Photo
Gallery - Modified Amps
PRII
home
January 2024; nice Tolex-removal job
Higgy in British Columbia
kindly sent me these photos - he writes
"Tolex
removed, pine cabinet treated with light amber Minwax poly (very
thin finish, looks like natural wood). The chrome corners and
straps were heated in a forge (I was a blacksmith) then scrubbed
with a brass brush for patina. I forgot to do the handle, need to
get to that."
August 2017; one
of two-of-a-kind from the Fender factory
Big, big thanks to previous owner Jerry
L for the initial contact and for these photos
This
amp was built by Fender to exhibit at NAMM,
18-21 June 1983. As you can see it's got a plain
oak cab, but is minus the 'Super Pro Series'
badge and EV speaker that came with the 100
'woodies' which Paul Rivera had made behind the
CBS bean-counters' backs. According to Tom
Wheeler's wonderful book 'The Soul of Tone',
p332, (where this
one is pictured) two
of these amps were made. The
dovetailing of the perspex and wood is a nice
touch. The owner of the other one (not shown)
has emailed, and I replied, but I haven't heard
any more from him. This one belonged to Don M.
in North Carolina but was on sale with Reverb in
2022.
Here is a photo of the other one, emailed to me in December 2021. HW, if you're reading this, I would love to hear from you again.
May 2017; Looking for that EVH Brown Sound?
This
one was spotted in Guitar Center, Warwick, Rhode
Island. I lifted the photos off their website and
asked if I could put them here. I'm posting them
now (Aug 2017) on the assumption that silence
indicates assent. And no, this is not how to get
the Brown sound... nice
recovering-job-plus-new-grille-cloth, though.
Feb 2015: if you want to get ahead...
I
am indebted to Rick in California for these photos
- he's just completed a project to split his PRII
into a head-and-cab setup...
He had a new cabinet made and
Tolexed for the head
nice job, eh? and as you can see, the speaker cab is the original combo, minus the chassis and with the gap filled in where the front control panel used to be.
Nice to know Rick vacuums up after himself. This work is so good, one day someone will think Fender originally made PRIIs like this as an option...
Jan 2015: Blond und Krokodil
Isn't this wonderful? Big thanks to Michael S in
Germany for these photos. He has owned two PRIIs for
some time. He recovered one in blonde Tolex some time ago, and
now... look at this beauty in crocodile finish.
see
you later...
Feb 2014; 2-tone
woodie..
July 2012 - In
Your White Room...
This amp,
neatly painted white with a black/sparkle grille, is owned by Gary
in North Carolina, USA, and he was selling it as of mid-July 2012.
I don't know where it is now.
July 2012 - Gentlemen, Strat Your Engines
(I don't know if Brian plays a
Strat. I just couldn't resist the pun.)
This one belongs to Brian S of south-west
Tennessee. He calls it 'the Intimidator'... note
the cool blue pilot light jewel and tilt-back
legs.
Feb
2012 - Someone feels the need for tweed...
I am indebted to Brad of Arizona, USA for these photos of
his PRII. It's from the first production run back in Spring
1982. He's had it since 1994, by which time it had been given
a 10" JBL speaker, shortened in stature, had some cabinet
depth shaved off too, and then tweedified. Since then it's
also had some mods inspired by John McIntyre's Prince o'Wails
(those mods not really intended for a PRII but for a
Princeton.... don't ask me for more details... Google is your
friend) Cool little amp, no? I bet it makes a fabulous
grab'n'go amp... Brad tells me the
reduced cab depth adds to the tighter responsiveness, though
of course the 10" speaker will be another factor. Also... just in case anyone's thinking this is how to get
the 1950s tweed sound... no, it isn't.
Nice neat
re-covering job, eh? Note the re-shaped top edge of the
upper rear panel... made necessary by the loss of cab
height. Photo courtesy of Brad.
November
2011 - Surf's up!
Ed R of Colorado,
USA has kindly sent these photos of his PRII done out in
Surf Green tolex complete with white drum-style knobs and
a green pilot light. It's a matter of taste but I reckon
this is the coolest cosmetic re-think I've seen so far on
a PRII. Many thanks, Ed.... careful how you load it into
that Little Deuce Coupe...
above 3 photos kind permission of Ed R
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July 06... woo hoo! look at
this!
I'd been running the website for nearly 4 years, but until Mike
emailed me I had no idea these amps existed. It's a limited
edition "Super Pro" PRII from the Fender factory. It seems
they made 100 Super Champs, 100 PRIIs and 100 Concerts like this
(and they made them without permission from the bosses... Paul
Rivera pushed the idea through, got the cabs and from badges made
up out-of-house...) Looks like it included an EV speaker
(aluminium centre dome). The serial number (F338xxx) puts it in
early 1984 (same time as the woodie Super Champs). Here are 2 more
pics... good grief, he's even got the original footswitch...
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This next one
belongs to Dave P. It doesn't look very special from this angle,
especially compared with Viviens's pristine example on the other
gallery page. However....
photo by
Dave P
....it's got a F1xxxxx serial number (should be F2,3 or 4) with
the word 'sample' written over it......
photo by
Dave P
.... and
transformer date codes dating from late 1981, and a little
signature inside ...
which on closer
inspection reads "OK Ed Jahns 2/2/82"
photo by
Dave P
...so it dates from before the PRII went on sale, and
it's signed off by the designer. Even with the non-original
speaker (the Greenback fitted probably sounds better anyway)
it's got to have a special place as the oldest known PRII on
the planet. Special, no? Big thanks to Dave P for
getting in touch, telling all, and taking pictures.
More about Ed Jahns on the magazine
page.
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... and what a
clean-looking amp. Nice one, Francois - judging by that
classy-looking Telecaster, looks like he's left-handed. A sign
of intelligence. Ask any left-hander.
Do you know, I was describing this page to my wife this
morning, and she hinted that not everyone would find this
interesting.
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Rub Your Eyes in Disbelief!
April
2006; Big thanks to John Hargnett... his PRII had some cosmetic
surgery performed by its previous owner... John calls it a
Princetovox...!
I can't decide; is it very, very wrong? Or is it rather
attractive? It's certainly well done...
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