Pedal suggestions for Fender Princeton sound through Henriksen Blu

[Rob MacKillop]

I love my Blu, but also love the Fender Princeton sound. Happy to use a pedal for the occasions I want that sound. Your recommendations welcome.

[Stringswinger]

The UA Dream 65 will get you a digital Frender sound (supposedly a Deluxe, but pretty close to a Princeton) through your Henriksen, but I found it breaks up earlier than I like for jazz and got rid of mine. A Quilter Superblock US can get you somewhat (about 80 percent of the way there) of a Fender Blackface tone through your Henriksen.

There are other pedals to try as well, but those are the two I have used. The Superblock is a worthy pedal to have on it's own to use as a pedal amp (I am keeping that one).

[213Cobra]

I love my Blu, but also love the Fender Princeton sound. Happy to use a pedal for the occasions I want that sound. Your recommendations welcome.

I haven't encountered the early breakup issue with the UA Dream '65 that Stringswinger cited, maybe because I pretty much only use that pedal with Telecasters. But there are some options that have more headroom than the Dream 65 that sound convincing.

1/ Walrus Audio MAKO ACS1. It can take high output humbuckers without premature clipping, and even a drive pedal before it, too.

2/ Strymon Iridium can do Fender and Vox sound convincingly once you dial it in. Lots of headroom, very clean. A little less organic tonal body than the other two here.

3/ UA Enigmatic '82. While nominally an '80s Dumble emulator and not focused on '60s Fender sound, it clearly has more headroom than the Dream '65 and via its deeper control options you can leverage its crystal clean tone to dial your way into a Princeton/ Deluxe sound. The "Room" control can even stand in for gentle reverb without adding a reverb pedal to the chain. I have this pedal too. It's versatile beyond it's '82 Dumble anchoring, probably because it has to be since there wasn't a singular Dumble sound.

Phil