My Hoffman Princeton Reverb Build

[Willabe]

All right, now wait a second here, I just listened to your clip.

WHO ARE YOU? AND WHERE DO YOU LIVE? LA? Nashville? NO? NY?

You are definitely a high level pro player. Your covering a LOT of musical style bases there. 

Are you a studio cat? Out on the road? Your not just playin out at the local pub every other month.

Man you can play, I'd love to hear you stretch out on a few different styles with a nice sized band.     

[HotBluePlates]

All right, now wait a second here, I just listened to your clip.

WHO ARE YOU? AND WHERE DO YOU LIVE? LA? Nashville? NO? NY?

   He lives near Nashville, in a smallish town I used to live in up to 2000.


I can get around on the guitar, but every now & then someone would ask me in a bar in Nashville, "Hey man, do you play?" And I said, "Yep. I play the stereo..."

[EL34]

Overall, great job on assembling my PR board

I'll put a link to this thread on my PR turret board thread
Just to show guys that it can be assembled and work right off the bat
(well, you had just a couple minor issues)


But you went back over it and found them right away

Not trying to get down on anyone, but I see some guys doing builds here that just keep posting over and over again about the amp not working
It seems they are not able to go back over their work and find the problem


Let this be an example of how it is done properly

[Willabe]

I can get around on the guitar, but every now & then someone would ask me in a bar in Nashville, "Hey man, do you play?" And I said, "Yep. I play the stereo..."

All I can play in is mono.   

[p2pAmps]

Overall, great job on assembling my PR board

I'll put a link to this thread on my PR turret board thread
Just to show guys that it can be assembled and work right off the bat
(well, you had just a couple minor issues)


But you went back over it and found them right away

Not trying to get down on anyone, but I see some guys doing builds here that just keep posting over and over again about the amp not working
It seems they are not able to go back over their work and find the problem


Let this be an example of how it is done properly

Honored you would say that Doug

[p2pAmps]

All right, now wait a second here, I just listened to your clip.

WHO ARE YOU? AND WHERE DO YOU LIVE? LA? Nashville? NO? NY?

You are definitely a high level pro player. Your covering a LOT of musical style bases there. 

Are you a studio cat? Out on the road? Your not just playin out at the local pub every other month.

Man you can play, I'd love to hear you stretch out on a few different styles with a nice sized band.     

Ha!  I'm a nobody man.  Name is Mike Scaggs and I am from Murfreesboro Tn, about 40 minutes south of downtown Nashville.  Born and raised in Sacramento, CA and moved here 10 years ago for good this time.  I toured with some artists in the mid 90s but found I liked being home with the family better.   I have been a cyber security guy now for 19 years and play music at church now.  Been doing sessions since I was 21, 54 now.  Too many to list both good, bad, and really bad LOL...  I love guitars, amps, pedals, Harleys, woodshopin, and the lord.

That about sums up me... Glad to be here

[John]

Well, I don't know what I'm more jealous of, your playing ability or building ability. So I'll just take both for $400, Alex. Cheers!

[lego4040]

[Willabe]

I toured with some artists in the mid 90s but found I liked being home with the family better. I have been a cyber security guy now for 19 years and play music at church now. 

Home and family are better.   

I started to get chances/offers to go out on the road for 2 to 3 months at a time. Turned them down. I almost moved to NOLA.
I was in my mid to late 40's, if it would have happened earlier, 30's, I probably would have jumped at it. 

(I ended up playing in church for some years. Was a very good decision for me.)

[p2pAmps]

Thanks to each person who showed interest in my PR build.  Guys, if you're on the fence on one of Doug's PR don't hesitate.  The schematic and layout is good and easy to follow.  Take your time and enjoy the ride, its a great project you will have for years to come.

And here she is all done and dialed in...  woot woot!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jByGobiixBY&feature=youtu.be

[TIMBO]

 

[smackoj]

sounds superb.  that's one to be very proud of Mike.

 

[Fresh_Start]

+1 Very nice!

Cheers,

Chip

[p2pAmps]

so,.... the tremolo was a little weak in my mind on this build.  thanks to STUCKEY's great advise, I swapped out a 1M resistor for a 470K in the tremolo circuit and all the sudden I had magic!  Now I'm stuck on PR tremolo...

Thank you Mr Stuckey

[EL34]

Nice, the forum boys come through again

[Willabe]

Sluckey's got a way with trems for sure.   

[lego4040]

Slucky's gotten outta a jam or three. How's that WGS sounding? Apparently the one I have is a 2007 vintage 12". They now call the The Veteran, can't wait to here it. I think Dougs PR is my next build, I have a 290cax Hammond in box still and will look to see if that will work

[p2pAmps]

Slucky's gotten outta a jam or three. How's that WGS sounding? Apparently the one I have is a 2007 vintage 12". They now call the The Veteran, can't wait to here it. I think Dougs PR is my next build, I have a 290cax Hammond in box still and will look to see if that will work

You know what, that WGS sounds really nice man.  I have 4 others to try but hey, I might just keep this one in there.

Don't hesitate on building Doug's PR.  It's such a clean layout and sounds freakin amazing, I mean it.  You can do it so just get started.  My cab came from Mather.  3 week turn around.  I added the relic-ed grill for 25 bucks and glad I did.  Life is short so go get ya some...

Cheers

[EL34]

I love happy endings 

[lego4040]

My cab for the 5G9 is being lacquered as I write, Mergili is making mine. I just started getting the dust off my tools. I switched jobs and I have to rebuild my work bench at my new shop

[DummyLoad]

very nice work mike.

did you ever wire in the mid control in the rear?

--pete

[p2pAmps]

very nice work mike.

did you ever wire in the mid control in the rear?

--pete

Thanks a lot...
I did solder up the mid pot.  I'm starting with a 10K and going to increase it till I find the sweet spot... 

[Ed_Chambley]

Great build and very nice chord vocabulary.  I picked up an idea from around 1:30 sliding in and out.  What a great sound, a Well played Les Paul and one heck of a clone.

I like a mid pot myself.  Good stuff, thanks!

[lego4040]

Was the mid pot in the layout or schematics somewhere? I remember, I think seeng it

[p2pAmps]

Was the mid pot in the layout or schematics somewhere? I remember, I think seeng it

No, the mid pot is not on the schematic or layout but is very easy to add on.  I used the hole where the ground switch would have been and ran a wire over to the bass pot from there.  You remove the 6.8k resistor from the left lug on the Bass pot and connect your mid pot there.  You will need to ground you mid pot too.  The mid pot basically becomes a rheostat.  I started with a 10K pot and get 6.8K around 3 o'clock.  I plan to play around with the pot values to see what I get out of it.  Some good tech on the forum have suggested a 50K which I plan to try out.

[lego4040]

Now I remember, when I was thinking about building Dougs AB763 that's where I saw the mid pot. Looks like it can be followed the same way

[p2pAmps]

Well today is the big Hoffman PR / 65 PR shootout.  We are going to set these side by side and see what we got.  My dear friend and top session guy in town will be very critical so I'm holding my breath.  I think the Hoffman is going to WIN!  More to come....

[lego4040]

Blind fold him during the test and swap amps arounds

[eleventeen]

There's a local "summer jazz camp" here, conducted at a nearby school. I think they have about 200-250 kids come in, and there are very strong local musicians who teach 1-week classes. To cover all the amps they need, they borrow lots of amps and drum kits and keyboards from all the local schools.


One or two years ago, a school amp came in and it was a BF Princeton Reverb, maybe 1966-1967 in absolutely museum-grade condition. I was stunned that a "school" amp would be in such good shape. I have to tell you it was all I could do to not walk out with thing. I should have offered three new Fender SS amps in trade.

[p2pAmps]

Well, the shootout went well.  We compare the Hoffman build to a Vintage Sound 15 as well.
The Hoffman was more punchy than both the 65 and the Vintage Sound.  The Vintage Sound 15 was very hifi sounding probably due to all the orange drops they use.  Not saying it sounded bad, just sounded hifi...  The 65 did break up faster than the Hoffman which may be due to the speaker and the fact that the I used a Deluxe OT in my build.  The guitar used on this clip was a 61 335

It was the opinion of 5 top session guys that the Hoffman PR won!  I was pretty dang excited. 

Here is a little clip.  My camera work sucks ...  The 65 is on the right, my build on the left. 

! No longer available

[SleepLess]

so,.... the tremolo was a little weak in my mind on this build.  thanks to STUCKEY's great advise, I swapped out a 1M resistor for a 470K in the tremolo circuit and all the sudden I had magic!  Now I'm stuck on PR tremolo...

Thank you Mr Stuckey

Congrats for this build! And your playing as well!
As for the Trem, I actually even reduce that 1M resistor down to 220K! It's much more useable!
Have fun, the PR is on my top-5-amps list!

[Ed_Chambley]

I meant to ask, did you listen to the amp before the Jupiter caps were installed.  I would like to know you opinion of the difference.

Respectfully,
Ed

[p2pAmps]

I meant to ask, did you listen to the amp before the Jupiter caps were installed.  I would like to know you opinion of the difference.

Respectfully,
Ed

Hi Ed,

The truth is no, I just soldered them in and fired the amp.  It sounds so good I cringe at the thought of changing anything now LOL...

[lego4040]

What happened to the video clip? Can you repost

[p2pAmps]

What happened to the video clip? Can you repost

The videos I have are on this thread...

 

[Fresh_Start]

What happened to the video clip? Can you repost

Link still works despite label.

Chip

[p2pAmps]

Here is a little something I played on with the PR I built to give you an idea what it sounds like with pedals and a 57 mic.  I played all the parts on this cut with a 85 LesPaul too...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lpty3_yYMDA

[Willabe]

Oh man!!!!!     

That sure don't sound like no PR! Sounds like a tweed Bassman or a Marshall half stack. WOW!

What pedals? 

[p2pAmps]

Oh man!!!!!     

That sure don't sound like no PR! Sounds like a tweed Bassman or a Marshall half stack. WOW!

What pedals? 

I was using an old Nobels ODR-1 ....

[Willabe]

I was using an old Nobels ODR-1 ....

Sounds great. 

[EL34]

That sounds great!

[p2pAmps]

That sounds great!

Aweee man, thanks Doug...  Same ole tired licks and one chop LOL

[Willabe]

Does a Strat sound good through that pedal?   

[p2pAmps]

Does a Strat sound good through that pedal?   

I think everything sounds great through an ODR-1

[Willabe]

Ok, thanks. 

I'm gonna talk with Jojo about it, he builds a lot of pedals. 
 

[Ritchie200]

Wow!  Not only a great looking and great sounding amp, but holy cats your playing is phenomenal!  Really shows it off.  Great job on all fronts! You did all the parts in that recording?

Jim

[p2pAmps]

Wow!  Not only a great looking and great sounding amp, but holy cats your playing is phenomenal!  Really shows it off.  Great job on all fronts! You did all the parts in that recording?

Jim

Thank you Jim...  Well, I did all the guitar parts.  I think I did 3 tracks on this one...

[jojokeo]

I finally caught up, re-read the thread, and watched the vids. Love Snake Bite's words too not just the playing, tone, & production which were also really nice and something to be proud of. Just curious on the odr-1 is it an early or recent model (not that it matters much) and if you've seen/played the newer one with a gain switch mod also?

[p2pAmps]

I finally caught up, re-read the thread, and watched the vids. Love Snake Bite's words too not just the playing, tone, & production which were also really nice and something to be proud of. Just curious on the odr-1 is it an early or recent model (not that it matters much) and if you've seen/played the newer one with a gain switch mod also?

Hi,  Thank you... yeah, Snake Bite was a fun tune to record...

The ODR-1 is an old one.  I bought it at Mike Es Music in the Nashville Area in 1995.  I have not done an A-B test against a new one but I am told the old ones are better by reliable ears I know.  I have a few other OD pedals such as a XTS, Zen Drive, and Misc others not worth mentioning.  The ODR however is my favorite and has been on a lot or sessions...

[jojokeo]

Nothing "vintage" or different between circuits and most parts from '95 so I'm not sure there should be something extreme? But possibly different (4558) OpAmps would be a guess and that would make the most difference.