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First let me say that for this time in my life, I strongly prefer tube amps over solid state for various reasons. I understand and can repair tube amps and have access to excellent quality tubes. It all about know the places and people as their is an underground of sorts where I live for tube amps.
Also, re-sale on vintage Fender tube amps is very strong for now.
I am soliciting thoughts and comments as I have a chance on a mint, NOS, 1977 Silverface Fender Princeton Reverb at slightly under $1000. Basically a low wattage 6V6 a tube amp for smaller situations.
When I have diddled around with these amps in the past I had mixed feelings. But they were floor model in used equipment sections of guitar stores and peoples home. I have owned one to mod to my tastes.
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05-03-2014 10:33 AM
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Others will tell you you need 10000 watts of sterile solid state to play jazz, they will be wrong
I love the Princeton reverb. Definitely a great amp for jazz or anything else. Some people buy a new baffle with a 12 inch hole so they can install a bigger speaker while retaining the value of the amp. I
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I have a princeton clone with a 12" speaker. Keedy Relativity Reverb I think it's absolutely great for jazz! If the power meets your needs the sound is big! I owned a twin for many years and to my ears the princeton kills it.
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Another Princeton fan here. Have an Allen Sweet Spot (kind of a souped up Princeton) and a 1970 Silverface non-reverb Princeton. That vintage of Princeton has a removable baffle (comes out with two screws), so it's a matter of minutes to insert a twelve inch version -- I got mine from Mojotone. Fender also used the blackface (AA964) circuitry at that time. Love the sound. I don't think you can go wrong with the vintage Princeton, and your's sounds particularly nice.
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I use a '79 for small gigs. Keep the volume under "6", stays clean.
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I have a 78 Princeton Reverb and love it. Beautiful tone, and plenty loud for my purposes. I traded it for a brownface Pro, and don't miss the extra power at all.
John
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I highly recommend the amp, but that seems a little steep for a '77 unless it has NOS tubes and a speaker upgrade.
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I am going to look at it. Basically I am being told that it is in mint to the point being called New Old Stock (NOS). No mods. It's probably not the 1977 model as the push/pull boost was added for the models made 1978-81. Price $995.
Originally Posted by Encinitastubes
Last edited by Wildcat; 05-04-2014 at 09:03 AM.
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Interesting that you prefer the PR over the Twin which many might say is a jazz "standard." Originally Posted by skiboyny
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Is that without any mods or speaker upgraded to 12"? Originally Posted by SuperFour00
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From my reading until the push/pull boost was added, the circuitry had changed very little from the Pre-CBS design. Originally Posted by SuperFour00
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As for the asking price of $995, a "new" PRRI on Musician's Friend is $949.00.
So a mint NOS vintage model or a "new" PRRI?
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yes me too absolutely agree with above sentiment...a princeton reverb is a great find...... not just for jazz for anything ......... it's classic fender tube tone in a small light package ...and if you need more volume just mic it up ....
fabulous tone ....
and yes price is too high but often unless seller is flooded with offers he may negotiate and simply priced high to maybe get lucky or have a higher negotiating margin ...
and lastly don't pay too much for a '77 amp those were not fenders finest years ...if it was an original '65 princeton reverb or close to that i would say pay for the vintage value ..... but late 70's not .... then even a new one (which is also about $1000 for RI ) might be better and have a warranty ....Last edited by Keira Witherkay; 05-04-2014 at 09:23 AM.
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No doubt the old model, if it's as good as advertised. If it's for home playing only the 10 speaker might work just great... I think an active mid pot (say 50k and maybe a lower cap value like 22n) it's much more important so you can have the scooped stock sound and a fatter sound!
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another good option might be the alessandro handwired princeton for $100 more. Whether or not it'd sound better than a 77 original I'm not sure but there is a warranty with the Alessandro.
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I'm less concerned with the circuitry and more concerned with the sound. I have a '73 Twin Reverb that sounds as good to me as the Blackfaces I've used. I'm not worried about the internal differences. If it sounds right, I'm happy. Originally Posted by Wildcat
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seems to be a good price. You cant lose money on this.
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Even with the pull boost, there's little change to the circuitry and sound between even late silverface and bf., and unless the pull boost is actually pulled it has no effect. I've played a SF, a BF and a Reissue side by side, and they're very,very similar sounding amps. There really are no bad years with SF PR's. Prices seem to have a pretty wide range (I see sold listings ranging from $700-ish to $1200-ish on ebay); $995 looks like on the high side for a '77, but not insanely so. Originally Posted by SuperFour00
John
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T Originally Posted by John A.
his is the interesting part to me. That the basic circuitry has not changed much over the years. I agree that the tone is primary. But the issue for me is that I really can not get a "feel" for the amp until I get it home and in the studio. This means that I would have to purchase it and hence the question for this post to get experiences from the forum folks.
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Well, it seems like you're mostly getting people saying that they really like PR's and that this is an OK price, so that should give you some reassurance. It's really the closest thing to the perfect studio amp. So if that's you're main use, a PR is a great tool. If the problem you have is that you've never played a PR at all, can you get to a shop to play a RI? This will give you a sense of the general tone, and headroom that BF, SF, and RI have in common. If the SF you're looking at is in as good a shape as you're saying, this strikes me as well worth the $50 more it costs than the RI. Originally Posted by Wildcat
John
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I believe Jonathan Kreisberg's current amp is a Princeton RI with a 12inch EV.
Personally I went from a Deluxe to a Princeton for weight/size down grade as I have moved from gigging in a funk band with horns to focus on jazz. Sound is slightly different, would not say one is better than the other tone wise.
I have read some people find their Princeton's overly bright and wind the treble back to virtually off. I find this kills the tone and have mine set up with treble between 3 and 5, bass between 4 and 5, adjustment within these ranges needed depending on the room you are in and the volume you are playing at.
I would conclude that a Princeton has great off the shelf tone for solo guitar playing through to a gigging quintet.
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Ben Monder uses a Princeton. When I saw Bill Frisell do a solo concert one of his amps appeared to be a Princeton. As mentioned above, Kreisberg's amp is a Princeton with a 12" EV and 6L6's (so possibly a bigger power transformer as well). So, basically, seems to be a good amp for jazz and appears to hit the sweet spot for New York guitarists wanting the Fender tube sound.
There are a lot of Fender and boutique variations on the Princeton as well.
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Originally Posted by John A.
John,
Thank you as you have summed up the direction I am going based on this posting.The only thing I can say now is that I have had an under appreciation for thePrinceton. I have heard good things over the years, but never came this closeto the amp and buying it. Thanks to you all.
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I think the Princeton Reverb is a great jazz amp. It certainly has its limitations for volume and headroom, but with an efficient speaker, it can do more than some people give it credit for. I love playing it.
I have a PRRI with an efficient 12" speaker in it (Eminence Lil Texas). It covers a majority of the playing situations I have. When it's not quite enough, I have a 2x20 silverface Bandmaser combo I put together. I am able to use my PRRI in practices with a jazz organ trio (B3, guitar, drums). We keep our volume well under control though in a very small room (other jazz organ trios are likely louder than us).
I'd get the silverface even though there a chance something could need a look at electronically in he near future. They should be easy to work on but could be an added cost. A new PRRI will get you a 5year warranty. But their pcbs will be harder to work on if it ever does need work some day.Last edited by monkmiles; 05-05-2014 at 10:04 PM.
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I am really not in the market for a tube amp. However I have been looking at this amp for sometime. Really didn't have the cash to pull the trigger until now.
A local dealer has an used 75 Princeton Reverb for sale. It's in great condition cosmetically and all original. It was owned by a guitar instructor so it was played which is good IMHO.
The question is about the JBL speaker. He bumped the price up $50 as it was an upgrade. Until only several years back I came to know that JBL speakers where an upgrade at that time period. I graduated high school that year and went to college. JBLs were the hot speaker in cabs in college, along with Marantz receivers with the blue light.
So putting a audio type JBL speaker in a guitar amp like the PR, does it work? Or this just a passing fad that will require a speaker swap? Price $1250, Firm.
Note the past owner attached a plywood piece to the exiting baffle. I am not sure if a lower grade baffle was used at this time or a functional of the speaker and the need for reinforcement.
Last edited by Wildcat; 09-25-2016 at 11:27 AM.
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