Princeton or Deluxe? (talk to me about Fender's new '68 silverface models)

Bucket

Ok, dilemma on my hands.

I'm selling my Blackstar and in an effort to have the perfect amp rig for all my current needs, I plan to add one of the new silverface reissue Fenders to my Mesa/Boogie. I don't need loads of watts and it needs to be smallish and portable, so a Twin is out of the question. I was absolutely dead set on the new '68 Custom Deluxe Reverb, but today I managed to play one of the silverface Princetons and was blown away by it. I've played the Deluxe too and it sounds just as good, but the Princeton has me seriously questioning which I should buy.

Here's where the Princeton impressed me:

- The tone is fabulous

- Only 12 watts so it breaks up at manageable volumes and sounds absolutely fantastic doing so

- Still really fucking loud, not sure how well it'd cope with a rock gig though and headroom is a slight worry...

- Very small and light

- Costs a couple of hundred less (currently £698 on Thomann, the Deluxe is £839)

But the Deluxe:

- Also sounds fabulous (haven't had a chance to crank a 68RI, but I've heard Deluxes turned up before and they sound wondrous... guess there's a reason everyone loves them)

- 22 watts so has more headroom but still breaks up at slightly-less-than-deafening volume (only slightly less, mind)

- Still quite small and light

- Has two channels, the left-hand channel on the new '68 Custom being my favourite due to the Bassman-inspired voicing that sounds fantastic with drive and fuzz pedals, which I use a lot, and the reverb and tremolo work on both channels. I tried the Princeton with a fuzz, and it sounded alright but I'd need to try it with my own rig to be sure. Don't know if it'd be as good.

My situation is this, if it helps - I want a classic Fender 6V6 sound, with reverb and tremolo, fairly low wattage so I can crank it, in a small and light combo. However, it's got to be powerful enough to cope with a fairly loud rock band, and has to take fuzz and drive pedals well because they're going to be used a lot with it.

So based on that, what would you recommend?

ICBM

The Deluxe.

randomhandclaps

Be a man - Get a Twin!

I would definitely go with the DRRI alternatively.

Sassafras

Deluxe Reverb. Fabulous at any volume.

koss59

Personally I prefer princetons but there is no way it'll be loud enough with a rock band. I used my princeton last night in a largish bar but playing funky/ jazz, blues and it was only just loud enough not mic'd.

stickyfiddle

For gigging, I'd say Deluxe. For recording, Princeton, unless you will always 100% be able to mic/PA it, in which case I might go Princeton for gigging too, though in an ideal world I'd want an attenuator with both of them and always mic for live.

Richardj

I have the Twin and it does sound epic, but of course doesn't drive at healthy volumes and is a tad weighty. I liked the look of the Deluxe but it wasn't an option as it came directly from Fender as a replacement for a US Deluxe that got trashed. I would go for the Deluxe, that bit of extra power and a 12" speaker make it a lot more versatile.

glt56

I've got an original '65 Deluxe Reverb and loved it so much that I bought a US Tubetone Deluxe Plus made to my spec. and had it shipped over so I could use it live and leave the original at home.  But there again, I've also got a Fender Princeton "Recording" and really love that too, but to honest, for live use there's no comparison.

p90fool

I have the Princeton and gig it once or twice a week. The addition of a Ragin' Cajun and a pair of tilt-back legs made all the difference though.
I do mic it too, but mainly because I use it almost totally clean and just prefer the sound of miked amps anyway.

The Deluxe is obviously more suitable for gigging in terms of power and headroom but I just prefer the sound of the Princeton, and certainly in terms of the 68 Custom series the Deluxe seems to have had far more issues in terms of noise, reliability, sensitivity to valve type and general glitchiness.

I've been gigging the 68 Princeton heavily for nearly a year, and last night's LP/CoolCat Fuzz/Princeton combination was about the best, most grin-inducing live sound I can ever remember having.

the_jaffa

The obvious answer is to buy both of them

BGG

I've recently bought a 68 Custom DDRI and it's fantastic !

Sounds greta in the rehearsal room at low volume, played a huge stage in a room with a couple of hundred people last week and it sounded amazing turned up.

Used the Custom channel all night and it just sounded wonderful. Compact and light too, fits in the tiny boot of my Saab convertible with a pedalboard and guitar, couldn't be happier

darcym

the_jaffa said:

The obvious answer is to buy both of them

that's what I did, worked out great.

xscaramanga

After owning a Princeton Reverb Reissue for a couple of years, I still don't know whether I'd rather have a Deluxe. I need to spend a bit more time with my friend's DRRI to check, but here are my thoughts so far:

The Princeton is very farty indeed when you crank it up. This can be controlled to some extent by turning the bass right down, but I never got a tone I was completely happy with that way. Some people say the best solution is to change the output transformer, but I think a speaker will do it. With an attenuator (so the speaker isn't breaking up), I love the tone of the Princeton with the volume all the way up...

... but I still think my mate's DRRI sounds even better with humbuckers at full blast. I've only tried his amp with a Les Paul.

Reverb and trem are reputed to be even better on Princetons. I don't actually care about them as much as the base tone though, so I didn't really think about that when I was checking out the Deluxe. 

The Princeton's a lovely amp. I've gigged it with a band. The amp was mic'ed, but (even with the stock speaker), I still had enough clean headroom that I could have gone louder if I'd needed to (live, I use the amp completely clean and get dirt from pedals). 

It's been ages since I cranked the Princeton without an attenuator, but I remember it being loud. If you don't need a clean tone and your drummer isn't a baboon, you could probably do a pub gig with an un-mic'ed Princeton, I reckon. As you say, neither amp has absolutely tons of clean headroom. If you wanted a really loud, clean Fender, neither of these is the one.