HOW TO: Replace Can Capacitor in Vintage Fender Princeton

In this video I show you how to install a new can capacitor in a vintage fender Princeton amplifier, step by step. To see more work done to this amp, check out the playlist here: • 1968 Fender Princeton ...
00:00 - What's unique about the princeton
02:25 - Step 1 - Inspect & photograph
03:46 - Step 2 - Remove the components
04:39 - Chassis Iron
05:54 - Step 3 - Remove old solder
06:17 - Step 4 - Lift up the tabs
06:49 - Repeat Step 3&4
07:56 - Old vs New
08:29 - Step 5 - Remove remaining solder/flux
08:51 - Step 6 - Install new can cap
10:07 - Step 7 - Solder the grounding tabs
11:41 - Step 8 - Re-connect the wires & resistor
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[@YeatzeeGuitar]

Adjustable bias video to come, need to do more work to the amp to be able to turn it on and verify the bias range is correct. In due time 🫡

[@jhjanko1]

CE Manufacturing restored and are using the original Mallory machinery to make their can caps. Considering the supply chain issues we’ve had over the last several years, plus my own failure free experiences with CE products, I understand where a pandemic-related glitch or two in the manufacturing process might slip by. I’ll stick with them anyway. The Hayseed method of dropping in a couple radial caps into a can is what guys were forced to do a while ago when cap cans were basically off the market.

[@rdubyaB]

Nicely done! I installed a CE can in my Champ a few years ago. Everything's still fine so fingers crossed.

[@stevelark9840]

I've used CE can caps on dozens of rebuilds with no failures. Not sure where you're getting the feedback that they're not reliable, but that's not been my experience with them. CE is a great company to work with as well, and stands behind their products.

[@YeatzeeGuitar]

I can think of 3 different people that have told me about issues with them 🤷‍♂️

[@goodun2974]

​@@YeatzeeGuitar, as you know, Lyle at Psionic Audio has seen failed CE cap cans.

[@YeatzeeGuitar]

@@goodun2974 He's one of the 3!

[@goodun2974]

@@YeatzeeGuitar , It occurs to me that perhaps what we need for replacing vintage multisection can caps Isn't a newly-made/stuffed can-cap with the same mounting and footprint as the originals, but perhaps instead a combination capacitor clamp and reducing adapter-collar that will fit into the original Fender chassis hole and can be secured from inside the chassis by bending and soldering tabs to the chassis, thereby not requiring bolt-holes to be drilled. Then, you could use a 2 or 3 section can cap like the the ones that are often used in Marshall amplifiers. I don't see a modern blue or black shrinkwrapped cap to be any more objectionable than using a shiny chrome Hayseed Hamfest capacitor with a big blue label on the side of it, especially considering that in removing the original can cap you are losing the date codes and the capacitance/voltage values that are embossed on the original can.

[@EDBlCeiferof]

Hey, wouldn't it be easier to use a solder sucker instead of those copper strips? Also first time watching you channel and already subbed!

[@YeatzeeGuitar]

Thanks! Solder sucker would get gummed up immediately with that amount of solder, a lot cleaner/easier to use the wick in my experience 🙂

[@soapboxearth2]

I restuffed some vintage can caps. Quite a mess of tar inside them. Definitely not cost effective, ha. I watched a blue glow video on the hayseed caps. He had a criticism when he found out they were cans with small radials inside. Then, through some correspondence with hayseed and some research, he found out this was the normal practice for a long time. I wonder if the cap you removed may be constructed that way? I'd be tempted to use a pipe cutter and see. It may be a simple process. It would be nice to be able to rebuild these with nichicons etc.

[@YeatzeeGuitar]

You can actually spec out what caps you want them to use if you have a preference (assuming they'll fit) but the default are solid.

[@soapboxearth2]

@@YeatzeeGuitar yeah I guess it's easier to have them build them.

[@goodun2974]

Another way to remove an old can cap that may be helpful, especially if you don't have solder wick or a solder sucker, is to unbend the 2 tabs that aren't soldered to the chassis and then heat the soldered ground tabs (one at a time) while you wiggle and push up on the can cap from underneath. Keep wiggling the can cap and pushing up on it until the solder has cooled and solidified, and what little solder is still holding the tab in place is probably crystalline and grainy and you can probably get a small screwdriver under the tab and pry it up.

[@YeatzeeGuitar]

@@goodun2974 that's a great tip!

[@goodun2974]

@@YeatzeeGuitar , A similar technique can be applied to unsoldering wires and component leads from tube socket terminals and phenolic tag strips. Because solder wick and desoldering pumps tend to leave enough solder behind that the wire is still pretty well soldered to the terminal, it is helpful to heat the terminal and wiggle the component lead while the solder cools and then the lead will usually be somewhat free from the solidified solder, and hopefully will visibly move when you wiggle it. At that point you can get in there and clip off some of the component lead where it is wrapped around and through the terminal, or unwrap it somewhat with a dental pick or small needle nose pliers and then clip off the excess wire. If there isn't a lot of factory-applied solder on the connection in the first place, you can often free up the component lead somewhat just by shaking it as the solder cools without even having to remove any of the solder first. You are intentionally making a cold solder joint! PS, I find that really small flush cutters are handy for this sort of work because sometimes you can get in there and cut a loop out of the wire where it coils around inside the terminal, without damaging the terminal itself; and sometimes the flush cutters work better for grabbing the wire and twisting it than a pair of needle nose pliers would.

[@gregmenacho7667]

I installed a CE can cap on my '76 Princeton Reverb and it failed after less than two years. It caused me major grief because I was foolish enough to not suspect it as the cause of hum when it showed up. I will never trust a CE cap again.

[@YeatzeeGuitar]

Yeah heard that a few times now