frustrated. Think of the amp as a one channel amp with tone control, and an overdrive. Think like this and you will get the coolest tones in both clean and overdrive.
I love the sound of this amp for its old time "Fender with Jensen speakers" sound. It matches up with that vibe. Good old American Fender tone. You'll never mistake the sound for a Marshall amp. I doesn't do that. If you dig the raw, American Fender tone then you want one of these.
Reverb is okay.
Chorus is super adjustable and beats hell out of digital chorus. Sounds nice with overdrive, too.
Gear I use: Fat Strat and Les Paul. Both have upgraded pickups.
Styles I play: Classic rock, surf-a-billy, hard rock, lite jazz. No metal.

Great sounds from this little amp. Best 250 I ever spent on a Solid state amp.

I use the clean channel with a Boss ME 5 pedal. I never use the overdrive but there are two channels on this. The reverb is very nice and the amp has a terrific stereo chorus. Two effects loops that can be run in stereo or mono. Two 10" Fender speakers. Nice black tolex. Red knobs against a black panel. Mid boost on the overdrive channel. Active presence on the overdrive and a limiter to tame the gain on the overdrive channel. No master volume. Lots of options for crafting my tone.

I love the way this amp takes to pedals. I love the way it sounds without pedals, too. The clean channel is stupidly lucious and catches the Fender traditional clean tone. It is one of the best sounding amps I have ever played through with my Les Paul or my Strat.
Now for the skinny on the overdrive. IT SUCKS TOMATO PASTE! I never use it and I don't care. This amp is perfect in the clean department and makes pedals sound great.

This is the perfect mid-sized amp with tone that rivals good tube amps. I've been a player for forty years and I know good tone. As a clean amp it is extraordinary. Add that lucious stereo chorus and a nice overdrive pedal and you've got a serious ass kicking rig for smaller venues. It's just about perfect.

This is a review for an early 90s PC with the red channel knobs. It has 2 10" Fender speakers, two channels, spring reverb and a nice stereo chorus effect. It's lightweight and portable.

A lot of these reviewers focus on how nice the clean channel is. It is very nice and very Deluxe Reverb-ish. But come on, the overdrive channel is where this amp shines. The controls on this channel are nothing like what you are used to on most dual channel amps. You have a gain knob and a limiter knob and a presence knob, PLUS a mid shift button and a volume control. The channel EQ is the same as the EQ for the clean channel-both channels share one EQ.
The OD channel can go from a light overdrive to a nice fat crunch and believe me, the sound is just incredible. It's an overdriven tube sound that I have never been able to duplicate on any other solid state amp. It's the interaction with the gain, presence and limiter that does it. I use the mid boost too, for a fuller, richer overdrive tone. I can't say enough about this channel's sound. It is pure tube tone with harmonics and dynamics. The sustain is incredible. Playing solos on this channel is a dream because the limiter effect makes for a fast attack when speed picking but it creates a nice harmonic bloom when holding a single note. Single notes bloom right into harmonic feedback EVERY TIME! I love it...it's so predictable that it's scary. I've never owned another amp that did this so well.
I never use any pedals with it because there is no need. If you want to use it for metal, you'll need a pedal for sure and it takes to pedals just fine.
If hard rock and blues is your thing then this is all you need whether you play single coil or humbucking type guitars. It's astonishingly versatile and has tone to die for. The stereo chorus is also superb. It's an all analog chorus so no digital hiss or artificial after-tones, just pure shimmer with adjustable depth and rate. Gawd...I love it!

If you're looking for a sweet amp for jazz, blues or rock that is lightweight and versatile this is it. All you need is the amp and the channel switching pedal that comes with it. The switch turns the chorus on and off and switches the channels. This amp KILLS no matter how you look at it. GET ONE!!!!!!

Everything's already said in other reviews

The clean channel is superb. Clear sound from 1 to 5, and it starts to distort above 5.
The drive channel is very dynamic, but needs a bit of learning on how to get the good sound. With low gain settings it gives a nice driven sound, turning it up can get some ugly fuzzy but there is where presence and limiter knobs make its magic.
Spring reverb is deep and quiet.
Chorus swithes speaker to true stero, producing a real wide sound, very effective with low depth and clean channel.

I usually play with a standard stratocaster plugged directly to the amp, mainly on the clean channel up above 5, so it gets a slightly cranked clean much like a fender tube amp. Drive channel with moderated gain to break into some solo.
Also play acoustic guitar with it, a great sound with clean channel, reverb and slight chorus.

The amp has never broken down.
The only problem i'm having is noise on some knobs (after 7 years of heavy use), but this is just dust and i am too lazy to clean them up.

Never had any issue about this

This is a great compact amp. Good sound for playing small gigs, and easy to carry.

I own a Fender Super Reverb tube amp, so i can faithfully compare the sound, and its as good as it gets with solid state for that price.
I still use this Princeton because the Super Reverb monster is not suitable for many situations.

If i need to replace this amp i would look for another fender solid state, probably for other model, but not because i dont like this one.

Mine is the older red knobbed PC. I bought it in 2000 used, of course. Lucky for me this little guy was treated with real respect and therefore it was delivered to me in near dead mint shape by its original owner. It was made in the early 1990s in Brea California, presumably close to those famous tar pits. Hmmm...
This is a single channel amp but it has an overdrive circuit built into the preamp section that adds a solid state gain circuit with a signal limiter, active presence control and a volume control. If this circuit were in a pedal, it would be an expensive, boutique type designed to push an amp into a crunchy overdrive. It is NOT brutal at all but can be set from near clean to mild overdrive to solid crunch to heavy Marshall-esque CRUNCH. It won't go past that however. So if you need a "modern" distortion tone don't waste your dough on this one. But for those who like that 70s style overdrive crunch made famous on a million records from the era (from Argent to Zepplin) you will really appreciate the wonderful, warm overdrive in this little amp.

As for the clean side of the PC; it is pure Fender-O! With a Strat, G&L Tele and a Les Paul I get that old school, signature Fender sound. It's got all the features a little 2 X 10 amp should have including reverb, analog chorus, mono and stereo effects loops, two fine sounding 10" Fender speakers and channel / chorus switching with a footswitch. Oh yeah...cool stereo headphone switch too. Mucho Groovy Amigos! And it's light as a feather too. It ain't terribly loud but for small to medium sized rooms it will do.

This amp has real Fender character and chime going for it. It simply has "that Fender sound." If you have an appreciation for the Fender Princeton Reverb or the Fender Deluxe sound then you really will be knocked out by the clean channel. As mentioned this is not a terribly loud amp with 2 X 25 watts pushing a pair of 10" Eminence made Fender speakers. Nevetheless it has that lovely Fender tone, which when combined with a nice reverb sends forth an unmistakable Fender vibe.
The chorus is analog and therefore it is not terribly deep like the digital stuff. What it IS is warm and soft with a swirlly, stereo vibe. The volume is reduced a hair when it is activated but not terribly so. The reverb tank is a smallish one but the reverb is DEEP and pure Fender-O. Surf approved, cowabunga dude.

The Overdrive is great for soloing or crunchy rhythms. The active presence and signal limiter combined with the mid-boost all conspire to give the overdrive channel real versatility and great sustain. I'm talking bluesy, Stones grit to Zep crunch to Carlos smooth...it's very versatile! You can actually turn the gain down so low as to have a second clean channel if you want one at a certain loudness and the second at a higher volume level.
Overall this little guy has a strong Fender pedigree. As others have commented in this forum, it is arguably the best sounding Fender solid state amp ever produced. Sounds at least as good as my Roland BC 30, with more features.

I use this as a creative tool for comping, rehearsing material and occasionally for recording, which it is well suited for. This is THE quintessential recording amp. It's also lightweight and small enough so it moves easily to rehearsal / recording spaces in the back seat of my car.
As for gigging with it I use it for coffee house venues, which it's perfect for. I play the coffee house gigs with two acoustic players and this amp is the best fit for an acoustic background of all my amps. Never had a serious problem with this amp.
Other than a slight glitch with channel switching from time to time she's never given me a problem. It's about average for a solid state amp in terms of reliability.

I started playing in 1965. I've owned, borrowed, rented too many amps to remember all of them but a few stand out...like this one. If it had the trem of my Silver faced Princeton Reverb it would be perfect. Compared to other Fender solid state amps like the Dyna Touch and Roc Pro or the new DSP lines (including the Princeton Chorus DSP), this amp beats the crap out of them. It uses the old TL 072 op amps throughout with a dynamic, surrounding RC network for each of them. From an engineering viewpoint the guys at Fender did a fine job in producing a wonderful sounding "pure Fender" sound machine. I love mine and wouldn't part with it.
Other gear I own:
Fender Princeton, Fender Super Reverb, Fender Bandmaster, Marshall JCM 800 & 900, Carvin Nomad, Roland BC 30, Fender Champ 25SE and a bunch of old school pedals-all analog.
Guitars are two 70s Strats, Les Paul standard, Les Paul custom, G & L ASAT, Heritage H 150 goldtop and a couple cheap Ibanez shred guitars. If you want a nice, inexpensive, medium powered stereo amp with character and vibe then you won't be disappointed with the PC chorus. No pedals needed with this amp. Just plug in and play away!

This is a quintessential solid state amp, which means what you put in is what you will get out. It might have that extra "glassy shimmer" that any solid state amp has, but it represents the signal pretty well. It sounds much better than most non DSP SS amps out there.

The Bass Mid Treble controls give you great treatment of the sound and allow one to dial in a great "tonal foundation" that could be then refined with any EQ pedal.

The Overdrive channel can be manipulated by the Bass Mid Treble controls. I belive this is a great feature that is not always found on many solid state distortion channels.

There Limmiter and Presence controls work well in conjunction and will allow the user to dial in many different types of tube-style overdrive. Remember, this is an OVERDRIVE channel and not a Distortion channel, therefore this circuit is intended to emulate the sound of a tube amp breaking up from high voltage levels in the power stage. If you want insane distortion you are going to have figure out how to create that on your own.

The Reverb is pretty good. It has a little noise, but better than most.

The chorus is something interesting. Straight from the 80's.

The clean channel is perfect for just about any lower volume application. I think that most musicians have become entirely obsessed with loudness. I personally believe that a more sonically rich and generally enjoyable sound can be created by just lowering the volume. . . .and that is for ANY kind of music. Some of the BEST performance groups (rock or otherwise) have their reputation because they have a grip on how to dial in a good sound without blowing out everyones eardrums.

THAT IS WHERE THIS AMP COMES IN!

Some of the best sounds from this amp are generated by using the Overdrive channel at lower gain settings in conjunction with the limiter. You can dial in some really tube-like sounds if you want. With the overdive section set mildly, turning the mid eq down with bass and treble up you can sound like a tweed.

Don't get me wrong, I love vintage amps and their sound, but for the most part the average person is going to be able to tell the difference. This amp does a better job than most. Remember the best musicians did the best they could with what they had. . .and THAT is how some of the best music was created . . HANDS DOWN.

It seems reliable.

This amp is great. It is the second solid state amp that I have owned for any long period of time.

One last thing, everyone is always talking about how "it ain't no tube amp!" and everything else, but in the same line of thinking no tube amp can ever sound like a solid state amp. And if you own a tube amp you are going to be presented with an entirely different set of sonic restrictions and the like. If you need an amp and you have an extra $275 I would consider one of these as an option.

first decent amp. 125 watts, bought it used and i think it was made in 1998 or so. my style is usually rock/metal with some blues and jazz feel thrown in and the amp is quite good for those styles. for more metal youd want to go with something like a marshall probably, but this works just fine. fender clean tones are amazing. has channel switching manually or via footswitch. wish it had a flanger, phaser or delay.a built in tuner- that would be nice, but its a very nice amp. use the amp at home and it has tons of power

ibanez rx170 with duncans and a floyd 1. it suits my stule very well- loud when i need it, not so loud when i need it but note deffinition is still good. noisy a bit on the single coil mode and overdrive on, but thats not out of the norm, the chorus is nice, but i wish i could control the volume of it not by the main channel. ie go from a loud chours volume to a low clean chanel just by steping on the footswitch- ie 2 volumes. distortion isnt super brutal- its a built in effect- what do you expect, but it does the job for me. clean channel isnt too distorted that i can tell at high volumes

i can depend on it. i would gig it without a back up, but that would be stupid- everything breaks at one point or another. never broken down on me tho

never dealt with them- bought it used from a friend and i woudlnt really expect fender to waranty it- its used and probably past the waranty.

playing for about 6 months or so. own the ibanez, this amp and a jackson js-20. if it were lost or stolen, id buy something from line 6 used. something that has way more efects in it. i like its size, its output, its ease of use. dont really hate too much- just wish it had a few more effects. didnt compare it to others- bought it from a friend used who wouldnt sell his line 6 ax2

Excellent features. This is a lightweight amp with plenty of character. In my opinion, it is the best solid state amp that Fender made. The headphone jack is great for silent practice (not disturbing others in the room) I bought a pair of Senheiser phones and with the chorus on, ooo my, very nice. The distortion is surprisingly good. You can play at LOW volumes and get a good crunch. To get the same crunch from a tube amp you have to play much louder. The stereo chorus is very fine. I was going to replace the reverb tank with an 18" unit, but the short tank sounds very good.

I made an important mod to this amp. I replaced the stock speakers with the Jensen AlNiCo P10R. You have no idea how sweet it sounds. I have a Fender Deluxe with an extension cabinet. Both have a Jensen P12N speaker. The Princeton Chorus has just as good a low end as the Deluxe. I could not believe the richness of tone. Fender uses these speakers in the VibroKing, the Super Reverb, The Bassman, and the Vibrolux. Do yourself a favor, go to Vintagespeaker.com and get two of these P10Rs from Joe Scinta. Your Princeton Chorus will come alive. It's got great clean and the distortion is first rate for blues and some lighter metal. Dynamite sound. Plays much bigger than the 25 watts output.

Mine is obviously a used amp, made in the United States. Absolutely rock solid.

I found mine on E-bay. I admit that you have to be careful when purchasing ANYTHING online. The first Princeton Chorus I got was supposed to be mint, but when it arrived it was a trashed piece of garbage. That caused me many headaches. The second amp was totally pristine. The seller is an honorable person. You can find these in excellent condition (it makes no difference whether it is made in Mexico or the USA, both are fine) for under 275.00 It's probably the best deal on a truly superior solid state amp. Please write me if you want any other info on the sound. Oh, by the way, the Jensen speakers bolt right in. The whole switch only took ten minutes.