Fender Princeton Chorus

I purchased this red knob amp new in 1989 for $350 after much research and haggeling with local music stores. I wanted a versatal amp that I could just plug into and play without needing a lot of stomp boxes to get the soud I was looking for; good clean to slightly gritty, sought of that Beatles "I've got a feeling" sound. My amp at the time was a 1967 Fender Delux Reverb "Black Face", great amp but not easy to get the sound I was after without cranking it to ear bleeding volumns or using a tube screemer. I was also looking for a good clean jazz sound that my deluxe could not produce with my Les Paul.
The Princeston Chorus provided me with both as well as the most beautiful stero chorus that I have ever heard. It has far exceeded my expextations and as it approaches it's 20th birthday I am blown away to see how popular it has become with other players.
My other amps are the 67 deluxe reverb and a 2007 Fender Blues Deluxe Re-issue; all are great for different reasond but for clean that stays together without sounding solid state the Prinston Chorus wins hands down.
I have been playing since I was 7 and am 48 now, I love 60's rock / blues, Clapton, Buddy Guy, BB King, Beatles, as well as SRV, Hendricks, Steely Dan. I've been in bands, played gigs, but nowadays, I sit out on the back deck and jamb with a friend or two once in a while but mostly play for my own satisfaction. As far as power goes, it's not as loud as my Black Face and my Blues deluxe blows both away. As far as features, it has all I need for what I play and I have an RP-90 for when I need more and a drummer that I can controll.

Gets a bit noisy when you turn the gain up but not more then other amps.
I play a 2007 Gibson Les Paul Blond Beauty Standard (another love story}, a 1982 Ibanaz Artist AC (striped to natural and beautfuly refinished) and a 1997 Fender Strat Deluxe.
As I said abouve, This amp sounds natural and clean at high voulms, perfect for jazzy chords (John Lennon would love this amp).
I think that the limiter is a fantastic controll for smoothing the gain and adding endless sustain at high gain settings. I also love the touch sensitive dynamics of this amp, it reacts like a fender tube amp.

Two things have happenend in the las twenty years; the grill cloth tore so I bought origional Blackface Fender grill cloth and replace it, it looks sooo much better then the origional cloth and looks great next to my blackface. The second thing was the volume poy and the master volumn pot got srcatchie. I am please to pass along a little trick that fixed the problem, I removed the head and blew out the pots with my compressor and sprayed a drop of WD-40 in each. If they fail again I will replace them, I have done it before on Fender amps (replaced the linear taper volumn and master on my blues deluxe with Fender audio taper for better controll of volumn at lower settings). As I have indicated above I have a 42 yr old black face (3rd owner) and it still plays and sounds great with minimal maintenance, Fender still build quality amps.

Never had to use it and I hope I never will, at 20yrs old I will take care of repairs myself or take it to a trustworthy tec for things I cannot handle if the need arises.

This amp is a 10 in every aspect, it's intuitive controlls allows quick and easy dial in and tweaking of the sound I am looking for.
If it were stolen or lost then we would need to talk about my gun collection. Other products? I love fender amps, not all ( I hate the new DSP junk) but the three that I have sound boutique enough to me.
Is there anytrhing I wish it had? I don't know green LED's instead of red? No, I can think of nothing, it is by far the best SS amp that I have ever heard and easily compares to two of the best sounding tube amps that I have ever heard.

Do not know the year, I bought it off of ebay. It is made in Mexico, as if that makes a difference. Two 10 inch speakers. This amp fits my needs very well. I play country, gospel and Christian. The clean channel is super. The gain channel is OK. The stereo chorus is the best I have ever used. This is two amps in one having two power amplifiers, 25 watts each, therefore creating the stereo sound. Don't let tha wattage scare you this amp gets plenty loud! As stated in the manual this is "virtually" a two channel amp, but not exactly. If it had EQ's for the gain channel it would have received a 10. I never use effects loops, but this has a set of mono and stereo loops. The headphone jack doubles as a line out, I do like and use that. The presence and limiter knobs help the gain channel and I do like the mid-boost button. You can get several tonal options. The reverb is signature Fender. I use this amp at churches and small parties and outdoor functions. Has plenty of power for me. It is solid state, but don't let that bother you. Light weight, easy to haul around. I think it weighs 38 lbs.

This amp has the sound I have been looking for for, in a small package! I use strats and teles. All with stock single coils. I have never played a guitar with humbuckers through it so I have no idea how that would sound. For an idea how the clean channel sounds go to YouTube and enter Don Rich Buckaroo. With my tele I can match his sound perfectly! I love the Chimey sound of the clean channel on a Fender amp. My father had a twin reverb and this amp can sound just as good as that, just not as loud. It has a SMALL amount of hum, and I do mean SMALL. A pleasant surprise since I use single coils. As I stated before the stereo chorus is luscious! Of course when the amp has chorus in the name you would expect this. I don't play at high volumes so I don't know if the clean channel distorts of not. I don't care if it does. I haven't had the volume louder than 5 and I don't want to stand directly in front of it then! If you play bang your head slap your momma stuff SKIP this amp. The gain channel works for me I just wish it had a separate EQ. When I use the gain channel I barely turn the gain up, just enough to give it a little fuzz. I like it, some don't. Thats why they make so many different amps. People cannot believe such loud and wonderful sounds come out of so small a package.

I don't own a back-up amp. I have never had a problem. I bought it off of eBay and when it was delivered the box looked as if it had been rolled down a mountain and drug behind the truck! Pulled it out of the box, plugged it in, turned it on, worked perfectly and has for quite some time now. For reliability you cannot beat solid state. I have no idea how it was treated before I got it and have no idea how old it is. It does have a few scrapes and tears in the tolex, but I don't think that is from abuse just use. If an amp is hauled around it is going to show it. I never worry about it breaking down. I guess it could break down. Only the Shadow Knows! Oops I'm showing my age now.

Never used it.

I have been playing for 37 years. I own to much gear to list, just ask my wife! If I lost this amp I would go directly to eBay and find another. My favorite thing about this amp, other than the clean channel, is the weight. I'm to old and stove up to lug an 80 lb amp around. I have played through a myriad of amps over the years and I can tell you, for my taste in music, Fender amps are the best. If I had a roadie I would probably get a twin reverb, but at this point in the game I don't see that happening! If I could change one thing I would add an EQ on the gain channel. If you are reading this then you are interested in one of these amps. Just remember that " A Great Sounding Amp!" is subjective. The only way I know to find out if you like an amp or not is to plug YOUR guitar into it and play.

Mid-90's MIM model. You should know the basic specs by now. I'll make note, though of the features that I take into consideration in giving my rating: Really only one channel with an overdrive button, gain knob and shared EQ. Nice limiter, however, for the overdrive and a presence knob. My favorite features are the spring reverb and all analog true stereo chorus. Never used the effects loops, did appreciate the headphone jack. It took me a long time to find useable tone with the overdrive. Lots of experimenting with the EQ (which needed to be adjusted quite differently than when playing clean) and limiter. Would be nice if it were a true two-channel amp with a second separate EQ for overdrive. Then it would be feasible to channel switch very smoothly in a performance setting.

I played this amp with only a Gibson ES-135, 1996 model with P-100's. The clean sounds, as other previous reviewers have noted, are amazing. For a really nice jazz tone, I'd keep the bass EQ'd around 4, treble at 6ish, and the mids at 8. Add a touch of reverb and chorus depth and rate both set at 2. Playing through the neck pickup with flat-wound .11's sounded fantastic. Very lush, full sound.

However, and this for me was a big however, getting a consistently useable distorted sound was a chore. I play jazz, blues, alt country, and indy rock. For jazz and blues, this amp was fantastic. Not so much, though, for the slightly Wilco-esque distortion I was looking for. Also, I should note that I bought this amp primarily for home recording and practice. To get the distortion breakup I wanted and a tube-ish sustain (which IS possible thanks to the limiter), I had to play at volume levels much higher than my wife or my neighbors appreciated. If I were recording in a studio situation or playing jazz out at small venues, I would have probably kept this amp.

Thick as a brick.

No contact with Fender is always good.

I've been playing now for around 12 years, and am mainly an acoustic multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter recording from home. I own several Martins, a handmade banjo, and a Japanese carved top mandolin in addition to my Gibson ES-135.

I actually just traded away the Princeton Chorus to pick up a VOX 4ACTVH and accompanying 12" speaker cab. I decided that I wanted true tube distortion at much lower volume levels for home recording and practice that won't drive my wife (and baby on the way) crazy. I do already miss the clean sounds and the stereo chorus from the Princeton, but let me tell you, it's nice to switch the VOX's attenuator to 1/4 watt, crank the volume and tone and get pure tube saturation at reasonable home volume levels. Plus, set to 4 watts, the VOX has some nice clean headroom. So, I'm very much aware of the tradeoff I made, and could envision a scenario down the road when I might go out and score another Princeton Chorus (or ideally two to run in stereo) for small jazz gigs.
Bottom line for me is if you're looking for great cleans and dripping, swirling chorus for studio, rehearsal, or small gigs, if you can find one of these for around 200 bucks, you're getting a deal. However, if you're looking for a truly versatile home recording amp that can provide both cleans and easily dialed-up saturated distortion, look elsewhere.

I do not know when this awesome amp was made. I got from my church who wasn't using it anymore because we converted to in-ear monitors. So this amp was in our little sound room collecting dust untill I took it home. It has two channels (Clean and Overdrive) with a chorus effect for both channels. Overall, really good amp. For a solid-state amp, this kicks butt! It is by far the best sounding solid-state that I have ever heard! I use it mainly at home and I crank it when my parents aren't home and it sings! I'm wanting to use it live but I'm gonna have to check with my worship leader for that. I wish it had delay and a crunch channel because in the gain channel it really only sounds great at a pretty high-gain setting.

Well, I'm playing an Epiphone SG G-400 Vintage guitar with all stock pickups (for now.)It sounds pretty good. The clean channel is awesome! Especially with the chorus. It doesn't disort to bad at high volumes but I haven't used it live yet so I don't know. It, for a Fender solid-state, is good for metal, pop, and obviously country. The distortion is great! At high-gain settings it doesn't muddy up. But it is very wimpy when you have it below about 7. Other than that great sounding amp.

We used this at church before and it, from what I know, is pretty reliable. It was pretty dusty when I got it because it was really never used after we swiched to in-ears. But, um... I guess it will do good in a medium sized live situation.

Never dealt with Fender. I've owned this and I used to have the Frontman 15-G amp and it was okay... for an $80 amp.

I haven't been playing very long at all. I can say safely that this is my best amp! (Especially compared to my Estaban G-10!) If it were stolen I don't know what I would do, I would be going crazy that's for sure. I don't have a whole lot of amp experience so I really can't tell you what I compare it with. I wish it had tubes and a seperate crunch channel. Good amp it was a huge blessing from GOD and I'm really happy with it.

Fender Princeton Chorus Red Knob version. Basic Fender reverb, fantastic limiter for great sustain,2 channels,mid range button,presence knob. Used on stage and studio.

I play Blues, Nostalgia Rock and Jazz. These amps "sing to you"! I've owned over 50 amps in my lifetime and this one goes in the top 5 of all of them (and there were many high dollar amps). Not noisy at all and has that classic Fender reverb. I've owned Roland Jazz Chorus and didnt like it as well as the great stereo sound of this amp.Lot's of head room for stage (and when it doesn't have enough, just mic it).You will not be dissapointed

AAA+++ for reliability.

Fender goes hot and cold with customer support, But, they've never let me down.

Playing Pro since the 60's. So, you know that I've played alot of amps.These amps were and are world class. But, as always, Fender decided to quit making them. Seems like every time that they have a winning product, they either discontinue it or change it.Bring these babies back! Especially the Red Knobs! I've owned both models, DSP and Red Knob and I like the Red Knob version alot better. If you can find or get your hands on one, BUY IT QUICKLY! They are slowly disapearing.

Red knob version, chorus, overdrive and reverb, fx loop mono and stereo, foot switch for chorus and overdrive.

For a solid state amp it still had the gorgeous Fender tone I was after, slightly less warm than tube amps, but it packs more tone for the price than it really should, plus you won't have the extra expense of maintenance that comes with tube amps and it sounds good even at low volumes. With the volume turned up max without overdrive it remains clean, it is fine for practice and recording, but at gigs you might need reinforcement if you aren't going to be using the overdrive. Overall I was really impressed with it.

The chorus is another big selling point it is fantastic and better than any foot pedal chorus I have used. I imagine this will be due to the use of two spaced 10" Fender speakers used to create the effect in stereo, if you play a gig and need sound reinforcement, or record this amp with just one mic you will not get the chorus result you hear at source, you will need to mic both speakers.

Bass tone control is hardly needed, first get this amp off the floor on a stand, it gets rid of the muddy bass sound, but even when its off the floor you don't need to turn it up much, I use it on 2, higher than that just overpowers the balance that I'm after.

I don't rate the reverb on this amp, there's not enough control over it and it has a rather nasty tail to it, I'd recommend you use other outboard reverbs or inline fx pedals.

Not a fan of the overdrive either, just not the sound I'm after on its own, I think it suits some styles but nothing I like to play or record, BUT I have found though that if you mix it with other overdrive/distortion pedals you can get some great results, more than the sum of the parts, try it out.

FX loop was noisy when used, it might be the kit I used in between, it also seems to remove some of the tone, I checked this by running a cable straight (nothing in between) from in to out.

I have used single and humbucking pickup guitars from various manufacturers through it, haven't found one that didn't sound great through it.

Mine's second hand and must be several years old, still working fine, although the foot switch isn't switching as well as it should, but this is expected after so much use.

Never needed it

I can recommend this amp whole heartedly for its gorgeous clean sound and chorus, it does that so well it more than eclipses the shortcomings with the overdrive and reverb and that's why I give it a 9.

I dont know what year my amp was made, i bought mine in music-go-round in towson, m.d. a couple years ago but man this thing is cool. i love this amp and pretty much dont need anyother amps. this amp is extremly versatile. i am a blues player, have been playing guitar for about 6.5 years now and 1. there isnt anyother features i think it needs, it has everything and i can get any tone i want. (more than a transistor amp, and better sounding). 2. its tough. i always wanted a tube amp but when i tried this amp, i found that it was not only cheaper than a tube but when i realized it was solid state, i realized that the tone would practically never wane. and 3. it's freakin loud. people in my former apt. complex ACROSS THE PARKING LOT heard me when it was on 5.

i have so far an epiphone wildkat with alnico v p90 pickups, an epiphone firebird studio with stock humpbuckers, and a heavily modified Squier Mongrel Strat (a 2002 bullet strat neck, '94 body, new pickguard, and Fender Custom shop Texas special pickups). this amp suits my playing style because my amp must have been used alot before so i kinda got that broken-in sound which is perfect for my kind of blues. so far the sound quality for me is excellent and not to mention this is very versatile, good for rhythm AND lead playing.

i have not really gone gigging with this amp yet but this is honestly THE amp for me. i feel like i can depend on this amp for many years to come and i think i could use this amp without having to buy a backup. and this amp has never given me any problems whatsoever.

never used customer service but that probably says that its an amp that dosent really need much maintenance and that fender made an amp that is tough, excellent, and great quality.

Overall i only have this question to ask, if this such a great amp, Why the hell did fender stop making it? its tough, reliable, great sounding, good value, i mean its a great amp overall and my favorite fender amp of all the amps i gave tried, its on the top of my list. need i say more

I bought a mid 80's model (Red Knobs) from new and I'm still gigging with it. One of the best I've heard for clean sounds but not so good if you are after a harder edge / lots of distortion. The single most impressive point for this amp is how loud it can go while remaining crystal clear - its simply incredible.

I own a late 80s Princeton Chorus (red knob). I gotta say, the features are awesome. Its got the usual array of tone controls and gain, but the limiter, presence, and chorus are great! Ill elaborate in the next category...

I have my '08 Tele hooked up to it, and the resulting sound is amazing. I am a versatile player, and it suits all of my music. Its got variety, quality, and volume. I prefer tube, but for a solid state, this amp gets really close. Though, the sound has degraded, see reliability...

I have used it with everything, even a bass guitar. Both the treble and reverb channels have a hiss. Its my fault, I abuse it, but I'd rather a little more out of it.

Never had to...

Ive been playing for way too long, yet not even close to long enough, I collect guitars and amps, etc... So, For a solid state amp, its in the top of its class. Its definitely the best value. I would definitely take another one, and am very happy with it.

The one I bought is a USA model made in 1996. The amp is plenty versatile if your not playing Metal. It's darn near perfect for blues or classic rock. The clean channel is just that, CLEAN. It has channel switching, clean or gain, effects loops, line out and headphone jack. I use this amp for recording and smaller gigs. It's perfect for me since I'm an old Blues player. Has more than enough power for smaller venues.

I use this amp with a Fender Deluxe Strat. Thier a perfect mix. The amp set at clean is very quiet and has that Fender tone everyone searchs for. The chorus is second to none. Full and rich! If Fender put this in a pedal they could sell a million. The gain channel is good but you need to tweak it with the limiter. Once dialed in it's not bad at all. Like I said it's perfect for Blues or Classic Rock. Metal palyers need to look elsewhere.

The amp seems to be built like a tank so I'm looking forward to many more years of service.

I have not had to use Fender support so I can't comment on thier support. But thats good if a product just keeps on ticking!

I've been playing for 40 plus years. I can tell you if this amp got stolen I would be back on Ebay in a heartbeat to buy another. If you like the old Fender amp sound you love this model. It's not a tube amp but it's as warm as you'll get in a solid state.

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.

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!!!!!!