I found this Fender Guitar amp in my grand mothers attic,i am tring to date it and find out its value.It works great!Just very dusty.It is a princeston silver face amp in a black cabinet with 5 knobs on the front and 2 instrument pickups,it has tubes.I dont know how to send a url for the picture(no help button for that)
Since it is a Silverface, it must be post 1967. To check the date, there are a couple ways to figure out when a Fender amp was built.
Look for the manufacturing date code, found on the tube chart to figure out the production date. In case you don't have a date code, turn the amp belly up and check the speakers, transformers for their date codes.
Also if you are feeling handy, take the chassis out (it slides out from the cabinet) and check a few of the capacitors (the tubular components on the board) and the potentiometers (knobs) date codes.
Be careful when playing the amp. The years in the attic might have taken a toll on some components.
The manufacturing code (stamped on the tube chart) is made of two letters. First indicate the month, the second, the year:
Date Codes:
Letter Year MonthA - JanuaryB - FebruaryC 1953 MarchD 1954 AprilE 1955 MayF 1956 JuneG 1957 JulyH 1958 AugustI 1959 SeptemberJ 1960 OctoberK 1961 NovemberL 1962 DecemberM 1963 N 1964 O 1965 P 1966 Q 1967
So, for instance: "JG" means the amp was made in July 1960.
Hope this helps!
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Hi Gabi, silverface amps don't have datecodes on the tubecharts. There are a few other things to be taken note of: - has the Fender-Logo a tail that underlines the whole thing? Then it must be between '68 and '74. - has the grille cloth a thin aluminium frame? Then it's '68-'69 - has it a boost pull on volume pot? Then it's '78 or later - The silverface Princeton was discontinued in 1979 All this can be found here: http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/princeton_sf.html The best way to find out the year are the transformer-codes. There should be three of them inside the chassis. The code consists of two lines. The second line is the important one. It starts with "EIA" and then 606. This number stands for the manufacturer - Schumacher in this case. Then there will be 3 or 4 digits left. The first one or two give you the year, the last two the week of the year it was made. An example: The second line might read "EIA606-7843" - the transformer was made the 43rd week of 1978. If it reads "EIA606-051" it was made the 51st week of 1970. In the last case you have to guess the decade, which isn't difficult with the things I wrote above. BTW: Silverface amps aren't much sought after YET - that might change in a few years. But the Princeton is nice little amp - so he should keep it and have fun with it once he dated it All the best, Vito.
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