Fender Princeton recording amp

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Ron Vogel
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2009/03/21 21:49:29 (permalink)

Fender Princeton recording amp

Just bought one today (got a smoking deal on it)...as much as I am happy with it. I am also unhappy with it. Comparing it with my vintage stuff...it just doesn't have the soul of the older amps. All the digital effects and attenuator can be bypassed (it's also the best way to get a good tone with it), however, I'm thinking the solid state rectifier is what kills it. I don't know, it sounded so good in the store...I'm thinking of returning it already!

I told the wife and she didn't want to hear it!

I'm stuck in the past, but my foot's tapping forward 
Ron Vogel Soundclick page
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    Middleman
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    RE: Fender Princeton recording amp 2009/03/22 01:35:27 (permalink)
    Blues Junior or one of the used hand wired Fenders that were out a couple years ago sound like what you are looking for. Or, a vintage Princeton.

    Are you sure it doesn't sound OK when you turn off the fancy stuff, set it at volume 5 and open up your guitar volume? If not, I would return it.

    Gear: A bunch of stuff.
    #2
    Ron Vogel
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    RE: Fender Princeton recording amp 2009/03/22 10:11:35 (permalink)
    It sounds better with all the extra stuff off, and volume up about 3/4 to full. However, It likes my guitar volume all the way up on the guitar itself. If I lower guitar volume the sensitivity is too little. I'm pretty much set on returning it. I was messing with it for a few hours last night, the other thing that bothers me is how noisy it is.

    I don't want to bash it too much though, but if I can only have one amp...this wouldn't be it. It's fun to play with for funk and heavy strumming.

    I'm stuck in the past, but my foot's tapping forward 
    Ron Vogel Soundclick page
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    The Maillard Reaction
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    RE: Fender Princeton recording amp 2009/03/22 10:25:25 (permalink)
    What kind of speaker is it running?

    You know wher I'm going with this. :-)


    #4
    Ron Vogel
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    RE: Fender Princeton recording amp 2009/03/22 14:51:38 (permalink)

    ORIGINAL: mike_mccue

    What kind of speaker is it running?

    You know wher I'm going with this. :-)

    Jensen special design. It doesn't matter...it's going back tomorrow. It is just way too noisy of an amp. Lots of hum and hiss at any volume more than halfway. It sounds good cranked up, but if this were the only amp I used for recording, I'd have to run a gate on every guitar track as standard practice.

    I checked out a custom Princeton clone today...and I'm bringing cash for it tomorrow. No noise, no hum, lots of headroom...great sound. I was going to get a silverface, do the torres mods and call it a day. By the time I was finished it would cost me more than what I'm going to get.

    Here is a link to pics of the actual amp...let me know if you see anything on it that looks suspicious:
    http://picasaweb.google.com/kenbonner/2009036A14HP#

    I'm stuck in the past, but my foot's tapping forward 
    Ron Vogel Soundclick page
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    The Maillard Reaction
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    RE: Fender Princeton recording amp 2009/03/23 08:29:17 (permalink)
    That looks nice... it also seems to have a Ted Weber speaker? Which in this day an age I'd call a big bonus.

    The parts all seem well selected... what appears to be ceramic tube sockets and the standard "real" quality parts and fittings you should expect.

    The choice of capacitors seems well considered although people argue about cap choices endlessly.

    It looks like he used metal film resistors throughout... some folks will use a few carbon comp resistors along the circuit where they think it adds just the right amount of dirt... and then they use the metal films for better life service where they don't think it effects the tone.

    The lead dress may or may not be as good as possible... but this amp is obviously made with LOVE so I'd assume he's done the best dress he can.


    The one thing I would be curious about is the tubes... I just purchased a 1976 Princteon Reverb in Janurary. My 100% original amp came with 2 2007 Sovtek manufactured *6V6* power tubes labeled "Fender". When I contacted the seller he just ignored me. Oh Well. Fairly typical for EBAY... I didn't bother contacting EBAY... I wanted the rest of the amp because it's squeaky clean.

    The amp did not have a beautiful sound but it was new to me I figured I find what it was good at sooner or later... 3 weeks later the SOVTEK power tubes shorted out... I'm glad I was nearby... I shut the amp down before I lost a transformer etc.

    So I grabbed some 1975 RCA 6V6GTA tubes out of '75 Princeton that's here for a maintenance and popped them in my '76 Princeton Reverb. Wow that's the amp I paid the money for. Those 1975 RCA 6V6 tubes were probably the cheapest tubes Fender could buy that year... but they sound great.

    I'm begining to think if you really like the sound of a 6V6 tube amp that you may want to stock up on NOS tubes.

    I think you can grow to like that new amp... it seems like everything I admire in a amp... simple quality construction!

    best regards,
    mike


    #6
    Ron Vogel
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    RE: Fender Princeton recording amp 2009/03/23 09:37:51 (permalink)
    Thanks Mike, I appreciate the input immensely. He has the 6L6 tubes in it right now, but is changing back to the 6V6 for me, using some JJ's he has on the shelf for it. I do plan on sourcing some Jan Phillips for it eventually. It sounds good, but from my research on it, I should be able to taylor the amp to my tastes with a few simple mods. It's got a Weber signature 50 watter in there, which is a plus, however it's one of their lower priced models (if that matters). After reading on Ted's site, going back to the 6V6's should clean up some of the treble (this amp is BRIGHT).
    I have been reading up on caps too, I might replace a few in the preamp section with some oil filled ones...but just like you mentioned there is some debate on that one!

    I'm stuck in the past, but my foot's tapping forward 
    Ron Vogel Soundclick page
    #7
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