Ken Fisher Modded Princeton Reverb?

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watchthedivers
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Jun 04, 2020 12:02 am

Ken Fisher Modded Princeton Reverb?

Post by watchthedivers »

Hey all, this has popped up a few times over the last few months for sale on various sites. Not sure if it's legit but had some time on vacation and decided to see if I could figure out what's going on in it.

It looks about 90% stock princeton reverb with the major changes being where the tremolo circuit would have been.

The odd thing is though that I don't see any connections to actually include it in the active circuit. Unless there is something under the board it looks like the normal jumper feeds right from the 3rd gain stage into the phase inverter.

I've seen in various places that kens mod to princeton reverbs and deluxe reverbs was to remove the trem and add an additional gain stage... but it looks to me like maybe this was done and then removed at some point?

There is a 1.5k non-bypassed cathode resistor hooked up to the normal trem triode, a voltage divider that would feed the grid, and a coupling cap with a resistor to ground off the plate... but neither of these are connected to the output of the 3rd gain stage or the PI.

It would be super easy to lift the PI lead and attach it to the input divider and then just jumper the output back to the PI which makes me think maybe this was done an removed? I don't see how this could be functioning with the current setup even if the wires are under the board given the phase shift off adding a stage here.

Curious if anyone else has thoughts and wanted to add this for documentation.

(oh and there is some additional filtering going on too in the power section but haven't looking into that much yet)

Reverb Listing:
https://reverb.com/item/86190381-trainw ... t=86190381

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guitarpkr76
Posts: 43
Joined: Sun Jul 17, 2005 10:04 pm

Re: Ken Fisher Modded Princeton Reverb?

Post by guitarpkr76 »

This is the amp that got away from me. It was local to me. The former owner put it up for sale on Facebook marketplace a couple days after I left town for Thanksgiving vacation. He listed it for $600. I spoke with him about the amp and how he acquired it (he's originally from New Jersey). I offered to send him the money if he would hold it for me until I got back, but I guess he decided to go with the first person to come get it. The current owner listed it a month later for $19,500. I'm guessing he's not well-versed in the value of Ken Fisher modded amps. Anyways, still a little salty I missed it, but I guess that's what I get for going on family vacation. I told my wife that's the last one. ;)
stephen_w_keller
Posts: 20
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:57 pm
Location: Portland, OR

Re: Ken Fisher Modded Princeton Reverb?

Post by stephen_w_keller »

Looking at that Reverb listing, I don't get the mystique. How can this amp be worth north of $11K?
guitarpkr76
Posts: 43
Joined: Sun Jul 17, 2005 10:04 pm

Re: Ken Fisher Modded Princeton Reverb?

Post by guitarpkr76 »

stephen_w_keller wrote: Mon Aug 04, 2025 2:54 am Looking at that Reverb listing, I don't get the mystique. How can this amp be worth north of $11K?
It's not. Not even close.
stephen_w_keller
Posts: 20
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:57 pm
Location: Portland, OR

Re: Ken Fisher Modded Princeton Reverb?

Post by stephen_w_keller »

Thanks. I guess I'm not crazy thinking this is worth, at most, a tenth of the asking price.
Mark
Posts: 3271
Joined: Sat Jan 15, 2005 8:10 am
Location: Sydney Australia

Re: Ken Fisher Modded Princeton Reverb?

Post by Mark »

Who would have thought four resistors and two filter caps could make the amps value increase so much? 🤭

That’s just not going to get up.
Yours Sincerely

Mark Abbott
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