The GAS has struck... Fender Princeton

susbemol

Really feeling like I need a Princeton (probably the 68) in my life right now. Looking at the prices they normally go for on eBay (around £600), I thought I might ask you wise people if there are any other alternatives I should be looking at? As in clones, boutique versions, etc - nothing too fancy though.

It would be mainly for recording and for smaller jazz/funk gigs. Cheers guys!

ThePrettyDamned

The 68 is brilliant, I can't imagine a small practice amp for cleans and lower gain bluesy dirt being any better to be honest. 

octatonic

I've had 4 Fender Princeton reissues- so I like them, but they are not without problems.
The reverb is virtually useless- it is crashy and too dry- even on 1 it swamps the amp.
The amp produces too much bass.
I'm not massively into the stock speaker in either the 65 or the 68.
There are a few other things that bugged me as well- I will try to remember what.

I've ended up with a Princeton style amp from another maker- which is a Louis Electric Road Runner.
It is an astonishingly good take on the Princeton thing, but they are a lot more expensive- about double the cost of a Fender reissue.

Dan

I had a '68 and it was superb. I sold it to @thecolourbox who I think might have been selling it. Either way it was lovely!

Boutique would be a Carr Sportsman (which I have) or the Louis Columbia Reverb, although ive not tried one they seem to get a lot of praise.

Clone maybe @RiftAmps ?

Jalapeno

65 re-issue here. Loving it !

susbemol

Thanks for the replies, gents. I'll pop to a shop to give it a go but I'm pretty sure it's what I want.

Can't afford to buy it new so I'll keep an eye for one in the classifieds and other usual places.

RandallFlagg

I just got a Morgan PR12. It's based on the Princeton but has a fixed baffle cabinet, Celestion G12M Greenback speaker and meatier transformer so has more grunt and headroom. The reverb has a dwell control to tame the splash as well. No trem though.

It sounds very nice and is plenty loud enough before it starts to break up but when it does it can sound very nice, not farty like the Fenders. Expensive though in comparison:

susbemol

Yeah, that's lovely but way too posh for me!

JohnPerry

My recent revelation was putting a Celestion Gold in my 72 PR. What an amp it now is.

Chalky

Had a 65 RI for a couple of years. Lovely amp but having moved to DIY kit amps, I'd say the lack of mid control is silly and robs the amp of a wider range of voices. The reverb is as @octatonic said, and the tremolo is not as nice as a good pedal.  If you want that particular sound, great, but there are more flexible amps out there, and I prefer 12 inch speakers to 10s any day.

susbemol

I have no problem with it having no mid control, I have others that do. I agree about the reverb but I very, very rarely use reverb when playing live and never, ever when recording - I'm only really interested in the core tone of the amp. I have also got other cabs with 12" speakers should I want to use them instead.

I have just spent a little while with one and it's seriously brilliant! Unless there is something else considerably better out there for the same sort of cash, I think I know what to do next.

ThePrettyDamned

I hated the reverb in the 68 but I put that down to me not liking spring reverb full stop...

susbemol

You and me both, brother... but I actually dislike all reverbs, unless it is a tiny bit applied to a dry recorded sound.

JezWynd

There was someone selling an original in the classifieds a short time back. Reverbless model iirc. Norwich way?

Gassage

Much prefer the 65 to thr 68.

susbemol

I am pretty certain I'd be happy with a 65 too. Either would cut it for what I want from them.

Col_Decker

'68 user too which I bought from a chap on this 'ere forum. FWIW I  really like the reverb on it.

fandango

octatonic said:

I've had 4 Fender Princeton reissues- so I like them, but they are not without problems.
The reverb is virtually useless- it is crashy and too dry- even on 1 it swamps the amp.
The amp produces too much bass.
I'm not massively into the stock speaker in either the 65 or the 68.
There are a few other things that bugged me as well- I will try to remember what.

I've ended up with a Princeton style amp from another maker- which is a Louis Electric Road Runner.
It is an astonishingly good take on the Princeton thing, but they are a lot more expensive- about double the cost of a Fender reissue.

@octatonic - I've got one of these Princeton Re-issues (the '68) and would like a better bass response (less flubby/farty). Been looking on and off for a suitable replacement speaker ... WGS, Weber, Celestion Gold, but don't have enough info to make that £100-£150 investment.

Any ideas?

thecolourbox

I do indeed have @dan 's old 68 Custom PR and it is very nice, albeit a little bit loud for me to be honest at home so I've only really played it when playing a few small solo "gigs" (I say "gigs" in the loosest sense of the word). It's only occasionally been considered for sale because it just sits unused under my table as I use preamps into monitors instead mostly.

My thoughts would be:

Great clean sound although I find it goes from "off" to "slightly too loud" quite quickly but that's because I live in a small house and play in a small room so I'm simply too close to it I think.

Likeswise I tend to have the bass on zero because of said space proximity. Sounded perfect when I played the "gigs" for what I was doing. If I use it  at home I often use my Jettenuator to act as an extra volume control

I like the reverb but then I do like a lot of verb on my playing, softens it a little.

Likewise the trem, adds a nice texture to the sound - I used it for full on stuttery trem in my gigs to play the Nancy Sinatra "bang bang".

Fender reverbs and trems I belive do suffer a bit from noise though, and this one does seem to at low volume/close proximity.

Here is a link to a couple of tracks recorded with the aforementioned Princeton, admittedly dummy loaded into a speaker IR but still, you'll get the gist

susbemol

I'll be actively looking for one now. If anyone decides it is time to move theirs, please let me know!

Voxman

RandallFlagg said:

I just got a Morgan PR12. It's based on the Princeton but has a fixed baffle cabinet, Celestion G12M Greenback speaker and meatier transformer so has more grunt and headroom. The reverb has a dwell control to tame the splash as well. No trem though.

It sounds very nice and is plenty loud enough before it starts to break up but when it does it can sound very nice, not farty like the Fenders. Expensive though in comparison:

Sorry, maybe its me but that sounds very ordinary and a bit 'rough' (not in a good way) texture wise to me - my Laney Cub 12R with Vintage 30 sounds better than that!