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New Fender Princeton Reverb Review!

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  • New Fender Princeton Reverb Review!

    Ok, shredders need not apply here.......No, wait you need to read this. Really!
    In order to go back to my roots so to speak and play at lower volumes and take a break from my poor shredding technique I needed this amp.

    So, I set out to find a new amp, preferably a '65 Blackface and it had to be small. I used to have a '78 Princeton Reverb I bought new in 1978. I had it for 10 years. It was Ok. I once had a '59 Bassman (a real one) as a kid. I sold that for $200 in 1973. I wished I kept that one. Yikes! Well, I didn't want a Bassman anyhow. So, I checked out the newly released PRR after hearing clips and doing my research. My local stores didn't have one to try, so I just ordered one sight unseen or heard.

    While waiting for my amp, I was down at GC and they actually got one in after saying a week ago they would not be carrying them. What?
    So, yesterday I'm in the store and they have the new reissue (PRR) and a pristine real '65 PR on the otherside of the display. It was $2500! Insane. The PRR was marked at $799. When I ordered one it was $899. Totally nuts. I think GC priced the real vintage from a quote off of the Fender site. Well, without further addo here's the review.

    Well, still waiting for my amp, I was curious to see how the real '65 PR, just serviced matched up to the PRR. I both set them up for clean and over driven. In a nutshell? No disernable difference IMO.

    Later that afternoon......the Brown truck shows up. Un box it and, Hmm, hey, it includes a cover! It better had for 900 bucks

    I tested out the amp with a Gibson R7 Goldtop with Burstbuckers, a Fender CS Jeff Beck, a Charvel MZ Natural and my old 1980 Gibson ES-335TDSV. Awesome 15 watt package! The amp is real clean below 4 on the volume. Typical clean Fender sound. Crank it and the tube saturation kicks in. Sweet warm distortion. If you want to keep the volume low with distortion, crank the amp to 10 and control the volume with the guitar. The Reverb can get wet as can be to dripping wet. Another excellent plus. The tube driven Vibrato was also excellent.

    I started with the Vibrato using the 335. The humbuckers will drive the amp distortion harder than single coils, so you may need to turn it down some.
    I went from oldies like "Tears on My Pillow", from Anthony and the Imperials (don't know why this one popped in mt head, shows my age I guess), through some Johnny Rivers, a little bit of Setzer Rockabilly (added some echo), then switching to the Strat, for Dick Dale and the Deltones, a little B.B. to SRV tunes. Pretty cool and my ears are not ringing!

    OK, this is not a shredders metal machine, but I had to take a break my fingers hurt.

    Fender has some sound bites on the site. No I don't work for FMIC. Especially after paying major bucks for this small little amp.
    Fender YouToob link:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHVG4kDurtY
    Tone is like Art: Your opinion is valid. Listen, learn, have fun, draw your own conclusions.

  • #2
    I have a 1965 Princeton reverb and it's a great amp. It might have been order with( it had when I bought it a very old Fender design 12" speaker )or modded to a 12 inch speaker? It was very good sounding but I put a Altec 417 in it and it became a monster the only down side is it weigh about 12 more pounds.

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    • #3
      jtr, an Altec It must be a monster. A JBL or an Altec, yeah they are heavy. Is yours and original '65? Sounds like it if you put an Altec in it.
      Tone is like Art: Your opinion is valid. Listen, learn, have fun, draw your own conclusions.

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      • #4
        Yes it is actually from 1965.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by jtr View Post
          Yes it is actually from 1965.
          Very neat indeed. One of these days I'm going to find me a '62 Bassman setup in Blonde and not have to pay for it with a 2nd on the mortgage
          Tone is like Art: Your opinion is valid. Listen, learn, have fun, draw your own conclusions.

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