Fender Princeton Reverb 1981, Black Panel, Pull Boost, Export Model, Date-Coded Original Chassis
This is a 1981 Fender Princeton Reverb from the final year of production. In 1980 and 1981 Fender brought the black control panel back to the Princeton Reverb shortly before retiring the model, and this amp is from that late run. Serial number F113712 is stamped on the chassis.
The amp's date is confirmed by its components as well as its serial. The original multi-section filter can is date-coded week 07 of 1981, and the Schumacher transformer (EIA 606, Fender part 022913) is stamped week 12 of 1981. Taken together with the F1-prefix serial, this places assembly in spring 1981. The tube chart is the original, numbered 010390F.
This is the export version, fitted with Fender's multi-voltage selector (100 to 260V) and a 1¼A fuse, rather than the US 120V version. It is supplied with a UK plug.
The circuit is the 1978 to 1981 Princeton Reverb with the pull-boost volume control and a rear boost pedal jack, alongside the standard vibrato and reverb pedal jacks and the external speaker output. Controls are Volume, Treble, Bass, Reverb, Speed and Intensity. It runs a 5U4GB rectifier, a pair of 6V6GT power tubes, and 12AX7, 12AX7, 12AT7 and 7025 preamp tubes, giving 12 watts into a 10-inch Fender blue-label Special Design speaker. The reverb tank connects by the original colour-coded RCA leads.
It delivers the classic Princeton Reverb sound: clean and articulate at low volume, with spring reverb and bias tremolo. The pull boost adds gain for drive when you want it, and leaving it in pushes the amp toward the traditional blackface voicing.
Note: The tremolo works across the full range of the Speed control, but its depth is reduced: even at full Intensity the pulse is shallower than it should be. On a bias tremolo circuit of this age, this is typically caused by a tired oscillator tube or ageing capacitors, and it is normally fully restored by a service.
Cosmetically the amp shows honest wear for its age. There is scuffing to the tolex and corners, light marking to the grille cloth, and some surface oxidation on the transformer casing. The faceplate, logo and knobs are intact.
These later Princeton Reverbs have become a sought-after alternative to 1960s examples, which now command much higher prices. This one comes from the very end of the model's original production run, with its date-coded parts photographed and documented.
