Corpse Value?

[eleventeen]

So I am rummaging around in a small-town music store and find a "Fender 90" which does not appear to be the "Fender Deluxe 90" (with DSP) for $100.  with input jack #1 busted.

My personal idea of the ideal amp is a Princeton Reverb with 12" bumped to 6L6 (or not...left as 6V6) might work for me.

So I mentally inventory the parts value of this little turdette. I don't even care it works. Yes, I would be happier if it was being sold as dead for $25.

1: Tolexed cabinet, little bigger than PR, with handle and corners...$100. Excellent condition. (real world value more like $130)
2: Eminence 12" speaker...$30
3: Real Accu half-reverb can  $20
4: 10-12 Fender knobs (@ 50 cents each) [yeah sure, that's what they cost] $5
5: Apparently adapable chassis $25
6: traditional pilot lamp deal and AC entry in (thankfully) pre-cut-out chassis opening both parts $7

So I think this is just shy of $200 in parts costs, assuming not one single part (other than pilot and AC entry) can be re-used.

How can I go wrong? If the chassis simply cannot be adapted, then life is not fair.
Open to comment / reaction.

[jjasilli]

 

[TIMBO]

Go for it, I offten search the s/hand shops for cabs etc. Picked up a marshall valve state and did the calces in my head and was able to get it for $250.

It was in perfect condition and having 2x30w celestion gold back speakers and a useable chassis so i took it as is (didn't even see if it worked )
Got if home plugged it in and NOTHING, had a blown power amp thingy,probely could have got it cheeper,oh well i'm still a head.

[eleventeen]

Heck with it, I bought it. It actually *is* a "Deluxe 90". It works fine, except for input #1, it has a Celestion G12T-100 speaker (not an Eminence---crap, I need to re-bias my eyes!) It's quite loud if turned up, which is not how I play. I think it will be perfectly fine, for a "disposable" club/jam-type amp vs. taking out the SF Deluxe Reverb or SF PR. I use a Pod for my tone anyway. It's in super condition, with a preamp out & a headphone out. No worries, no footswitch.

[smackoj]

I bought a Princeton Chorus ss from a guy for 30 bucks and it has a useable chasis and two of the 'blue label' fender 10" spkrs. I only changed the baffle board to a nice void free ply and I use the cab with a couple diff. tube heads. I really like the sound of these older blue label 10 inch spkrs. In fact, over the last two years, I have found myself liking the clusters of 8 inch and 10 inch sound better to me than most of the vintage and modern 12 inch ones I have....live and go thru changes while you learn

 

[eleventeen]

I have not tried it in an actual playing environment, but what I heard in the store did not scream "solid state amp! solid state amp!" What is clear is this: No way on earth could I or anyone else build this for $100. No, it isn't a tube amp so maybe the whole topic shouldn't even be on EL34world. But I *did* buy it with the intention of stripping it out to make a 6L6-pumped Princeton Reverb. Now? I see no great reason to not use it as it is.

[smackoj]

my only 'should do' suggestion would be check the baffle brd and if it's pressboard or some other cheapo crap, replace it with a good void free pc. of plywood and you'll get much improved tone.

cheers from frozen nebraska....ugh, I gotta get outta this place

 

[Zipslack]

If it's like the Deluxe 85, it's a very dependable SS amp with a few nice tricks, but not spectacular.  My Deluxe 85 was 2-channel (clean and dirty), the dirty channel had some interesting options like a Liimiter and a mid-boost.  The most interesting part was that you could parallel both channels for a clean+dirty sound that was actually pretty decent.  Nice reverb tank and effects loop, tons of CLEAN output.  Really good if you use pedals and need a really loud clean amp.  Broken input jacks are pretty common, but pretty easy to replace.  I almost gutted mine, but traded it in toward a Blues Jr. III instead.  If you replaced the broken input, you might get 150-180 for it.

[12AX7]

I wouldn't bother. The cabinet on those is particle board and i assure you it will sound lousy. I tried A/B'ing particle board cabs to pine cabs in the past using my homebrew marshall style amp and the particle board literally lost probably 50% of the tone quality over the pine cab with plywood baffle. It was quite an eye opener. You'd be better off building a pine cab.