Mulling over swapping my PRRI for a DRRI

menamestom

Thoughts?  Has anybody done this and what have you gained / lost?

Trem wise I expect it will be a downgrade but I use my flint more anyway since my footswitch has broke.

Note my Princeton has had an OT upgrade so sounds a bit more solid than stock anyway.

Princeton has been on and off my main amp for about 9 years, but is currently off due to switching to an MJW 5E3.

noisepolluter

Could you not bridge the gap to a certain extent with a more efficient speaker? 

menamestom

noisepolluter said:

Could you not bridge the gap to a certain extent with a more efficient speaker? 

Already done that, think it is 100db.

I'm wondering more how the different circuit and bigger cab changes the sound.  Just thinking of a change really.

roberty

I traded up to a DRRI and am much happier now. The PRRI was losing it at volume, couldn't get it loud enough and I didn't like the overdriven sound. DRRI overdrive sounds badass. The trem depends on your footswitch cable, changed my cable recently and now the trem is deep and lush as it should be. I have a creamback neo in mine. It's not loud enough for FOH but you can hear yourself on stage

stickyfiddle

The DRRI is just a better sounding amp, imo. 

But why are you looking to change? Different sound, or just wanting louder?

menamestom

roberty said:

I traded up to a DRRI and am much happier now. The PRRI was losing it at volume, couldn't get it loud enough and I didn't like the overdriven sound. DRRI overdrive sounds badass. The trem depends on your footswitch cable, changed my cable recently and now the trem is deep and lush as it should be. I have a creamback neo in mine. It's not loud enough for FOH but you can hear yourself on stage

Thanks, is yours one of the recent trems, or the older opto trem?

noisepolluter

roberty said:

The trem depends on your footswitch cable, changed my cable recently and now the trem is deep and lush as it should be. 

I’ve not heard of this - my DRRI is slightly older and has the opto trem bug rather than the board - is that the same as yours @roberty ? I had a resistor added to one end of the bug which reduced the ticking slightly, but I still use a pedal most of the time. 

Do do you have more info about this foot switch mod? 

roberty

menamestom said:

roberty said:

I traded up to a DRRI and am much happier now. The PRRI was losing it at volume, couldn't get it loud enough and I didn't like the overdriven sound. DRRI overdrive sounds badass. The trem depends on your footswitch cable, changed my cable recently and now the trem is deep and lush as it should be. I have a creamback neo in mine. It's not loud enough for FOH but you can hear yourself on stage

Thanks, is yours one of the recent trems, or the older opto trem?

No idea sorry, bought it used

noisepolluter said:

roberty said:

The trem depends on your footswitch cable, changed my cable recently and now the trem is deep and lush as it should be. 

I’ve not heard of this - my DRRI is slightly older and has the opto trem bug rather than the board - is that the same as yours @roberty ? I had a resistor added to one end of the bug which reduced the ticking slightly, but I still use a pedal most of the time. 

Do do you have more info about this foot switch mod? 

I have a bright onion footswitch with status LEDs and just a jack for the cable. My cable broke so I swapped it and all of a sudden the trem came alive

ICBM

The cable is in the oscillator part of the circuit so it will be the same whichever version it has - the cable capacitance affects the depth of the oscillations.

You can tell from the outside which it is - if there are two small screws in the bottom of the chassis next to V2 and V3 it has the non-opto coupler circuit.

noisepolluter

ICBM said:

The cable is in the oscillator part of the circuit so it will be the same whichever version it has - the cable capacitance affects the depth of the oscillations.

You can tell from the outside which it is - if there are two small screws in the bottom of the chassis next to V2 and V3 it has the non-opto coupler circuit.

Thanks - I might have to look into this. My footswitch has the original cable, which is also about twice as long as it needs to be. Wonder if a different oscillator valve might reduce the tick a bit more - it’s the a GT 12ax7WC which must be stock and therefore 15+ years old!

roberty

ICBM said:

The cable is in the oscillator part of the circuit so it will be the same whichever version it has - the cable capacitance affects the depth of the oscillations.

You can tell from the outside which it is - if there are two small screws in the bottom of the chassis next to V2 and V3 it has the non-opto coupler circuit.

In that case mine is non-opto

I'm using a cheap moulded plastic lead for the footswitch now and the oscillations are much deeper

shaunm

I changed from a PRRI to a DRRI and I think it’s a massively different sound. The DDRI is in my mind superior in all ways. I struggled with the PRRI because I knew what to use it for. It sounded amazing but it was too loud for home and nowhere near loud enough for me to gig.

The DRRI sounds as good at home and cute through a lot more in a live setting. 

noisepolluter

What really made the DRRI a lot more flexible for me (especially with drive pedals at low volumes) was getting the Fritz mod done - reverb/trem on both channels effectively giving you normal and bright, and they’re in phase so you can jumper and blend them with no weird cancellation. Effectively gives you a presence control which makes dialling in pedals a lot easier. 

57Deluxe

skip the middle man and go straight to a Super Reverb!

crunchman

They are both good amps, but I think I prefer the Princeton.  It just sounds a bit sweeter to me.

It does depend on your usage.  If you need more volume the Deluxe might make more sense, but if the Princeton is loud enough then I prefer that.