Solid State Guitar Amp Forum | DIY Guitar Amplifiers

Hello,

New to the forum, but I'm glad I found it!  I was recently given a Fender Princeton 65 amp, but I'm afraid it's not working correctly.  I believe it was made in Mexico in the mid-90's.  It plays fine for about 15 minutes and then the sound quickly fades to nothing.  I thought it might have been the guitar or the cable, and I got frustrated and smacked the top of the amp, and the sound popped back on.  I played another 15 minutes and the sound disappeared again.

If this is a simple, cheap fix, I'd like to try and give it a go.  If it's complicated, I'll take it to a pro.

Any thoughts / advice / guidance?  Much thanks in advance!

The problem is likely either a cold solder joint somewhere on the printed circuit board or one of the jacks.

The next time the sound fades out run a short cord between the preamp out and power amp in jacks that are on the front panel.
If the sound comes back right away, then the power amp input jack is likely the problem.
It may have a bad solder connection to the board, or it may need to be cleaned or replaced.

Either way, be careful if and when you take it apart. Those tended to be fragile amps.

Steve

hi i fixed a fender princeton for a friend and it had cold solder on the 2 capacitors located on the pc board that are part of the power supply.(the 2 largest capacitors).i believe this is a common problem with this model amp.if you get excessive hum,pops ect. look at the solder joints with a magnifying glass or loupe.reheat the solder joints and bingo you should be up and running.i relaced both caps with new ones on the amp i worked on, but i believe they were still good. let me know how you make out hope this helps....ed!!!