Jump to content
Hamer Fan Club Message Center

Its hard to beat a Princeton. Share your Princeton!


Recommended Posts

I bought this 73 Silverface Princeton (NR) for $700 and I just really love this amp. After running it with a 64 Princeton and comparing them, one was not better than the other just different. Since mine had a Emi RC in it, they actually complemented each other very nicely, and created a very textured sound. Since the 73 has a mod that is like a variable mid sweep, kind of F to the right M to the left, it really allowed me to blend the amps tonally together. One is a little clean, one with a little more hair, one with a bit of a mid cut and one a little mid forward. I see another Princeton sometime in the future, I would love to run a pair of them as my main rig. Super easy to carry, they play nice with multiple guitars, and they look cool. ;) 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mine is from the mid-70s. A previous owner converted it from silverface to blackface specs (which I’m told are very minor changes) and added a black faceplate. 

It’s a great amp - small, light, killer tone, relatively pedal friendly but sounds just about perfect on its own. Here it is next to my EBMM Albert Lee, my favorite Strat-style guitar.

spacer.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

spacer.pngI built mine!! I built mine from scratch to have 3 amps in 1 combo. I used the Princeton Tweed 5F2-A circuit and modded using a push pull volume to take the tone circuit out making it a Fender Tweed 5F1 Champ circuit. The 3rd amp is a DeArmond R5 by having a switch on the bottom that changes the circuit to DeArmonds Schematic. I’ve compared it to an actual Tweed Princeton and Champ and it sounds beefier with the 12” Cannibus Rex, the tone was still there!! All premium components and Vintage tubes! It’s a super versatile low volume practice amp!!

 

3F69A504-F733-4630-913E-1C6F50BC5DE8.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Dutchman said:

I built mine!! I built mine from scratch to have 3 amps in 1 combo. I used the Princeton Tweed 5F2-A circuit and modded using a push pull volume to take the tone circuit out making it a Fender Tweed 5F1 Champ circuit. The 3rd amp is a DeArmond R5 by having a switch on the bottom that changes the circuit to DeArmonds Schematic. I’ve compared it to an actual Tweed Princeton and Champ and it sounds beefier with the 12” Cannibus Rex, the tone was still there!! All premium components and Vintage tubes! It’s a super versatile low volume practice amp!!

Pics, dude! Pics!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mine is a PR from 1970, the cab was totally shot when I got it, so I picked up a 1x12 replacement cab for it, dropped in a green Tone Tubby and never looked back.  If for some reason I could only own one amp, this would be it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Kurt L said:

Pics, dude! Pics!

It wouldn’t upload my original. I decreased the quality and it went thru!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bought this '68 Reissue a couple of years ago used. Changed out the crappy original speaker for a Weber Ferromax and removed the "magic" resistor that, supposedly, gave it the Tweed tone and the amp sounds fantastic. It has been my main gigging amp ever since. 

Zaftig & Princeton.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

IMG_20190416_080302_349.jpg.b8ffcba74a9bbf7b5052f2825eaef5a2.jpg'62 6G2 Brownie (on the left, under the reverb unit). Came into the store I worked at 15 years ago near-mint, because it spent 40+ years in the owner's closet for blowing its fuse as soon as the power switch was thrown. I lost it and completely geeked-out over the thing as I was going through it with the guy. Told him it was likely a bad tranny, would probably cost a few hundred to get a replacement and install it. He thought for a moment, looked at me drooling over it, and said, "Well, if you give me that much, it's yours. I can see how bad you wanna hear it, and you'll probably enjoy it more than my boy, if you can get it working..."

It took me about 3 milliseconds to respond. "I can't do that... it's worth so much more, even not working... but I do want it, and I can't afford much more. Damn." He grinned, told me he appreciated my honesty, and if I got him into a good channel-switching amp for his son, he'd take whatever I could afford, so I emptied my account and got it for... tree-fiddy!

Put in a Kendrick 10" and put the original Oxford in a box, juiced it up with a new power transformer from Gerald, too, put on a grounded power cord, and it's been perfect ever since. Occasionally, I swap out V1 for a different flavor (it's got a Bugle Boy in there atm), but everything else is original, from caps to tubes! Dead silent, killer touch-sensitive grind-overdrive as volume knob goes past about 11 o'clock, and completely untouchable bias-mod trem! Takes pedals as well as any modern amp, but isn't any less responsive if you don't plug straight in. I love my 3 amp set up, but I never play the rest of the rig without it, while I regularly only turn on the Brownie, and it's the only amp I travel with! Princetons Rule!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@joshoowah the rest of your amps aren't too shabby either. ;) I have a friend with a Kendrick (He bought in the 80's, 6l6 Twin Type) that we plug into every once in a while. He keeps threatening to sell, but has never actually done it. It gets no love. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, bubs_42 said:

I bought this 73 Silverface Princeton (NR) for $700 and I just really love this amp. After running it with a 64 Princeton and comparing them, one was not better than the other just different. Since mine had a Emi RC in it, they actually complemented each other very nicely, and created a very textured sound. Since the 73 has a mod that is like a variable mid sweep, kind of F to the right M to the left, it really allowed me to blend the amps tonally together. One is a little clean, one with a little more hair, one with a bit of a mid cut and one a little mid forward. I see another Princeton sometime in the future, I would love to run a pair of them as my main rig. Super easy to carry, they play nice with multiple guitars, and they look cool. ;) 

 

I saw a guy run two Princetons at a patio gig, and it was LOUD.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, killerteddybear said:

I saw a guy run two Princetons at a patio gig, and it was LOUD.

There is a killer Booker T tribute band here called McLemore Avenue. The guitarist runs a pair of Silverface Princetons and it is LOUD even for outdoor gigs. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A few years ago, I did a 12-week engineering job on Long Island.  Being a hard-core Tele guy that close to NYC, I decided I needed to go see Jim Campilongo play.  That summer, he was doing a mini-residency at the Rockwood 1, their smallest room.  The whole bar was about 25' x 25'. (He has since graduated to Rockwood 2, a much bigger room.)  So, the first week I was there, a buddy and I went into the Village for Thai food and then caught Jim C's set.  We were so blown away that we went back 8 more times over the following months.

To bring this post on-topic, Jim plays a '59 toploader Telecaster though a short straight cable and into a silverface Princeton Reverb (with a Celestion 10" in it, I believe).  The range of tones he gets out of that rig is incredible.  Country twang, obviously, but he can dial down the twang and get smokey jazz tones, or roll down the volume for clean, almost acoustic sounds. But when he cranked it up and really laid into it, that little amp sounded like Live At Leeds.  Monstrous!

If any of you are anywhere near NYC, I can't urge you strongly enough to GO SEE JIM CAMPILONGO on the first Monday night you possibly can.

Since this thread is supposed to be about "my" Princeton, I'll admit I don't have one.  However, I do have a spare Bogen PA head that I bought as spare parts for my DIY 18 Watter clone.  I'm thinking I need to turn the spare Bogen into a Princeton, although it will have EL84 output tubes.  Still, it should get close as long as I get the preamp and phase inverter right.

Campilongo.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, killerteddybear said:

I saw a guy run two Princetons at a patio gig, and it was LOUD.

They are directionally loud, not much spread, but if you in line with it, you going to get blasted. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...