Fender Princeton reverb 65 reissue- too much bass

**fabiansey** · 04-10-2016, 01:40 PM

lowering the bass side of the pickup definitely helps. Still, one can notice that fender probably designed their amps with strats and teles in mind.
I can adjust my playing technic with humbucker guitars to a level which is ok. But I do not like adjusting my technic to my gear so I will just stick to my single coilish guitar.
For me it is interesting to see that I m not the only one with this problem.

I watched the a review about a Rivera jazz supreme (sound pure) where they talk about this problem (humbucker guitars). The jazz supreme has a notch for the bass frequencies. Would love to try this amp-but a lot of money....

The reussenzehn looks interesting but a bit too "elegant" for me. Also their vids are terrible. A company that claims having the best musical gear should be able to do a decent video or at least a good recording of an amp.

**christianm77** · 04-10-2016, 02:15 PM

I don't find this problem. I have a PPRI 65 reissue, in which I have put an Eminence Lil' Buddy speaker.

I do like to elevate the amp (i.e. stick it on chair) which reduces the bass a bit.

**Jabberwocky** · 04-10-2016, 02:29 PM

I suggested reussenzehn because I figured you could ask them the question and perhaps they may know. Wasn't suggesting buying their products but they do have a rather interesting Blackface tonestack pedal.

**fabiansey** · 04-11-2016, 04:33 PM

The blackface pedal is indeed nice. I owned the older version without the reverb and used it with a neutral aer amp. But the princeton sounds better and I prefer not having a pedal between the guitar and the amp.

**helios** · 04-11-2016, 09:20 PM

Originally Posted by Groyniad

does jabberwocky know everything (about archtops etc.)?

i think he might

Jabber has unique access to archtop/amp super-consciousness like Patrick!

**medblues** · 04-12-2016, 06:35 AM

You said that your amp produces too much bass especially with an archtop guitar with humbuckers.

An easy (and cheap) way of decreasing bass from your archtop with humbuckers is to use 80/20 acoustic strings (or bronze for even less). You can be selective and replace only the low E (and A) if you don't want your volume to be low on G or D strings. The upside is, your acoustic sound from this guitar will improve also. The down side is if you play higher frets on these strings, your sound will be thin unless you dig in.

**Melodic Dreamer** · 04-12-2016, 08:24 PM

Maybe this is dumb, but have you tried lifting it up off the floor?
Just curious because I have a Carr Sportsman which is similar to a Princeton, but has more bass and I never find it bassy. Lifting the amp off the floor takes some of the bass away and makes it more usable for archtops.

**christianm77** · 04-13-2016, 01:38 PM

Originally Posted by medblues

You said that your amp produces too much bass especially with an archtop guitar with humbuckers.

An easy (and cheap) way of decreasing bass from your archtop with humbuckers is to use 80/20 acoustic strings (or bronze for even less). You can be selective and replace only the low E (and A) if you don't want your volume to be low on G or D strings. The upside is, your acoustic sound from this guitar will improve also. The down side is if you play higher frets on these strings, your sound will be thin unless you dig in.

I have 80/20s on mine, and I put it on a chair. I luurve the sound I get out of that :-)

**fabiansey** · 04-13-2016, 01:48 PM

Putting the amp on a chair helps a bit. I will try the advice with acoustic strings.

Thank you

**Longways to Go** · 04-13-2016, 01:51 PM

80/20 acoustics on an archtop eh? I'm going to have to try that trick.
I'm bass heavy with most every guitar + amp set up I play

**mr. beaumont** · 04-13-2016, 04:03 PM

Anybody else think there's something wrong with the amp, possibly?

I've never played a PR with too much bass.

**vinnyv1k** · 04-13-2016, 04:39 PM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Anybody else think there's something wrong with the amp, possibly?

I've never played a PR with too much bass.

Me either.

**gggomez** · 04-13-2016, 05:16 PM

from memory vinnyv1k you had/have a lovely sound from your princeton. What is your set up?

**vinnyv1k** · 04-13-2016, 05:53 PM

Just a NOS JAN 5751 in V1 and a Jensen P10Q Alnico speaker otherwise bone stock. Really a sweet amp.
I like Princetons better than Deluxes for jazz unless it is a really old Deluxe.

**neatomic** · 04-13-2016, 06:09 PM

never underestimate the importance of a good speaker..particularly a good alnico speaker (especially if you are going for vintage tones)...

be like complaining about a lamp, when you have a 15 watt blacklight bulb in it..or a 2 watt red bulb...throw a phillips 100 watt (or whatever) in there and see the light..haha

cheers

**gggomez** · 04-13-2016, 08:49 PM

vinny, why the V1 change, what was the impact.

**neatomic** · 04-13-2016, 08:52 PM

5751 has bit less gain and noise than 12ax7...military spec..(when that meant something!)

cheers

**vinnyv1k** · 04-13-2016, 10:10 PM

The Jan military NOS 5751's have a sweeter tone to me. I have them in all my amps in V1.

**gggomez** · 04-20-2016, 08:19 AM

Thanks for the tip ordered and installed a Philips 5751 Jan NOS whatever that is.
I like what it did, its closer to a Midnight Blue kind of sound.

I might stick some Tungstal big tubes in there as well.

**Longways to Go** · 04-20-2016, 10:36 AM

+1 on the 5751. Awesome sounding tube IMO.

FWIW, I don't really think of the PRRI as bass heavy, just that the good jazz tones I've found are with the bass control rolled down so low that I find myself wishing for a bit more tone control to play with.

I am toying with idea of adding a Mid knob, but haven't gone there yet

**gggomez** · 05-19-2016, 05:07 PM

After adding the 5751 I put in some JJ Tubes, I thought their bright mids would help for rolling back the tone rather than the more traditional scooped TungSol sound.

Result, spot on. It now has the beautiful punch that I thought I would need to stick P94's into my 175 to get.

Back to the issue of bass, it may be that the stock speaker just cannot handle the bass. It is a fender amp, they have lots of bass and in a few of their models the stock speaker cannot handle it when using humbucker guitars.

**Greentone** · 05-19-2016, 06:04 PM

Turn the bass and treble knobs to zero. Now, just crack the bass and treble knobs open a _little_ bit. I mean: not even to 1. Between 0 and 1, both knobs should be close to 0.

At this point, your response via the Princeton is virtually ruler flat from 20hz up to 20,000hz (amp, not speaker). This is roughly equivalent to setting an Ampeg or Polytone amp on bass=5, treble=5. You should get a satisfying tonal response now. I know it's counterintuitive as heck, but give it a shot.

**jbucklin** · 05-20-2016, 06:26 PM

The problem I had with my PRRI was that, aside from an unpleasant sound in the low end spectrum, the highs were harsh-sounding and extremely unpleasant. Ordered and installed a Weber 10F150 speaker and put a 5751 in V1 and now it sounds extremely pleasant---both lows and highs, with both solid and hollow/semi-hollow bodied guitars. Look into either a Weber or Celestion Alnico Gold (best speaker made).

**vinlander** · 05-21-2016, 08:51 AM

That thread got me into thinking about picking up a Fender Princeton 65, if I find a used one available close to Montreal.
I only have a Roland Cube at the moment which sounds great and is very versatile but I would love to try a small tube amp with my Tal. Incidentally, I have 2 NOS GE JAN5751 tubes in a drawer I had bought as a plan for taming down the clean on my Peavey 6505+ but sold that amp couple years ago as I no longer play in a metal band.
Might be interesting to experiment with one in V1