Chabenda wrote:
Swapped out valves and replaced caps??? What??? This amp is relatively new isn't it?? You are all posting about how great they are and the first thing you want to do once you have finally got it is mod it??
Let me put it this way: How do you think they get the price down to a few thousand rand, while the reissue of your Princeton is $1,300? They cut corners and use lower quality components.
Is it really necessary to change valves and caps 'if they ain't broke' on a relatively new amp?
Not necessary. But nice... Aside from speaker, which is usually the single biggest change you can make to an inexpensive amp. Caps are a relatively inexpensive upgrade (unless you go nuts). Particularly with the simpler circuits, valves can make a huge difference.
Valves are like strings: they wear and, to get the best results, you don't wait until they break before changing them. If the amp is used regularly, power valves and phase inverter should be changed regularly (every few years), preamp valves every third or fourth revalve. If you have a good NOS rectifier valve, you can leave that in until it blows (and a good NOS can last a lifetime).
IMO - One of today's problems - too many options that distract us from the important things, like sitting down and playing our guitars and amps, getting to know them and learning how to get the best of them. We have become OCD with regards to gear at the expense of what counts.
That is my feeling too. But thanks to all the tinkering I've done over the years, I can also pick up a guitar and know within a few minutes exactly what I need to do to get it up to my standards (and also if it's worth doing).
