65 Princeton RI mods anyone?

[mentoneman]

so it looks like i’m nabbing this little stinger from a friend

Fender '65 Princeton Reverb Surf-Tone Blue FSR 15-watt 1 x 10 Tube Combo Amp Features:

• Limited-edition Princeton Reverb with custom cosmetics and upgraded speaker
• White and Surf Blue tolex covering
• Speaker: 1 x 10" Jensen P10R speaker
• The perfect practice, studio, and small club amp with reverb and vibrato
• Tubes: 3 x 12AX7, 1 x 12AT7, 2 x 6V6, 1 x 5AR4 rectifier tube
• Accessories: 2-button footswitch and amp cover

have any other high gain hessians here swooped low enough from your rarified metal perches and broken your vows of loyalty to the darkness?

ie played, owned , gigged with a princeton of this variety?

if so who is the current go to mod man for such a tube briefcase? i want dynamic, pristine vintage cleans beyond what the stock amp provides ala tone king, two rock, headstrong sweetness, touch sensitivity and sustain.

 

[* velcro-fly *]

Man, I've been down that rabbit hole with these, honestly the best cleans in that amp are stock, volume loud and rolling your guitar volume back. There a few things guys do though - The Stokes Mod and Paul C Mod....... and

https://robrobinette.com/AA1164_Princeton_Reverb.htm

 

[mentoneman]

Man, I've been down that rabbit hole with these, honestly the best cleans in that amp are stock, volume loud and rolling your guitar volume back. There a few things guys do though - The Stokes Mod and Paul C Mod....... and

https://robrobinette.com/AA1164_Princeton_Reverb.htm

Mahalo sir and agree—i had it wound up and cracked back on ole gknobskie for the tenderloins. my problem is i played that darn headstrong combo and it kinda put the rest of the pack to shame! but not interested in the $1600 upcharge!

 

[* velcro-fly *]

Mahalo sir and agree—i had it wound up and cracked back on ole gknobskie for the tenderloins. my problem is i played that darn headstrong combo and it kinda put the rest of the pack to shame! but not interested in the $1600 upcharge!

Braddah that's your own fault.... Kinda like getting Bronson's Malasadas from out the back of his lowered Toyota Corolla in Wahiawa, but then you get a taste Leonard's Malasadas, no going back hahahaa

Just play it, no mess with it, cool amps

 

[70 Mach 1]

its a great amp out of the box if you don't need major horsepower.
runs good up to about 4. if you need more than that the DR is the next choice

 

[japetus]

I had one cranked up on my back porch the other night. Not a ton of headroom but it's plenty loud to feel it, and obviously nobody is buying this to be a volume lord. Great sounding amp, great sounding cleans. Just a nice sounding Fender amp overall. I can't comment on any mods for it.

 

[Music&Chaos]

so it looks like i’m nabbing this little stinger from a friend

View attachment 452479

Fender '65 Princeton Reverb Surf-Tone Blue FSR 15-watt 1 x 10 Tube Combo Amp Features:

• Limited-edition Princeton Reverb with custom cosmetics and upgraded speaker
• White and Surf Blue tolex covering
• Speaker: 1 x 10" Jensen P10R speaker
• The perfect practice, studio, and small club amp with reverb and vibrato
• Tubes: 3 x 12AX7, 1 x 12AT7, 2 x 6V6, 1 x 5AR4 rectifier tube
• Accessories: 2-button footswitch and amp cover

have any other high gain hessians here swooped low enough from your rarified metal perches and broken your vows of loyalty to the darkness?

ie played, owned , gigged with a princeton of this variety?

if so who is the current go to mod man for such a tube briefcase? i want dynamic, pristine vintage cleans beyond what the stock amp provides ala tone king, two rock, headstrong sweetness, touch sensitivity and sustain.

First off - congrats! A friend of mine has that exact same amp and I was able to spend quite a bit of time with it. The speaker in his had been swapped to a G10, which I really liked. Sounded big and worked well with the circuit.

The best thing you can do for that amp is to find really sweet NOS tubes to put in certain positions.

I would recommend RCA 6V6 smoked glass for the outputs.

Input tubes - throw a RCA 12ax7 long blackplate into the PI slot generally. The rest can be moved around to taste.

 

[The~Kid]

Put a 12 in there.....



A V30

 

[japetus]

Put a 12 in there.....



A V30

That would probably be the last speaker I would use for that amp.

 

[The~Kid]

That would probably be the last speaker I would use for that amp.

Exactly, why not *_*

 

[japetus]

I will admit, I like my Blues Jr with the Jensen better. Princeton 65 RI does sound amazing, but there is something about how the EL84 in the Blues Jr pushed with a boost that sounds good to me. It's not as "traditional Fender" but retains that nice crystaline Fender sound gained down. It's kind of strange, it's like an American clean/pushed Vox chime

 

[Music&Chaos]

Put a 12 in there.....



A V30

If I were throwing in a 12, I would go with an Avatar AV75 or a greenback.

If you wanted it as a rock machine that you were going to chug with pedals through, maybe a V30 would work.

I think generally that Greenbacks pair well with this circuit

 

[The~Kid]

If I were throwing in a 12, I would go with an Avatar AV75 or a greenback.

If you wanted it as a rock machine that you were going to chug with pedals through, maybe a V30 would work.

I think generally that Greenbacks pair well with this circuit

Yeah I was just messing around but yeah, I figure it would work out because these are usually mid scooped so a V30 would even it out

 

[Music&Chaos]

Yeah I was just messing around but yeah, I figure it would work out because these are usually mid scooped so a V30 would even it out

It just doesn't work as well as you would think unfortunately. The AV75s do a good job of presenting the midrange without coloring it in an odd way. The V30s are a lot of mid/upper-midrange.

 

[mentoneman]

Braddah that's your own fault.... Kinda like getting Bronson's Malasadas from out the back of his lowered Toyota Corolla in Wahiawa, but then you get a taste Leonard's Malasadas, no going back hahahaa

Just play it, no mess with it, cool amps

snow puffies cuz..

 

[mentoneman]

its a great amp out of the box if you don't need major horsepower.
runs good up to about 4. if you need more than that the DR is the next choice

there was a Deluxe at GC that sounded great too! but i want small lightweight clean machine.
re:your siggy-
i remember visiting the grave of Crispus Attucks on the Freedom Trail as a kid and eating chowder at Ye Old Oyster House dea in downtern “Bahwsten”..thanks for the memory!

 

[mentoneman]

I had one cranked up on my back porch the other night. Not a ton of headroom but it's plenty loud to feel it, and obviously nobody is buying this to be a volume lord. Great sounding amp, great sounding cleans. Just a nice sounding Fender amp overall. I can't comment on any mods for it. View attachment 452628

noice.

 

[ChurchHill]

FWIW, the best things I've ever done to any Fender RI have been to change the tubes to NOS and change the speaker to vintage Jensen. I actually like the new Jensen P12N reissues made in Italy, too, but they are not close to the vintage ones. With a Princeton, I'd look into installing a new baffle for a 12", too, but I'm not sure there's room for just anything in that cabinet. I'm just not a fan of 10" speakers, outside of a Super Reverb that is.

 

[mentoneman]

First off - congrats! A friend of mine has that exact same amp and I was able to spend quite a bit of time with it. The speaker in his had been swapped to a G10, which I really liked. Sounded big and worked well with the circuit.

The best thing you can do for that amp is to find really sweet NOS tubes to put in certain positions.

I would recommend RCA 6V6 smoked glass for the outputs.

Input tubes - throw a RCA 12ax7 long blackplate into the PI slot generally. The rest can be moved around to taste.

RCA 6V6 smoked glass..

sounds like something Charleton Heston would pour his single malt in. A long slow pull on his 17th century meerschaum pipe…

 

[mentoneman]

I will admit, I like my Blues Jr with the Jensen better. Princeton 65 RI does sound amazing, but there is something about how the EL84 in the Blues Jr pushed with a boost that sounds good to me. It's not as "traditional Fender" but retains that nice crystaline Fender sound gained down. It's kind of strange, it's like an American clean/pushed Vox chimeView attachment 452687

i understand