Princeton '65 Bordeaux vs. Princeton '65 Tweed

[charlieparker]

I think I have narrowed down what I want to buy to either a Princeton '65 Bordeaux which has a Jensen P12Q speaker or the Princeton '65 Tweed which has a Celestion G12-65 speaker.

I tried them both at Guitar Center and liked the Bordeaux quite a bit better but I was wondering if anyone else had strong opinions about these two models as it is hard as hell to actually hear anything with 20 guitarists playing Metallica next to you.

[Roy Boy]

I have played P12Q in a Deluxe Reverb and a Princeton Reverb Reissue. I found the speaker to break up early and the bass response was poofy, others describe it as farty. The alnico magnet is quite small on that speaker. For jazz with an archtop that may not be an issue unless you need to push the volume much (I was because I was playing electric guitar with effects in a praise and worship band at the time). The Tweed may have originally come from Sweetwater as a special edition with a 12 inch speaker. I have that amp and with the right speaker it is heavenly. The Bordeaux and Wheat looks nicer though.

[charlieparker]

I have played P12Q in a Deluxe Reverb and a Princeton Reverb Reissue. I found the speaker to break up early and the bass response was poofy, others describe it as farty. The alnico magnet is quite small on that speaker. For jazz with an archtop that may not be an issue unless you need to push the volume much (I was because I was playing electric guitar with effects in a praise and worship band at the time). The Tweed may have originally come from Sweetwater as a special edition with a 12 inch speaker. I have that amp and with the right speaker it is heavenly. The Bordeaux and Wheat looks nicer though.

Interesting. So one vote for the tweed.

[Sam Sherry]

I tried them both at Guitar Center . . .

Everything sounds different in a gig-size space with a rhythm section playing, which is different from Guitar Denter (and different from practicing in my 99sf room).

it is hard as hell to actually hear anything with 20 guitarists playing Metallica next to you.

Well yes, but they make it even better by each starting the same song at a different time.

and liked the Bordeaux quite a bit better

Bear in mind that speakers break in over 20-50 hours (depending on who you talk to) of actual playing time at something approaching full volume.
So it could be that you like the sound of the Jensen or the Celestion, but it could be that one of those amps was on the floor for months and the other was "too fresh" for accurate evaluation.