fender Princeton, 1968

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cstockdale

cstockdale

supafly killa homey
what would you pay for a Fender Princeton 1968, that works, but otherwise condition is unknown? Reviews on this baby all talk of it having gorgeous tone, but I don't know how much it is really "worth". It is being sold locally for "offers". Also, has anyone used one of these? Any idea how it should sound with an Epi hollow-body guitar with P-90 pu's? How about a Tele standard?

this would primarily be for recording as it is only a 12W amp, but mic'd up it should hold its own in smaller venues, shouldn't it?
 
Princeton

I seem to recall reading that Clapton used them for recording in the 70's. If I'm not mistaken, that's the amp he's playing on the Backless jacket. I don't remember playing one, but from I've been told they have a nice tone. Good luck if you get one.

Bill L
 
I played through an old Princeton at an open blues jam a while back. Had a great tone for blues guitar already dialed in so I didn't tweak any knobs or anything. Sounded good with my '73 strat. I would assume it's a good match for the epi with p-90's too. I don't know how many watts the one I played was, but it was plenty loud. You should check what they're going for on ebay.
 
12 watts is plenty for a samll gig. Especially if you mic it up.

Since Tele and strat were the two main fenders back then I think yours should sound good. I am in the market for a PreCBS Champ or VibroChamp. Not because I care, just because it would be cool to have. Can't quite afford the PreCBS DeluxeReverb or strats just yet:o
 
All the old Fender amps I've heard sound great. even a little one like that would be very useful. Around here it wouldn't be loud enough for most gigs, but it will be as loud as a trumpet.
 
They were made with and without the spring reverb, which looks like a tool box in a bag in the bottom of the amp. It's 12.5 watts, but sounds "loud" for its size. You need to check all the pots because they tend to go bad in Fender amps that old. It doesn't sound real good if you overdrive it, but it's a good clean amp for fairly low volume. It should be fine mic'd up. Depending on the condition, they go for $150 to about $400.-Richie
 
...I used to have a pre-CBS blackface princeton with the white knobs and it had a very sweet overdriven tube tone w/nothing else plugged into it...also an extremely cheesy tremelo type effect that I never used...

...wish I still had it...:(
 
Well, Firebird, different strokes. I cranked one up last week, because a buddy of mine has got one he's been using as a monitor for calling contra dance (what a waste), and he just decided to give it to me, because I told him it was a classic guitar amp with some value to me. Mostly, I wanted to be sure the speaker isn't blown, which it's not. I used an SG with classic 57 humbuckers, and cranked the hell out of it.
My conclusion was that I could get better distortion out of any number of pedals, ir a cranked up Marshall, or a Mesa Boogie, or a lot of other amps. But I play rhythm, not lead. It might be good for blues lead, but it wasn't so good for playing John Lennon, The Who, Chuck Berry, The Kinks, or several other guitar pieces of the same period as the amp. Frankly, I'd rather have a Vox AC30 for clean, or a plexi for distortion. What the hell, though, it was a free amp. I'm not bitching. BTW, I'm from Terra. YMMV.-Richie
 
Richard Monroe said:
Well, Firebird, different strokes. I cranked one up last week, because a buddy of mine has got one he's been using as a monitor for calling contra dance (what a waste), and he just decided to give it to me, because I told him it was a classic guitar amp with some value to me. Mostly, I wanted to be sure the speaker isn't blown, which it's not. I used an SG with classic 57 humbuckers, and cranked the hell out of it.
My conclusion was that I could get better distortion out of any number of pedals, ir a cranked up Marshall, or a Mesa Boogie, or a lot of other amps. But I play rhythm, not lead. It might be good for blues lead, but it wasn't so good for playing John Lennon, The Who, Chuck Berry, The Kinks, or several other guitar pieces of the same period as the amp. Frankly, I'd rather have a Vox AC30 for clean, or a plexi for distortion. What the hell, though, it was a free amp. I'm not bitching. BTW, I'm from Terra. YMMV.-Richie
Click to expand...

Alright then, what do you want for it?
 
Sorry, not for sale, I think it would be insulting to my friend. The pot that controls the reverb is shot, so I'm replacing it. The reverb unit itself seems to be fine. And yeah, it has the cheesy tremolo referred to above. I'm not the only guitar player who records in this studio, and I'm sure somebody will love it. I'm building a box for it. As I said, it's a pretty good clean amp, so I'll find uses for it myself. I just don't think I'll be overdriving it much, personally.-Richie
 
Plug a Strat into that amp and set the controls to Vol-6, Treb-6, Mid-3 and Bass-2 and you may change your mind.
 
(1) Don't pay to much. I'm sure that there's something else new and less expensive that sounds as good and does more. That's the nature of electronics.

(2) We used them miked or chained with other amps

(3) Great, classic Fender sound when you couldn't get a twin. If I'm not mistaken, there was a model with and a model without reverb.

(4) In those days, there wasn't the variety that you have today when it comes to good amplification. Very often, you used what was available because there wasn't anything else. Don't think that it's going to be the most versatile amp out there.

(5) Equipment helps but YOU are what makes it work. Don't pay a premium for "Vintage" electronics. I'd sell you my first two "vintage" Marshall heads, but they both caught fire on stage. Seems when they first came over, nobody cosidered the current differences having an effect on the solder, which melted, caused shorts, and worse. At one time, you had to take them to your tech and have them completely "silver soldered." Even the best sucks at some point. Some of that old s*hit is just old s*it---A good basis to bargain on.

(6) It's not a 35-year-old guitar, it's a 35-year-old amp. Age mellows capacitors much the same way that Alzheimer's mellows the mind---they forget what they're there for and stop doing what they should.

(7) Was that "gorgeous" or "gougeous"---don't let someone else's adjectives cost you cash. Use your own ears!

(8) Don't tell me you haven't heard or tried this amp?!? At least get to a store and try Fender's latest reincarnation (you know, the new one that comes with a warranty and years of debugged electronics).

(9) Good blues tone---I think I know what that means, don't you? I heard a guy in Jamaica play the blues on the beach in Jamaica one day, with such a beautiful tone it would make you cry. Sweet, nasty, soulful, growling. He was using a conch shell. . .

(10) Don't buy it 'till you try it.

(11) Don't regret it if you do----be happy, Don't regret it if you don't---it's not the fabled "$100 Corvette because somebody died in the back seat and nobody found them or months" , , ,


Good Luck,
Paj
8^)
 
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