My Princeton Reverb build

[EL34]

I am building a Hoffman Princeton Reverb board and installing it in a generic Fender style chassis with Face plates.
I will be stocking the princeton reverb chassis and the face plates shown below and so I wanted to make sure this build goes together as planned
Should be a fun project.

Today I swagged the lugs into the board
Laced the board
Soldered the laces in place.

That's as far as I can go until I mount the board in the chassis because I like to wire up my boards with no parts on the board.
The parts get added after all the wires have been installed to the tube sockets
I do the pot wires last

I started a build page here with some pics
http://el34world.com/Hoffman/Princeton_Reverb_Board_Build.htm

I'll add more pics and update the page as the build proceeds.

http://el34world.com/Hoffman/Princeton_Reverb_Board_Build.htm

[simonallaway]

What are your plans for the finished amp? Will this go into a combo cabinet with a speaker? Or a head?

[EL34]

Hi Simon,
I am doing this so I can take How-To-construction pictures for the web site
I have enough amps here already so I won't be keeping the amp

It will get tested with some sort of speaker cabinet here and then I will be selling the completed working chassis
I'll probably do another one of those Cost of parts only, no labor deals

The new owner will need to get a princeton reverb cabinet, speaker, reverb tank and bag
Mojo has the cabinet and speakers, I have the tank and bag

[simonallaway]

Cool. I'll be watching for updates as I'm jonesing to build one myself.

[EL34]

I may be able to get the board mounted in the chassis tomorrow and get some more pics taken
I'll post back when I have more updates

[EL34]

I just added a bunch of new pics to the build page here
http://el34world.com/Hoffman/Princeton_Reverb_Board_Build.htm


Go to the page above to see very large images

Plugging away at it today. I have all the bolt on stuff in place.

Time to start soldered up the tranny wires, heater wires, switch and fuse, filter cap wires

I am making detailed notes as I go regarding all the screws, nuts, grommets, etc I am using for the build
I will have a very accurate parts list when I am done

I will be stocking this chassis and the face plates and so I wanted to make sure this build goes together as planned

[simonallaway]

Looking good.
Is that your 40x20x20x20 cap in there?

[EL34]

Yeah,
It's a JJ 40x20x20x20


I decided since the chassis has a cap hole to use that cap and a cap bracket.
40uf on the B+ is more than a stock Princeton but I like a bit more on that stage in all my amps

[EL34]

Getting there slowly
Got most of the infrastructure wiring done
more pics here
http://el34world.com/Hoffman/Princeton_Reverb_Board_Build.htm

[lego4040]

  Excellent. That is a work of art and the pictures alone are worth a million

[EL34]

Thanks


More to come

[EL34]

Got a bit more wiring done today
Lots of wire in this amp
Takes time to figure out good wire routing

Bigger pics are here
http://el34world.com/Hoffman/Princeton_Reverb_Board_Build.htm

[EL34]

That's it for today
Heater wires are always the least fun for me

All the wires have been installed except the pot wires, which I will do last after the parts are on the board

bigger pics here
http://el34world.com/Hoffman/Princeton_Reverb_Board_Build.htm

[lego4040]

Interesting that you do board that way but it makes total sense to me. No flying leads to battle with when installing board and you waste less wire. Plus the board has a sturdy place to be held

[EL34]

Doing it this way, you don't mess up the parts leads when installing the wires.
It's not easy to install all those wires with a bunch of stuff in your way

If the parts were mounted on the board, there no way that you would not bend some of them
I probably dropped my wire cutters onto the board 10 times during the wire installs

Plus, some of the wires are down a few rows on the board and the best way to route them is under some of the parts

As you said, the wires are cut to the exact size with no waste

The parts leads will all be perfect and straight when installed last

I like my board installs to look as good as they sound 

[EL34]

Got the parts installed on the board

Next comes the pot wires and then it will be time to fire it up

Bigger pics here
http://el34world.com/Hoffman/Princeton_Reverb_Board_Build.htm

[sluckey]

That's just plain purty!

[EL34]

It's done!

Finished the pot wires
Fired it up, set the bias to 30ma as a general test setting
Checked all the voltages, everything looked great

Plugged it into a Marshall 4x12 cab set at 8 ohms
Plugged in the guitar and gave it spin

It's a cool sounding amp
The reverb is great

After I change my 3 month old strings I'll do a video demo of it 

More info and bigger images here
http://el34world.com/Hoffman/Princeton_Reverb_Board_Build.htm

[pullshocks]

Very cool, could you post a shot from the back.  Thanks.

I want to do something like this but with 1 tube reverb and no vibrato.

[tubenit]

Doug,

That is just flat out magnificent!  What an incredibly well done build.

With respect, Jeff

[EL34]

Very cool, could you post a shot from the back.  Thanks.

I want to do something like this but with 1 tube reverb and no vibrato.

Did you want a shot other than what is on the build page?

[EL34]

Doug,

That is just flat out magnificent!  What an incredibly well done build.

With respect, Jeff

Ah, just another day at the office. 

I may do some other builds and document them

The Hoffman Turret board sales really picked up after I posted all the new Layout Diagrams
The boards seem more doable to people when you have a nice diagram to follow

[tubeswell]

Very tidy

[Willabe]

Ah, just another day at the office. 

     

Really top of the line work!

I may do some other builds and document them
The Hoffman Turret board sales really picked up after I posted all the new Layout Diagrams
The boartd seem more doable when you have a nice diagram to follow

Your new drawings are great! Very clear and very helpful. I think it's like with Sluckey's drawings of his builds, it's makes it soooooo much easer to build 1 then if there's just a electrical and layout schemo like Fender.

I think it will inspire a good number of guys to do some new builds.


                      Brad              

[DummyLoad]

nice looking build doug!    


--pete

[bigsbybender]

Beauty!!   So clean!




j.

[EL34]

Thanks all
The Princeton is a perfect sized gigging amp for small venues if you are doing a single or have a quiet band

It would not work for a Blue Cheer tribute band 

I think a Hoffman Stout in a Champ Chassis may be next
My Stout is a really cool little amp

[tubenit]

I think a Hoffman Stout in a Champ Chassis may be next.   My Stout is a really cool little amp

Given your great relay switching resources ................. are you considering setting up  V1b to be more like your "hotswitch" for the larger Marshalls?

With respect, Tubenit

[Willabe]

Ooooooooh, good suggestion.


                Brad     

[EL34]

That relay stuff in the stout was just an experiment

I never switch the extra gain stage off
The amp sounds way better with it on full time

It will go from clean to mean with the switch on

The amp sounds a bit dull with the switch off

I don't see any need to have any relay switching stuff in the amp

I am working on a source to have some Stout chassis made
A small sized chassis like the box I used, with all the holes in the chassis, ready to start assembling
The chasis would be 12 inches x 7 inches x 2.5 inches

[EL34]

I filmed a few videos today of the Princeton in action
This amp is really cool
Congrats to bigsbybender, it's his amp now.

It will take a while to upload the other videos

This one just finished uploading
http://youtu.be/0ShPbbuZs18

[Willabe]

Can we hear something with the trem too?


            Brad     

[EL34]

There is a short trem section in the video around the :47 mark

The tremolo is not that strong or deep compared to the ReVibe
I am spoiled after playing the ReVibe

[tubenit]

Hey, I thought the trem sounded excellent!   Thanks for sharing the video.  Cool stuff. 

[DummyLoad]

reverb sounds really nice! trem sounds good too.



 

[bigsbybender]

Oddly enough I play 3 of the songs you did in my Psychobilly band. I've wanted to try a Princeton Reverb instead of the 5E3 deluxe I use... This was the perfect opportunity.

Glad I asked if it was available!

Thanks again Doug!

[drew]

Are the two turrets in the power rail that don't have any components or wires attached to them just there to keep the buss wire spans relatively short?

[EL34]

Are the two turrets in the power rail that don't have any components or wires attached to them just there to keep the buss wire spans relatively short?

Hi Drew,
You guess it,
I found out that the one on the left end is not needed and so I removed it from the new layout
The one on the right side is there to help span a really long gap

[EL34]

Oddly enough I play 3 of the songs you did in my Psychobilly band. I've wanted to try a Princeton Reverb instead of the 5E3 deluxe I use... This was the perfect opportunity.

Glad I asked if it was available!

Thanks again Doug!

Welcome
I think you are really gonna like this amp

[EL34]

Here's another vid of the Princeton Reverb in action


I bumbled through Slaughter on 10th avenue


http://youtu.be/TKV2Z4ievOU

[DummyLoad]

video above permissions are set to private - cannot view...


--pete

[EL34]

Thanks for the heads up
That one uploaded last night and I did not finish editing it
Should be good to go now

[shooter]

is the chassis a natural patina or did you create that look?  I like it!

[EL34]

It comes that way
It's really thick metal and spot welded really well

I will be ordering some for stock this week
And I'll put the faceplates in staock also

The chassis can also be used for Stout Reverbs, which is what mine is built into
That project is on this page
http://el34world.com/projects/18WattStoutReverbNoSwitch_1.htm

[eleventeen]

I definitely like the way the corners & folds are executed on that chassis versus the mojo chassis---not saying it makes any difference at all and it's probably invisible, I just prefer the more "Fendery"style or what you have pictured.

[EL34]

I definitely like the way the corners & folds are executed on that chassis versus the mojo chassis---not saying it makes any difference at all and it's probably invisible, I just prefer the more "Fendery"style or what you have pictured.

The chassis in the post right above is a real Fender princeton reverb chassis
I think the Mojo chassis is better built actually after seeing both of them

[eleventeen]

Well, then that explains why it looks Fendery! From a reissue or something you had laying around?

[EL34]

It's a 70's princeton reverb chassis. Don't remember the year
I got it some time in the 90's

[EL34]

Finally got all 4 videos uploaded
Could only do it at night because they were so huge


http://youtu.be/JdVN5TdOk1k
http://youtu.be/0ShPbbuZs18
http://youtu.be/TKV2Z4ievOU
http://youtu.be/IiZzRmvTbco

[EL34]

I definitely like the way the corners & folds are executed on that chassis versus the mojo chassis---not saying it makes any difference at all and it's probably invisible, I just prefer the more "Fendery"style or what you have pictured.

I have seen this happen to fender chassis way more than one time
Mostly on the longer chassis