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Topic: Fender Princeton questions |
Lefty
From:
Grayson, Ga.
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Posted 17 Jun 2011 10:56 am |
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I had been looking for one of these for a bedroom and carry on vacation amp. I recently found a 1972 Princeton reverb near work, but I did not buy it on the spot and when I went back it was gone. I did find one local last week and it is a 1968 Princeton (non-reverb). It was a pretty good deal from what I can tell, and is very clean. My questions concern getting the most volume and clean headroom out of it. It has the stock 1-10 Fender speaker and original GE power tubes. I am considering putting in fresh power tubes and maybe adding a weber 10" speaker. Would this be a waste of money?
This is my first princeton so I just wanted opinions from other Princeton owners. I don't want to change the baffle board for a 12" speaker.
thanks,
Lefty |
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Josh Yenne
From:
Sonoma California
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Posted 17 Jun 2011 12:07 pm
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I am a princeton guy...
but I like the reverbs...
Take out that original speaker, it sounds good but it is pretty farty... I have a 72 that I put a weber in and it sounds fantastic.. that sucker will break up on you though...
I have it in one room with a steel and I use it for my practice amp.... with the 10" you are not going to get over drums without crunching (of course I don't really care about that.. I hate that steril solid state sound that modern steel players go for)
You can't go wrong with owning a princeton... greatest amps in the world...
I did play with the 72 with a weber as my main guitar gigging amp for years and it would get over a drummer (not too loud of one) but it was crunchy... which is what I like.. a little crunch for some life... |
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Bob Hoffnar
From:
Austin, Tx
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Posted 17 Jun 2011 2:09 pm
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That amp should be great for your purposes as is. The Princeton Reverbs have more headroom but the stock Princeton's are sweet little amps. At the volume levels you are talking about the 68 should be perfect.
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Bob |
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Dave Hopping
From:
Aurora, Colorado
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Posted 17 Jun 2011 2:15 pm
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| If you get something like a Pod only with a headphone out,you can have a zillion amps and FX,all of it loud enough to make you rock-star deaf in surround sound and you'll never have to worry about disturbing a soul. |
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Tim Marcus
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 17 Jun 2011 2:21 pm
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Definitely keep the original tubes in there - unless there is reason to replace them. New manufacture tubes - and speakers, for that matter, just don't stack up to the originals.
I think a Princeton sounds best with a 12" speaker and cathode bias. It's a very modable amplifier in that regard - easy to play with the bias circuit, easy to change the speaker baffle, and you can even get a replacement output transformer that will allow for 2 6L6's. Fun stuff.
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Milkmansound.com |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 17 Jun 2011 3:42 pm
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Interestingly enough, my circa '72 PR came with a Rola speaker. Much better than the other stock speakers, IMO. But,,, I modded the heck outa the amp. My tech is so far into PRs it's crazy. Did what I think might be called The Stokes Mod. It's now 20 watts, and gets really loud before any breakup occurs. Then we changed the PT to an Allen, that can run lots of BIG tubes. OT is a Dr. Z. Speaker is a Celestion 12". This amp is now a killer, with, pretty much, the power of a Deluxe. It fits on the front seat passenger side floor, and is very, very giggable. There's a half dozen or more hitting the stages in the Cleveland/Akron area. Guys rip me for the mods, but it really does what I need it to do. And I'm old! Silverface amps will never seem to be "Classic" Fenders. BTW, the phase inverter mod is very easy, and shouldn't take your tech more than 20/30 minutes. So,,,, cheap way to double the power and headroom of the amp.
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Steve Lipsey
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA
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Posted 24 Jun 2011 11:51 pm
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All I did on mine (a Reissue, they are fine) was take out that little peaky 10" and bolt in a 12" from a Deluxe Reverb, didn't even enlarge the hole, it was big enough.....and I can easily mod it back if I need to (which I might, I'm going to sell this amp shortly)...
It now sounds louder and less peaky....more like a Deluxe. Run the Princeton about 1.5 notches higher on the volume knob higher and you get a volume exactly like a Deluxe....and it is plenty loud, I often use it instead of my Deluxe at gigs. |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 25 Jun 2011 5:07 am
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As Bob H. says, a Princeton no-reverb is a great-sounding little amp, and fine for a bedroom or vacation amp. They're really sweet-sounding amps.
They're also useful as a gigging amp for low-volume gigs. As compared to a Princeton Reverb, they're missing the reverb, of course, but also short a gain stage. They are very, very clean, which can be nice for pedal steel. If you need a little more juice out of one, instead of using a unity-gain buffer like a Freeloader or something like that, use something with a little extra clean gain to drive the input section just a bit more. I did that for years with any one of several I had.
Right now, I have two Princeton Reverbs - I was looking for a no-reverb model, but they were too pricey for what they were, but ironically found a couple of deals on reverb models. I prefer them with a 10" speaker - a high-power 12" speaker can sound a bit boxy in the small box, my personal taste. I found a deal on 2 JBL MI-series 10" speakers, they sound fabulous. The K-110 is also great, but good luck finding one. One of these came with a nice 10" Weber speaker - high-power and quite clean - but it had more of a midrange honk than I prefer - so in went the JBL.
If those old GE tubes are sounding strong, I agree with Tim - don't replace them. NOS GEs are my favorite in a small Fender, but getting harder to find - what's generally most available in NOS 6V6 are 80s-made Philips/Sylvania tubes.
I use a Princeton Reverb for guitar almost exclusively (unless it's a loud gig with inadequate monitoring, in which case I sometimes use a Deluxe or Vibrolux Reverb), and they make good low-volume gig (folk/bluegrass-level volumes) or recording amps even for pedal steel. Properly mic'd and with the volume kept low enough that you can turn up the bass enough to get a full-range sound without saturating the bottom end, they give a nice signal with the JBL. Normally I use something bigger for pedal steel gigs, but it's really due to limitations in the monitoring system being used - there's nothing wrong with the sound, to me. Of course, the full-range JBL makes a lot of difference.
My take. |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 25 Jun 2011 7:02 am
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Mine is 60's, non-reverb. I use the Holy Grail reverb stomp-box with it. Great sounding living room amp. All original, even the tubes, and since it doesn't go to gigs I'm not inclined to beef it up. It gives me a nice balance with acoustic players at home.
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-𝕓𝕆𝕓- (admin) - Robert P. Lee - Recordings - Breathe - D6th - Video |
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Michael Pierce
From:
Madison, CT
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Posted 25 Jun 2011 9:24 am
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| I have a 1970 non-reverb Princeton, which I use either with a 12" Weber Cali or a 10" Tone Tubby (the amp has the removable baffle). The guys over on the Jazz Guitar Forum go crazy for the non-reverb silverface Princetons, probably because of what Dave M mentions, the lack of another gain stage. I learn something every day here. |
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Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Lefty
From:
Grayson, Ga.
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Posted 16 Jul 2011 3:27 am
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I pulled out the original oxford speaker and stored it. I added a Weber 10F150-T speaker. This really made a improvement. This increased the headroom and volume. I am a big fan of 10" speakers for guitar (6 string) and are quite happy. 
Lefty |
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Lefty
From:
Grayson, Ga.
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Posted 16 Jul 2011 3:28 am
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I pulled out the original oxford speaker and stored it. I added a Weber 10F150-T speaker. This really made a improvement without altering the amp. This increased the headroom and volume. I am a big fan of 10" speakers for guitar (6 string) and are quite happy.
Lefty |
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Dan Tyack
From:
Olympia, WA USA
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Posted 20 Jul 2011 1:00 pm
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| Dave Hopping wrote: |
| If you get something like a Pod only with a headphone out,you can have a zillion amps and FX,all of it loud enough to make you rock-star deaf in surround sound and you'll never have to worry about disturbing a soul. |
IMHO....
The difference between a POD and a Princeton is like the difference between a picture of an ice cream sundae and an ice cream sundae...... |
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Dan Tyack
From:
Olympia, WA USA
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Posted 20 Jul 2011 1:06 pm
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Here's a cut with me playing Doug Livingston's silver face non-reverb Princeton (with the Weber upgrade).
Can't Find My Way Home
I've played Doug's Princeton the last few times at Phoenix. Great amps, especially if you put a Zen Drive in front of it. |
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Lefty
From:
Grayson, Ga.
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Posted 21 Jul 2011 4:49 pm
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Very nice piece Dan. Never thought about that song for steel, but that really is nice.
Lefty |
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