Jump to content

Thinking about building a Fender Princeton


TheRymanChu

Recommended Posts

  • Members

I just sold a '62 brown 6G2 Princeton a couple months ago. I had that amp for 20 years and never really liked it. Tried different speakers, tubes, re-capped it, and added adjustable bias. Maybe it was just a dud amp, it didn't have the buttery tweed or classic BF/SF sound, just kinda harsh and blah. My buddy has a SF Princeton Reverb and his amp sounded much better than mine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I just sold a '62 brown 6G2 Princeton a couple months ago. I had that amp for 20 years and never really liked it. Tried different speakers, tubes, re-capped it, and added adjustable bias. Maybe it was just a dud amp, it didn't have the buttery tweed or classic BF/SF sound, just kinda harsh and blah. My buddy has a SF Princeton Reverb and his amp sounded much better than mine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Quote Originally Posted by roland

View Post

I just sold a '62 brown 6G2 Princeton a couple months ago. I had that amp for 20 years and never really liked it. Tried different speakers, tubes, re-capped it, and added adjustable bias. Maybe it was just a dud amp, it didn't have the buttery tweed or classic BF/SF sound, just kinda harsh and blah. My buddy has a SF Princeton Reverb and his amp sounded much better than mine.

 

How many different speakers? I went through about a dozen on my 6G2 until I found one I liked - Weber 10A125. Tried the original Oxford, vintage Jensens, vintage Celestions, modern Celestions, Eminence and a half dozen other Webers until I found the right one. Still not my favorite amp, but I could deal with it if it was my only amp now, and better than an AA964 any day of the week.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Quote Originally Posted by roland

View Post

I just sold a '62 brown 6G2 Princeton a couple months ago. I had that amp for 20 years and never really liked it. Tried different speakers, tubes, re-capped it, and added adjustable bias. Maybe it was just a dud amp, it didn't have the buttery tweed or classic BF/SF sound, just kinda harsh and blah. My buddy has a SF Princeton Reverb and his amp sounded much better than mine.

 

How many different speakers? I went through about a dozen on my 6G2 until I found one I liked - Weber 10A125. Tried the original Oxford, vintage Jensens, vintage Celestions, modern Celestions, Eminence and a half dozen other Webers until I found the right one. Still not my favorite amp, but I could deal with it if it was my only amp now, and better than an AA964 any day of the week.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Quote Originally Posted by Kap'n

View Post

How many different speakers? I went through about a dozen on my 6G2 until I found one I liked - Weber 10A125. Tried the original Oxford, vintage Jensens, vintage Celestions, modern Celestions, Eminence and a half dozen other Webers until I found the right one. Still not my favorite amp, but I could deal with it if it was my only amp now, and better than an AA964 any day of the week.

 

My main speaker for that amp was a Weber 10F150T which was recommended by the fender forum. Also tried various Celestions, Eminence, etc.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Quote Originally Posted by Kap'n

View Post

How many different speakers? I went through about a dozen on my 6G2 until I found one I liked - Weber 10A125. Tried the original Oxford, vintage Jensens, vintage Celestions, modern Celestions, Eminence and a half dozen other Webers until I found the right one. Still not my favorite amp, but I could deal with it if it was my only amp now, and better than an AA964 any day of the week.

 

My main speaker for that amp was a Weber 10F150T which was recommended by the fender forum. Also tried various Celestions, Eminence, etc.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Quote Originally Posted by roland

View Post

My main speaker for that amp was a Weber 10F150T which was recommended by the fender forum. Also tried various Celestions, Eminence, etc.

 

10F150T is the same cone as the 10A125, but a has a considerably larger ceramic magnet, which will make the high end harsh in some applications. It's one of their more popular 10" speakers though. idn_smilie.gif
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Quote Originally Posted by roland

View Post

My main speaker for that amp was a Weber 10F150T which was recommended by the fender forum. Also tried various Celestions, Eminence, etc.

 

10F150T is the same cone as the 10A125, but a has a considerably larger ceramic magnet, which will make the high end harsh in some applications. It's one of their more popular 10" speakers though. idn_smilie.gif
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I think I'm going to build an AA1164 head with upgraded iron. I can add an extra gain stage, tone stack bypass and tremolo bypass for max. gain. I'm thinking of pairing it with a Forte 3d loaded with a Weber 12F150. Is there another speaker I should be looking at for maximum sparkle?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Quote Originally Posted by Kap'n

View Post

No. See the second half of my note. The non-reverb BF/SF Princeton is probably the least valuable of the classic Fender push-pull combos, with perhaps the exception of the MusicMaster Bass, while the reverb version has skyrocketed in the past few years. My guess is that a LOT of other people share my view.

 

I agree, I've had both the Princeton and several Princeton reverbs and the Princeton reverbs sound better in my opinion. I happen to like the MusicMaster Bass amp too in low volume situations.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Quote Originally Posted by TheRymanChu

View Post

I think I'm going to build an AA1164 head with upgraded iron. I can add an extra gain stage, tone stack bypass and tremolo bypass for max. gain. I'm thinking of pairing it with a Forte 3d loaded with a Weber 12F150. Is there another speaker I should be looking at for maximum sparkle?

 

In my experience, Princetons are naturally bright sounding amps, I don't you'll have a problem with sparkle (if your definition of sparkle is the same as mine).
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Quote Originally Posted by TheRymanChu

View Post

I think I'm going to build an AA1164 head with upgraded iron. I can add an extra gain stage, tone stack bypass and tremolo bypass for max. gain. I'm thinking of pairing it with a Forte 3d loaded with a Weber 12F150. Is there another speaker I should be looking at for maximum sparkle?

 

In my experience, Princetons are naturally bright sounding amps, I don't you'll have a problem with sparkle (if your definition of sparkle is the same as mine).
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Quote Originally Posted by TheRymanChu

View Post

I think I'm going to build an AA1164 head with upgraded iron. I can add an extra gain stage, tone stack bypass and tremolo bypass for max. gain. I'm thinking of pairing it with a Forte 3d loaded with a Weber 12F150. Is there another speaker I should be looking at for maximum sparkle?

 

Be prepared to do some tweaking. That's boogie territory. One of the reasons those Mark amps are so tedious to dial in is because they're BF Fender circuits with added gain stages. How long did it take Randy to get it right? Some people think he never did.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Quote Originally Posted by TheRymanChu

View Post

I think I'm going to build an AA1164 head with upgraded iron. I can add an extra gain stage, tone stack bypass and tremolo bypass for max. gain. I'm thinking of pairing it with a Forte 3d loaded with a Weber 12F150. Is there another speaker I should be looking at for maximum sparkle?

 

Be prepared to do some tweaking. That's boogie territory. One of the reasons those Mark amps are so tedious to dial in is because they're BF Fender circuits with added gain stages. How long did it take Randy to get it right? Some people think he never did.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

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

×
×
  • Create New...