Wood cabinet for Princeton '65 Reissue Amp

[bborzell]

Not that I don't have several wood working projects on the back burner, but I frequently look at my Princeton amp and envision a custom wood cabinet.

Recently, I stumbled upon this shot of a cabinet someone made for their amp and suddenly the Murphy Bed project began to back slide.

One of the things that occurs to me is to use the opportunity to go to a 12" speaker. And then it seems like adding a clone chassis to a new speaker and a cabinet that I build and I suddenly have two amps.

Decisions, decisions...

[oldane]

Originally Posted by bborzell

One of the things that occurs to me is to use the opportunity to go to a 12" speaker.

Some actually manage to sqeeze in a 12" speaker into a Princeton cabinet. It only works with certain speakers because it's a narrow fit.

[pingu]

A priceton with a bigger 12" cab would be very nice

I tried out a Victoria Tweed Champ cct in a 12" pine cab which was a really great clean sound ..........not quite enough clean headroom tho

I sometimes think a really simple tweed champ type preamp cct
ie vol and a single tone knob combined with a bigger
say 20 watt fender type power amp in a 1 x 12" pine cab
would be ideal

[hallpass]

I love how that cabinet in that picture looks!

I have a 12" speaker in my PRRI. I bought a speaker baffle for the stock cabinet and it fit fine.

My speaker is an Eminence Lil Texas. The reasons I chose it:
1) High sensitivity (101db) meaning it's loud so I can get more out of the 15w of the PR. The speaker is high wattage so it won't breakup easily.
2) It's very light because it's a neo speaker

It works great for me in both jazz and rock settings. If I need more volume/headroom, I have a '71 Bandmaster 2x10 combo. But the PRRI covers most everything for me these days.

[bborzell]

I have mentioned my thoughts about a hardwood cabinet to a few friends and all three gave me a blank look, as in, "what's wrong with the cabinet it came with?" Oh, well.

So I am thinking about cherry and maple. Might even go so far as to glue up alternating strips.

[Herbie]

I have had three different 12" speakers in my Princeton Reverb SF 1979. The baffle with 12" hole I had made by a pro tech.

The cheap Jensen was harsh and boomy, Eminence Red Fang sounds a bit asthmatic (maybe not broken in yet) but the real winner is Celestion Blue. Just amazing from the first seconds!

I also changed the pre-valve 12AX7 to a 12AU7. Now I get more cleans.

With my Gibson ES165 (BJB-minihumbucker -version) I get perfect classic jazzsounds with Treble 3, Bass 3 and Vol 3.

[hallpass]

Originally Posted by Herbie

I also changed the pre-valve 12AX7 to a 12AU7. Now I get more cleans.

With my Gibson ES165 (BJB-minihumbucker -version) I get perfect classic jazzsounds with Treble 3, Bass 3 and Vol 3.

I tried a 12au7 in a different amp a long time ago and found it lost too much volume. I've settled on using a 5751. It keeps good volume and still has a little less gain than a 12ax7.

I'll have to try those EQ settings on my PRRI. I've been doing more like bass and trable at 6 and keeping the tone knob on my guitar very low.

[cosmic gumbo]

If you do a nice job, maybe it'll weigh as much as a Fender twin...

[bborzell]

Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo

If you do a nice job, maybe it'll weigh as much as a Fender twin...

It is likely to put on few pounds, but it will continue to live like Jabba the Hut; sit in one spot and receive callers.

[Herbie]

Originally Posted by martinopass

I'll have to try those EQ settings on my PRRI. I've been doing more like bass and trable at 6 and keeping the tone knob on my guitar very low.

This could be a reason for its own thread – and maybe it is already discussed thru, but I have never understood this "jazz-sound-with-tone-to-zero" thing. My experience is that zeroing the tone kills the dynamics of the sound. This mumbling sound disappears in the mix.

And I have never heard a classic jazz guitarist sound thru this method. Wes has trebles, but he played with his thumbs. Grant Green said once: "You don't need bass or treble but the middles" and he turned the treble and bass to zero – or almost – from the amp. Jim Hall's latest records have some zero-tone sounds and maybe some Johnny Smith record.

This could be also a question of playing technique. Maybe some light player whose pick is like a butterfly over strings might get decent results with zero-tone. My deep and heavy plowing just feels like imprisoned that way.

The new enclosure is a beauty!

[hallpass]

Originally Posted by Herbie

This could be a reason for its own thread – and maybe it is already discussed thru, but I have never understood this "jazz-sound-with-tone-to-zero" thing. My experience is that zeroing the tone kills the dynamics of the sound. This mumbling sound disappears in the mix.

And I have never heard a classic jazz guitarist sound thru this method. Wes has trebles, but he played with his thumbs. Grant Green said once: "You don't need bass or treble but the middles" and he turned the treble and bass to zero – or almost – from the amp. Jim Hall's latest records have some zero-tone sounds and maybe some Johnny Smith record.

This could be also a question of playing technique. Maybe some light player whose pick is like a butterfly over strings might get decent results with zero-tone. My deep and heavy plowing just feels like imprisoned that way.

The new enclosure is a beauty!

Yea, this probably should be another thead topic and has been talked about here some already. You should chime in one of those or start another since you seem to feel strongly about it. But since we're here, I'll add my thoughts too.

Jim Hall and Joe Pass (non solo stuff generally) are tones I like personally, and typically dark. I like Wes too, who gets his tone from his thumb as you said.

I've found what works for me in the trio format I play in. But even that changes based on the acoustics of the room I'm playing in. The restaurant we play at sounds different then the room we rehearse, as do other places we play. So tone knob placement changes for me, rarely is it completely off at 0. I find I generally like my tone knob anywhere between 0 and 5 (10 being max).

Ultimately it's to each their own tone. No right or wrong if it moves you.

[bborzell]

I hope I haven't raised any expectations here. At the moment, I can't even walk through my shop without having to climb over a power washer, a scooter, several piles of wood turning cutoffs and a 2 wheel tractor.

Maybe the first step is getting the wood. I have some good maple that I can resaw. Next I need to choose between walnut and cherry for the contrast. And will it be maple on the darker wood or primarily maple with walnut or cherry for the accent?

Maybe choosing to clean a path through the shop is the first order of business.