Li'l Dawg Choco Prince vs '76 Princeton - Report and Videos

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

As promised, here's a head to head (OK, combo to combo) comparison of my bandmate's 15W 2020 Li'l Dawg Choco Prince and my '76 SF Princeton. I spent a week with the CP, played through it for a total of about 5 hours, and recorded 3 sets of videos comparing it to the Princeton I got from Jazzkritter. Each set of videos shows the same tune played through both amps on one of my guitars - a solid body (Epi Les Paul with EMG), a carved 17" archtop (Eastman 810CE7 with floating KA), and a laminated 16" archtop (Ibanez AF207 with set Benedetto B7).



Per the maker's website, "[t]he ChocoPrince is based on the 6G2 Brown Princeton circuit and is another example of the transitional amps between the tweed and the blackface models. So what you get is the fatter tone of the tweeds with more gain like the blackface amps from the two 12AX7s in the pre-amp section. Add in fixed bias for a tighter feel." The tube complement is 1 5Y3GT, 2 6V6GT, and 2 12AX7. It has a single tone pot, and this one has a 12" Celestion Creamback Neo speaker. It also has the upgraded transformer set (Mercury) so it can be switched to 6L6s for a bump to 20W. It weighs 28 pounds. As you can see in the picture, the cabinet is a bit smaller in length and depth than the Princeton's.

The Princeton was recently restored by me and is in perfect operating condition. The tube complement is 1 5U4GB, 2 6V6, 3 12AX7, and 1 12AT7 (the Princeton has reverb and the Choco Prince does not). The Princeton has bass and treble pots and came to me with a first generation 12" Eminence DeltaLite speaker and a top line replacement Mercury output transformer. It weighs 29 1/2 pounds.

Before you get to form your own opinions, I'll offer mine. The Choco Prince has a bit softer attack although it's quite clean up to its beakup point (which is suprisingly high). It does not have the scooped midrange that characterizes the blackface and later Fenders. It's a nice tight little amp that does everything well from thunk to fusion, but its bass is not as full as the Princeton's. It's surprisingly loud for a 15W "student" amp, and it's fairly bright with the neo Creamback. All of these videos were made with the tone control at 9 o'clock because it was just too bright for my taste set any higher. It has a bit more headroom than I expected, and it's well suited to solo or small group jazz dates in limited spaces. I played a solo gig in June at a small (12 tables plus outside seating) French restaurant where it would have been excellent (I used my Blu 6). I played a quiet quintet gig (tenor, 2 guitars, bass, drums) for about 75 people in a hard surfaced room about 25 by 50 feet 2 weeks ago (again with my Blu) for which the CP would have been at its clean limit. Unless you mic it or are playing blues and want breakup, it's not suited for anything bigger. For home use, small gigs, recording, or with sound reinforcement, it's a great alternative to the '62 Princeton on which it's based (and which sells today in decent shape for $3500 to $4500). I don't recall the brown Princetons as being quite this bright, and I suspect that a Jensen Alnico or a Cannabis Rex would tame this a lot while filling out the bass a bit more.

My Princeton is a bit more sensitive to picking dynamics than the CP, which you can hear. I tried to shift my right hand position to show how sensitive each amp was to where I picked. And the Princeton delivered pinch harmonics in the beginning of Footprints that didn't come out of the CP so well. The Princeton has a lot more bottom, which I reduced by cutting the bass control almost all the way down to bring it as close to the CP in tone as I could. I did not attempt to match volumes with post-processing - I just tried to play consistently. Here we go...

17" carved archtop through Choco Prince -

17" carved archtop through Princeton -

16" laminated archtop through Choco Prince -

16" laminated archtop through Princeton -

16" laminated archtop through Choco Prince with backing combo to show single note tone -

fusion noodling through Choco Prince -

fusion noodling through Princeton -

My conclusions: the Choco Prince is a wonderful little amp that has most of the mojo of a '62 Princeton with more usable power and a very articulate voice. Brand new, it's less than half the cost of a decent '62 Princeton, is built at least as well as the real thing was, and will give you many years of service. It's great for jazz, blues and fusion in small venues or mic'ed, and it's an excellent recording amp. It's small, lightweight (for a traditional tube amp), and pedal friendly - you're hearing my Smokin' Amp Company Zensation Zen clone pedal set to mild gain on the Footprints tracks.

I think my Princeton (which also has a 12" neo speaker) sounds better. It's more responsive to playing dynamics, and the bottom is bigger without being much flabbier. The Choco Prince is bright, and I don't think it's just the neo Creamback talking based on the reviews I've seen. Allowing for the fact that my guitars are all 7 strings, the bass is not so different from E6 up. Only in the lowest fifth is the bass is signficantly better. My Blu 6 and my DV Mark EG250 through my Toob 10 or my RE 10 both deliver slightly but audibly tighter bass from the 7th string than the Princeton.

Summary: If you want the sound and vibe of a brown Princeton, the Choco Prince has 98% of it in a brand new amp built like a tank and costing less than half of what you'll have to pay for the original. I prefer the sound of the next gen (BF & early SF) Princeton for my 7 string guitars, and I'd gladly pay the cost difference between a Choco Prince and a great original BF or pre-'77 SF (without the pull boost). But for gigging, I'd go for a new Choco Prince and probably change the tone pot or add a tone cap to tame the brightness.

[Jim Soloway]

I don't know about better (there's too much personal taste involved in that call) but the Princeton sounded consistently brighter. Both sounded vry nice but decidedly different.

[bozobreak]

Well i liked the Choco Prince better.
It is fatter, smokier.
To me...

[Tal_175]

I preferred the laminated archtop over the carved Eastmans . That to me was a bigger difference than the different amps. Regarding the amps, I prefered the Princeton.

[Herbie]

Great review, playing and sounds, thanks! Both are different but both are good.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

I preferred the laminated archtop over the carved Eastmans . That to me was a bigger difference than the different amps.

You’re not alone! At my regular Thursday trio gig last night, several people (including my bandmates and a few musicians in the audience) complimented the sound of that guitar. Since I got up the guts to put heavy TI Benson flats on it, it’s really come alive.

Playing it is a true joy. It sounds fantastic, with a bit of thunk and a bit of wood in an old school electric archtop tone. And the 14-55 Bensons feel so silky it’s sensuous. After 25+ years as my main gigging archtop, I love it more than ever.

[GuyBoden]

To my old ears:

The carved Archtop has an acoustic sound quality that the laminate doesn't have, but the laminate has more of that classic 50-60's Jazz guitar sound.

The Choco amp has a warmer sound, but doesn't have as much note definition.