"II" series ("Rivera-era") Fender amps
(plus the Fender 30, 75 and 140)
Tube/Valve Amp Schematics and Wiring Diagrams
Solid State amp info here... all the Rivera-era solid state amp schematics


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footswitch info for these amps

Some of the amps in this range.... 

amp group photo

l-r front row; Champ II, Super Champ; middle row, Yale Reverb, Harvard Reverb II, Princeton Reverb II;
back row, Studio Lead, Stage Lead, Deluxe Reverb II (red = solid state).

This page concerns;
 the Fender Super Champ, Princeton Reverb II, Deluxe Reverb II, Concert (1982-86 model sometimes called Concert II; eleven knobs on the front), Bassman 20, Champ II, Twin Reverb II, and Fender 30, 75 and 140.
The 30, 75 and 140 weren't in the Rivera-era - they came before Paul Rivera's time with Fender. I include them here because people sometimes ask for the schematics.

Info and advice here is offered in good faith but I take no responsibility for the outcomes.

Here's .pdf file of the 1983 Fender amp catalogue - (14Mb) - which gives you specifications for each amp.
Thanks to Ulrich Z and Soren of the Super Champ website for doing the scanning.

As I look after the website which concentrates on the Princeton Reverb II, I occasionally got requests for schematics for other amps in the Rivera-era Fender range. For two years I couldn't help. But Mark Carson on the late-lamented FDP, a splendidly helpful chap, sent me several. Others came from other places. So here you are.  All I've done here is gather this info in one place. Big thanks are due to all the anonymous folks down the years who kept the paperwork, scanned it into computer format, and shared it free of charge.

This series of guitar amplifiers was built from 1982 to 1986 and are variously referred to as the "II series" and/or the "Rivera-Era" Fenders. I only own a Princeton Reverb II, so please don't ask me questions which involve actual hands-on experience of the other amps. I recommend another single-amp site - for the Super Champ - it's been archived by the Wayback Machine here. Super Champ owners will also find some highly useful stuff here, written by Ben Hickmott. Some modifications for the PRII will work for the other amps in the series - see my modifications page. Safety disclaimers apply! Good luck.

August 2020 - still collecting data - I am trying to track how many of these amps were made. If you have one, please email me with the serial number (format Fxxxxxx). Even better, let me also have the transformer codes (format 606-xxx) and the loudspeaker codes, if any? Thanks very much. No dismantling is necessary, though you might need a torch or flashlight - the transformer codes are stamped into the metalwork of the transformers, which hang down from the chassis. The speaker codes are in white ink on the black-painted metal near the rim of the speaker (67-xxxx) or on the magnet (109xxxx). Your privacy will be respected and no commercial use will be made of the information. If your amp is being repaired or serviced, please look for a 4-digit code written or printed on the chassis metalwork - that's a code for the actual week the amp was built, and would really help me a lot. In return for (minimum) the serial number I will tell you when your amp was made!

 SPAMDEFEATstratopastor@hotmail.com

Please note, I have zero experience of these amps except for the Princeton Reverb II. If you have any questions about this range, you can ask me - I may have some second-hand info -  but I guarantee you'll get better answers on some discussion board such as the TDPRI or The Gear Page.

Most of these documents are probably also available direct from Fender - Fender.com support section - you email them, asking for what you want, and helpful guys like Ed Treat or Kevin Castaneda email you back with the required file.


Here come the schematics....

Valve (Tube) amps
All the data on this web page is offered free of charge and believed good (it's worked for my amp) but I can't accept responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions, or for anything that happens as a result of using these schematics, which are copyrighted by Fender, with whom I have no affiliation. Always read the label, consult your physician, gate may open without warning, may contain nuts, life isn't fair. I think that about covers it.

Bassman 20 schematic and wiring diagram - please let me have your amp's serial number
This amp shares the metal chassis and a lot of circuitry with the Champ II, the differences (apart from the cab and speaker) being in the tone controls, an extra gain stage + master volume in the Champ II, and the type of phase inverter. There is an internet myth going around that fewer than 500 Bassman 20s were made. No-one ever says where this "info" originated. My research shows that around six thousand Champ IIs and Bassman 20s (total) were made and it looks like around half were Champ II, half Bassman 20. I'm not trying to devalue anyone's Bassman 20... own it because it's a great amp, not because it's "rare".

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Champ II schematic, wiring diagram and parts list (pdf file) - please let me have your amp's serial number

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Concert "II" - schematic and wiring diagram  (pdf file) - please let me have your amp's serial number

Concert "II" Owner's Manual

This concerns the 1982-86 Concert, sometimes called the Concert II; this model has 11(eleven) knobs on the front, not counting lamps and switches. All other Concerts, older or younger, have a different number of knobs. If there are eleven, it's this amp.   The link below is lower quality but includes the parts list (not included in the high-quality file above). Big thanks to Jerome H in France for sending me a scan of the owner's manual.

Concert "II" - low quality but it has the parts list  (pdf file) - please let me have your amp's serial number

May 2017 - Silvio Messina has developed a mod for the Concert which simplifies the footswitch arrangement. He has worked out that if you go inside the amp and swop over the wires on the 'tip' connectors of the two footswitch jack sockets, then you can change channels with a footswitch, connected to the red jack only, grounding either the red ring terminal (clean channel) or the red tip terminal (lead channel). 

Silvio writes "I just wanted to switch between the two channels, because I really like the lead channel cranked up, but didn't want to build the "magical switch" designed for these amps. I'm not an expert, but looking at the schematic it seemed there were two optocoupler circuits, going alternatively to ground, but: the one belonging to the clean channel was routed to the plain jack, while the lead one was routed to the red jack! Why did Fender design such a weird thing? (Silvio is not alone in asking this! Andrew.)So I just moved the tip wires from the plain jack to the tip of the red jack, and vice versa. That's it! Now you only need a SPDT switch plugged into the red jack and it acts just like the front knob switch (which is not working if a footswitch is connected), nothing more, nothing less! No volume drop, no tonal changes. If you want to have LEDs you can still use the blue wire in the schematic." You can see Silvio's mod on the schematic here.

To try to help a Concert owner, I had to work out what each of the valves/tubes do, so here it is...

v1 - input, both channels
v2a - channel 2
v2b - channel 1
v3 - reverb driver
v4a - deliberately overdriven by v2a to create the overdrive in channel 2
v4b is unused
v5a - groups both channels together before passing on to v6 (effects loop)
v5b - reverb recovery
v6a - effects send
v6b - effects return
v7 - phase inverter
v8 and v9 are the push-pull pair of power tubes, again common to both channels

 
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Deluxe Reverb II schematic, diagram and parts list (pdf file) - please let me have your amp's serial number

Big big thanks to DRII owner-from-new, Michael Brenegan, who sent me the above file. Michael says the parts numbers need to be ten digits, so a zero needs to be added to the front, and three zeroes to the end of each number. I am indebted to Vincent D in the US for weighing his Deluxe Reverb II (with the original Blue Label speaker) and finding it weighs 42lb, and not the 32lb as listed in the 1983 Fender amp catalogue. As he points out, that's got to be a misprint, being the same figure as for the smaller PRII. Just in case anyone with back trouble thought this was a light-but-fully-featured 2-channel amp...

Deluxe Reverb II user manual - big thanks to DRII owner Paul Stansfield.

Deluxe Reverb II interior photos

DRII owner Rick Wilkinson opened up his all-original unmodified DRII and took a load of photos. He's kindly put them here. Also well worth a visit are Rick's music business page and especially his hi-quality ribbon mic kits.

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Princeton Reverb II schematic, wiring diagram and parts list (pdf file) - please let me have your amp's serial number
I think there is an error in some editions of this... the schematic and the parts list show a 68K grid-stopper resistor at the input, but the wiring diagram and the interior photo show 39K. I haven't been inside mine to check. This is not a critical value in this circuit position. Also one of the bias voltage potential-divider resistors is not shown on the wiring diagram; there should be a 15K resistor in parallel with the right-hand 70uF capacitor. (the schematic is correct).

My Princeton Reverb II site

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Super Champ schematic (jpg file) - please let me have your amp's serial number

I discovered in April 2014 the Super Champ website (www.superchamp.dk) is offline. It was a great site and I hope it returns. Soren, I hope all is well with you.
The page has been archived by the Wayback Machine here
More useful Super Champ info here

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Twin Reverb II schematic and parts list (pdf file) - please let me have your amp's serial number

Twin Reverb II manual

Please don't ask me for the Twin Reverb II wiring diagram / layout. I'm told by a tech in the US that it's missing from the authorised Fender tech's service folder, and even Fender's Customer Service guys don't have one (Jan 2016). I imagine it's a real rat's nest, though. Sorry.
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Fender 30 schematic (pdf file) - don't send me your serial number,  I am not collecting these
this wasn't part of the Rivera-era range - it appeared in the previous catalogue -  but it was designed by the same team, so here you are anyway. This amp doesn't use the same footswitch design as the other amps on this page. January 2016 - schematic for the footswitch for this amp (different to the usual Rivera-era footswitch). 

Fender 75 schematic and manual (pdf file) - don't send me your serial number, I am not collecting these
this wasn't part of the Rivera-era range - it appeared in the previous catalogue -  but it was designed by the same team and it uses the Rivera-era footswitch design, so here you are anyway.
Fender 75 owner's manual

Fender 140 schematic (pdf file) - don't send me your serial number, I am not collecting these
this wasn't part of the Rivera-era range - it appeared in the previous catalogue -  but it was designed by the same team and it uses the Rivera-era footswitch design, so here you are anyway.

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Magazine Reviews of the Rivera-era amps from 1980s UK magazines. Big thanks to DRII owner Gordon Trunkfield!

Electronics and Music Maker Aug 83; review of Stage Lead and interview with John Hill of Fender UK (pity poor Paul Rivera getting confused with Paul Revere in this one...)
page 1
page 2

International Musician Oct 83; review of Twin Reverb II and Concert "II"
page 1
page 2
page 3

International Musician Feb 83; review of Champ II and Deluxe Reverb II
page 1
page 2
page 3

Big thanks to Gordon for the reviews above; thanks also to Mark Center of San Diego, CA USA for this review of the Concert from Guitar Player magazine, November 1983.
page 1
page 2



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Princeton Reverb II site
schematics for all the solid state amps in this range

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