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I need a tube amp for home use that I can use with a pedalboard at home at low/med-low volumes. Looking at Princeton reverb but like the idea of an American made hand wired amp but would like to keep it under 2k. Any ideas?….
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10-23-2023 10:59 PM
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Build your own from a Mojotone kit? I built a 5e3 kit and found it a most interesting experience. And some 10+ years later it's still my main amp.
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Princeton is good for big hollow jazz box guitars; the smaller speaker moves less air of the low frequencies and reduces feedback. I have gigged with a 16" jazz box... with the Princeton on a crowed stage I could sit on the amp without feed back at stage volume. I tried that with the Deluxe and the larger speaker would drive feedback.
Using a solid body guitar, I would never use less than as 12" speaker, two of them is even better; I deepens ("de-twangs") the tone for jazz.
Have you played through a hand wired amp compared to the stock re-issue version? Might want to be sure you can hear, feel, appreciate the 75% price difference for that turret board assembly.
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Champ kit? Leave volume at or below 3.
Still plenty loud for home. May want to consider the EQ and make speaker choice based on that if you don't want a standard nasal mid push. (or not)
I use a Tweed Harvard at home- with a 10" & larger (vibrochamp?) cabinet. Not fully sold on the Alnico Jensen P10R though.
EMike.
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Not exactly American but is hand wired and could be had for your price range. Shown next to a Henriksen bud6 for size reference
Emike
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Princeton the one to get.
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I haven't tried handwired vs. stock reissue version. I'm leaning towards stock reisse. it will be fine. I play a 335 and strat, les paul. I'm interested in this larger speaker or 2x larger speaker theory. Is it worth looking at a twin for this? would that work at low volmes?
Originally Posted by pauln
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I have a hand-wired Hiwatt Custom 7 with a ten-inch Fane speaker, and a hand-wired Fender Princeton Reverb II with a twelve-inch ElectroVoice speaker. I play both every day. I do not find the smaller speaker to be inferior. If anything, it is better suited to low volumes. Twin-speaker amps, on the other hand, are made for loud.
Are you committed to buying a new amp? If you want hand-wired, you will probably find a lot of quality products on the second-hand market, at affordable prices.
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If you want a Twin and worry about volume, look at the Fender Twin Reverb Tonemaster. It has a built-in attenuator. Originally Posted by NYC
As a side note, you've stated that you came back recently to playing guitar after a long hiatus. Maybe all this focus on gear (several threads creted recently) is not the right approach...
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A mojotone princeton reverb kit is under $700 without a cabinet, and you can add a combo cab and a speaker for $500 with a cabinet and a speaker.
I think the remaining $800 (of a $2k budget) might be enough to cover the labour cost of having it built handwired.
I think they would sound very similar (there are youtube videos comparing them). The handwired one is just easier to mod and maintain and is more likely to last for several decades (partially because it is easier to repair).I haven't tried handwired vs. stock reissue version
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You said for home use at low volumes, a Twin is insane for this. Originally Posted by NYC
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It’s not just the circuit construction method that makes a difference. The CS ‘64 PR has Schumacher transformers that seem to be equal to or even more robust than the originals. It has an old school finger jointed solid pine cabinet. And it does sound better than a plywood cab ‘65 PRRI with smaller transformers. I’ve been using a ‘64 CS PR every week for about 5 years now, and when you push it, it sounds cleaner and fuller than the production line BF PRRIs brought to the club by outside bands. Originally Posted by pauln
Many who come to our weekly jazz and blues jams (separate events, not combined) play through it, so I’ve heard it with many different guitars for both jazz and blues. Last Thursday, it was used for an L4C with JS pickup and for an L7C with DeArmond Rhythm Chief. Sunday, it hosted a ‘60 Strat for the jam and was used by our harp player for our show. (I use either a DV Jazz 12 or a SF Vibrolux most weeks.)
So I definitely think it sounds a bit better. And when it gets dirty, it’s the real thing. But is it worth $2800 when a standard PRRI is half of that? If you just want a great simple amp without the hassle of building or finding a less expensive alternative, I’m starting to think it is. I didn’t feel that way initially, but after at least 200 shows with it, I definitely think it’s a great amp and (compared to the alternatives at or near the price) worth the premium if it’s what you need.
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The Princeton tweed amp with the 12 inch Cannabis Rex speaker that Sweetwater sells is a great sounding and looking amp.
They will give you 10% off too.
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I use a Twin at home volumes all the time. It sounds fantastic at low volume. Big iron. I am also insane. Originally Posted by RyanM
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Not if he was talking about the Twin Tone Master-which comes with an attenuator. Originally Posted by RyanM
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So many here are still stuck in tube amp as the way to go. And while it has its pleasant sides, it also possesses many drawbacks.
Weight, Wall Voltage, Replacing and Rebiasing Tubes, and limits on Clean Headroom.
Quilter amps addresses all of these issues in different offerings. I settled on Quilter Aviator 1x8” Combo, 1x12” Combo, 202Tone Block 200 watt head and various cabs and finally a Super Block UK for direct to monitor gigs.
A Princeton is a fine home or low volume gig,but doesn’t come close to all the pluses I’ve mentioned and we are talking a Clean Tone at any volume that’s inspiring to play!
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You'll get no argument from me. I love my Superblock US, my Blu 6, and my DV Mark EG250 head. I sold my last tube amp a few years ago. But the backline where I play regularly has a Vibrolux, a CS PR, a tweed Hot Rod Deluxe, a redline Peavey Bandit, a DV Mark Jazz 12, a Leslie 3300 (which has a tube front end and is one serious guitar amp with the rotors off!) and a few bass amps. I'm not averse to using any of them, since I don't have to carry them and they're all great amps. But on outside gigs, it's class D all the way. Originally Posted by jads57
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Totally Agreed when it’s decent amp already at the venue!
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Tube amp? Massive bang/buck? Happy to sell you one of these for under $500, used, as per the pix below. Made in Canada. Just like the US, but way more clown noses up here as a %age of the population. I can ship it from the US to you for whatever it costs.
Traynor has been making these for years. New listing from L&M (small family outfit up in Canada - they have only 95 stores). Recent photo of a used one at GC for comparison. Info here:
YCV40 – Traynor Amps
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Spec-wise, that's all most folks will ever need. Sound for dollar, dagnab. Master volume yields a useful home amp. 40W output covers everything, because anything that needs more is gonna have a PA in front anyway. The Celestion Seventy / 80 is a great-sounding jazz speaker once it's broken in too. If you're ready to haul it, it's fired up and ready to work. Originally Posted by Hammertone
My home-built Big Princeton is almost exactly that: Precisely a Princeton preamp, bias-wiggle tremolo, 2x 6L6 35W cathode bias power, spring reverb, 1x12 speaker. I play it almost every night (at home) and on most gigs too.
Of course the Traynor is Canadian so some of the dipthongs sound flat . . .
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I like the sound of Twin Reverbs for home, rehearsal, performance, and in the recording studio. I play dead clean exclusively, and a Twin at low home volume sounds magnificent.
With two speakers, their sound waves interfere and produce less beaming with a more complex tone similar to how the arbitrary internal distances between the inside surfaces of a hollow body guitar add complexity by random constructive and destructive interference to all the possible lengths available to the sound waves inside the body.
For using a solid body guitar that you want to have a tone more like a jazz box, two speakers is a major step approaching that sound. Another major step is maximizing the amp's "middle" tone control, which is really not a tone control but a reverse insertion loss recovery control - doing so will use all the gain of the stage reserved for the tone stack circuit (which only attenuates frequencies to shape the frequency response curve, then uses that gain stage (up to 20dB) to raise up the whole curve). The flat frequency response is found by "de-scooping" the Treble, Middle, and Bass tone controls by setting them to "1 - 10 - 1" which frees all the 20dB gain (maximum "recovery" because of almost no insertion loss to recover).
This is how you get a Strat as close to sounding like an L-5 as possible.
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The one I'm selling is a bit older, loaded with a Celestion Vintage 30. And it's a citizenk74 memorial amp, eh! Originally Posted by Sam Sherry
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Brunetti SingleMan 15W. Don’t look for good YT vids, none of them come close to doing the amp justice (the Tom Quayle demo is the best but still doesn’t capture the magic). If you can find one and play it, you’ll love it. I haven’t looked at other amps since I got mine. For a tube amp it’s lightweight and for what you get it’s a great deal. Tonally, what sets it apart is the super-3D quality of the sound which makes other amps sound flat by comparison (including Fender). That, and the totally dialed-in tone shaping options that bring out the best of each guitar.
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I massively agree regarding the Fender Tonemaster series of amps. The perfect gigging amp. Great at home too with the attenuator. I was a certified tube addict for 60+ years. I didn't even want to discuss SS amps. That is, until I played a Fender Tonemaster Deluxe Reverb. I'm in my 3rd year with mine (Tonemaster Deluxe Reverb) and I love it. I've owned a LOT of high dollar amps over the decades. I don't miss tubes at all, especially when it comes to gigging. Do I still like tube amps? Sure...at home. But, for me, the TM amps are the perfect solution for my application. For the record, I play about 90% jazz, 10% straight Chicago and West Coast style blues. I do flat pick bluegrass but that's another thread.
Last edited by jumpnblues; 10-24-2023 at 09:32 PM.
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Used princeton reverb handwired or headstrong lil king.
Don't let anyone talk you out of tubes. If it's staying at home and you're not trying to make weight tradeoffs, tubes are what you want.
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