Princeton Reverb 68 vs. 65 reissues - Page 2

imwjl · #16 02-22-2014, 11:26 AM

I have the 65, and my trying the 68 was not in a scenario where I could tell that much difference. Every Princeton Reverb I've tried - original black, original silver, reissues - have been pleasing to me.

A recent thread here made me realize I've bought and sold many amps and use my PR more than anything.

The PR (mine at least) has rich low volume tone many other amps don't get so I've ended up using pedals to get quality break up tone when the family's 1 or two floors above. The 4 knob OD and boost pedals are the only ones I've liked or kept because you can dial them to keep the bass and treble at different volumes.

I have the Mesa Flux OD and Burst boost pedals as my keepers for the Princeton. They were a little more money than some but are quiet and allow great adjustment between home playing and playing with drum and bass.

Maybe consider your love of nice clean tone or love of breakup to decide which amp. My Collings SoCo 16 does such amazing cleans and my Telecaster can sound so nice clean with black face clean that I tend toward having that boost pedal and keep that headroom.

You're looking at awesome vs awesome regardless. I keep wanting another low watt amp and many leave a meh impression because they're not rich sounding like Princeton at low volume and lack the reverb.

Back to the pedals. I will keep the Fux OD pedal with less gain than many might want and will put the boost pedal on. Together they are like a more extreme OD pedal. Individually I can quickly get my single coil or humbucker guitar in either full over drive or wonderful window between clean and hairy tone.

One more. I'm convinced my speaker has gotten better with time.

If there's one amp that is affordable that can top a PR for wonderful at home and wonderful playing with others please tell me!

muscmp · #17 02-22-2014, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flagstaffcharli

I intend to do that with a cable longer than the 6-footer they gave me at the shop!

you do want as short of a cable as you can live with. the longer the cable, the more it robs your tone.

play music!

barefooter · #18 02-22-2014, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flagstaffcharli

I'll need to audition them a couple more times. The thing that surprised me was how different they were. I sort of expected both amps to be about the same. I guess I really don't know much about amps yet. Your amp — the '65 — has a brighter sound. That was the sound I loved first. I think it has more headroom than the "68. The cleans are amazing. It's a great amp, and I need to play it more.

The '68 has a different speaker (Celestion vs. Jenson in the "65) and is rated 12 watts instead of 15. That's still plenty loud for my needs. It seemed to break-up sooner and have more voice in the lower/mids. There was a setting the salesman put it on where I hit an open G chord, and I don't think I've ever hit a chord that sounded so lush. I'm sure the smile on my face made him think he had an immediate sale. But he was cool and didn't pressure me. Thankfully.

Both are great amps for the stuff I'm hoping to play. I need to move a couple pieces of gear, audition them more, and then I'll choose.

Jumping back in here regarding the amps.... My 65 is one of Fender's special runs. It has the Celestion G10 Anico. Other than jamming some with the friends I mentioned earlier, this is a great amp for my needs for playing alone at the house. I set the reverb and tremolo and bring up some oldies and have lots of fun. I sometimes plug my guitar (usually the T5, but sometimes my daughter's Epiphone Les Paul) into a JamMan Delay and strum a few lines and then pick out melodies for the oldies and some gospel. In the house, I usually have the volume setting on 1 - 2 and it is more than loud enough.

I like your plan to demo the amps more and who knows, you may find another one that speaks to you. Enjoy the journey...

Steve DeRosa · #19 02-22-2014, 07:59 PM

One area that (surprisingly) hasn't been discussed is the tubes themselves - and if you've never had the pleasure, you just might be surprised at exactly how much impact installing the right little glass bottle, in the right place, can have on your tone. Here's a few links to get you started:

http://www.thetubestore.com/Resource...-Tube-Amp-Info
http://www.thetubestore.com/Gain-Factor
http://www.thetubestore.com/Resource...nfo/Bias-Types
http://www.thetubestore.com/Resource...X7-Tube-Review
http://www.thetubestore.com/Resource...V6-Tube-Review
http://www.thetubestore.com/Shop-by-...on-Reverb-Amps

terrapin · #20 02-22-2014, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by muscmp

you do want as short of a cable as you can live with. the longer the cable, the more it robs your tone.

play music!

If it's a good cable your fine to 15' or so. More with the best cables.

terrapin · #21 02-22-2014, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

One area that (surprisingly) hasn't been discussed is the tubes themselves - and if you've never had the pleasure, you just might be surprised at exactly how much impact installing the right little glass bottle, in the right place, can have on your tone. Here's a few links to get you started:

http://www.thetubestore.com/Resource...-Tube-Amp-Info
http://www.thetubestore.com/Gain-Factor
http://www.thetubestore.com/Resource...nfo/Bias-Types
http://www.thetubestore.com/Resource...X7-Tube-Review
http://www.thetubestore.com/Resource...V6-Tube-Review
http://www.thetubestore.com/Shop-by-...on-Reverb-Amps

Steve is so right. I had a '65 for a couple years ( wish I still had it) and I put in some Raytheon Military Grade 6V6's and RCA preamp tubes with a 5751 in V1 and that little amp was so special. I could turn it up to 6.5 with no perceptible breakup. Then from there to dimmed it was pure Princeton Reverb bliss! Great for messing around at home and worked great at Church (miked). Tubes really help that amp reach it's potential. Mine had the stock Jensen which I did not particularly like, didn't dislike, just.... I replaced it with a Jensen NEO 100 and that was pretty huge to me.

flagstaffcharli · #22 02-23-2014, 12:29 PM

Yes. Tubes. A whole other can of worms I am not ready to open. No doubt all you say is true. But I think I'd do best to find an amp I like off the shelf and then bring it home and play the beans out of it. I already have the gear disease, but I've got to keep it under control at least a little bit.

terrapin · #23 02-23-2014, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flagstaffcharli

Yes. Tubes. A whole other can of worms I am not ready to open. No doubt all you say is true. But I think I'd do best to find an amp I like off the shelf and then bring it home and play the beans out of it. I already have the gear disease, but I've got to keep it under control at least a little bit.

Running a nice amp with mediocre tubes is like putting shackles on a race horse.......just saying!

flagstaffcharli · #24 02-23-2014, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by terrapin

Running a nice amp with mediocre tubes is like putting shackles on a race horse.......just saying!

No doubt. However, I need to invest time and energy into the part of the tone that comes from me. If I like it off the shelf, it'll sound even better if I get better. And then maybe when I'm playing well I'll better recognize that I need the amp to do more & will go looking for tubes and speakers.

But I think practicing is going to be more important and more fun than sniffing around for the perfect tubes right now. I loved the way both those amps sounded in the store. My playing needs more work than the amps!

moon · #25 02-23-2014, 01:23 PM

I recently swapped out a JJ 12AX7 in my Champ for what I thought was a highly-regarded Raytheon Black Plate (one of the Baldwin labelled ex-organ tubes you can pick up fairly easily) but couldn't really notice a difference.

That's not a definitive test of course, but the basic JJ's aren't bad. I'll probably try some more tube experiments in the future but I'm not in any hurry about it.

terrapin · #26 02-23-2014, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flagstaffcharli

No doubt. However, I need to invest time and energy into the part of the tone that comes from me. If I like it off the shelf, it'll sound even better if I get better. And then maybe when I'm playing well I'll better recognize that I need the amp to do more & will go looking for tubes and speakers.

But I think practicing is going to be more important and more fun than sniffing around for the perfect tubes right now. I loved the way both those amps sounded in the store. My playing needs more work than the amps!

I'm just joking with you! Both those amps sound Very nice purely stock. You can't go wrong with either!

flagstaffcharli · #27 02-23-2014, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by terrapin

I'm just joking with you! Both those amps sound Very nice purely stock. You can't go wrong with either!

Yeah! But I'm sure I'll stumble down that road eventually.

Aping Leo · #28 02-23-2014, 10:26 PM

I have probably owned borrowed or tried 20+ OD/Dist pedals in the last 6 or 8 years and "The Earth Drive" made by Sarno Music Solutions is IMO the best there is. They are hand made to order and will set you back around two bills (as well as a month wait) but for me it doesn't get any better. This pedal allows the actual tone of your instrument come through as opposed to most pedals I've tried that mask the tone. The Sparkle Drive that someone mentioned earlier is a good choice as it allows you to blend a clean tone with the dist, and was the one that I had in my rig the longest until I discovered the Earth Drive. For the issues with the long cable runs sucking tone out of your rig there is a cat out there that makes a buffer you can install in your guitar to compensate for this. You'll either need to be tech savy or know a good tech to install it for you. This guy is top-notch and has a list of happy campers that use his products a mile long. Here is the link to his page http://www.wald-electronics.com/wald...amp_clone.html

Good luck.

zabdart · #29 02-24-2014, 04:40 PM

As Terrapin and Steve have suggested, try substituting some tubes instead of getting a distortion pedal for you amp. There should be a diagram which labels the tubes on the inside of the panel in the back that you have to unscrew to get at the tubes. If you have a 12AY7 in position 1 (that's the preamp tube), replace that with a 12AX7 (which breaks up a lot sooner). If you've got 6V6 tubes in your power section, replace them with 6L6s. Your signal will then start to clip with the volume at about 6 (or 1 o'clock) instead of 8 (or 4 o'clock). Try it.

JStotes · #30 02-25-2014, 08:39 AM

Hey Chuck, running a tele through a Princeton is one of those "golden" combinations. Not sure if you're familiar with some of the options out there when searching. Not to derail the thread but, you may want to check out Vintage Sound Amps www.vintagesoundamps.com or Headstrong Lil King www.headstrongamps.com. They both make extremely good Princeton style amps.

Also, being in Portland, you have a very talented amp builder in town. Maybe check out Matthew Miller of Miller Ampwerks, www.millerampwerks.com.