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Fender princeton 65 (mexico, solid state) problems!!

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  • Fender princeton 65 (mexico, solid state) problems!!

    Hello evryone.
    I've had trouble with this amp for some years now. The problem with it is that after a few minutes of normal operation, it stops amplifyng the signal and all you hear is this loud 50hz hum. If you hit the amp hard the signal comes back but it will shut after a few seconds.
    The amp is not mine, it belongs to one of my bandmates. It's been taken to several repairmen thru the years. One said the speaker was shorted. He fixed this but a couple of months later the problems were back there. Another found a different culprit, but a few months of good tone was all he got.
    I did myself something that actually did the trick. The amp, as I read on different places on the net, is very poorly designed and suffers from this behavior almost always- even the newer DSP version does. What I did was install some hefty heatsinks for the output transistors and drivers. Again, it worked for two months and died again.
    I was thinking, all those years of malfunction may have damaged the output stage, as what you hear in the amp must be a safety device from the transistors shutting down the signal. Would some replacements do any good? What do you think? Also I don't think those mjw21192 are an easy find, what can I use as a replacement? Please don't tell me to go to Radio Shack or something like that, I live in South America. Sorry for the bad English and thanx in advance!!

  • #2
    Originally posted by Havoc View Post
    The problem with it is that after a few minutes of normal operation, it stops amplifyng the signal and all you hear is this loud 50hz hum. If you hit the amp hard the signal comes back but it will shut after a few seconds.
    Welcome to the place. It sounds to me like one of the main filter capacitors has a cold solder joint. Try resoldering the two large caps and check the rest of the board as long as you have it out of the chassis. Check the solder on all of the jacks and any of the larger parts like power resistors, etc.

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    • #3
      I agree, resolder the large main filter caps - even if the solder LOOKS good.
      Education is what you're left with after you have forgotten what you have learned.

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      • #4
        well... I just remembered that one of the very first things I did to the amp was swapping the power caps for larger ones (2200 original- 4700 new) but it didn't cure the problem. Although that was several years ago. One of the guys who repaired it said the amp has too much power dissipation for its size and the heat and vibration makes the solder break at some points- looking normal, but actually broken and not making contact. This man allegedly re-soldered everything and gave the amp new life... until it died again a few months later. I'm seeing the amp tomorrow so I will check that out anyway, thanks!

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        • #5
          The key to this is to approach the amp as if you had never seen it before. Don't think of it as following some other tech, and don't assume anything about previous work. That only confuses the issue. It may have had a hum problem before, but hum can come from a zillion different things, and they all will sound the same - hum. SO forget the history, just look at what is there now.

          When the symptom presents itself, isolate it. Preamp? power amp? COntrols have ANY effect on it?
          Education is what you're left with after you have forgotten what you have learned.

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          • #6
            I vote for the filter caps. Remove the old solder, clean the pads, flux, then resoldered.

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