Princeton 65 reissue

[tot_Ou_tard]

At some point (no money for it now) I'd like to get a small wattage blackface voiced tube amph.

Has anyone tried the new Princeton reissue?

Better choices? Are there good 5 watt blackface amps?

[oldguy]

How much you figuring on spending?
I haven't played the Princeton, so I can't comment on the sound.
Have you played the Super Champ XD? I bought one and it's got a good blackface model or two.

[tot_Ou_tard]

How much you figuring on spending?
I haven't played the Princeton, so I can't comment on the sound.
Have you played the Super Champ XD? I bought one and it's got a good blackface model or two.

I currently use the blackface model on the VOX AD30VT. It's very good, that is what makes me hunger for an all tube version.

I often run my little champion 600 together with the Black 2x12 model on the VOX AD30VT. I use the VOX for clean sparkly highs & piano lows & the champ for warm responsive pushed cleans, bit o hair, or overdrive.

[duhvoodooman]

Tot, you might want to check out a Blues Jr. and see if you like it. You can pick up nice, clean used ones in the $300 - $350 range. Tone2TheBone and I really like ours. And it has a 12" speaker rather than the Princeton's 10", for a little more bottom end. Obviously, you don't get the tube-driven spring reverb, the tremolo (wrongly called "vibrato" by Fender) and the tube rectification. But you do get that typical shimmery Fender tone and you don't have to lay out 9 Benjamins for it....

BTW, if you really want those big, taut piano lows, better start saving for a Twin Reverb!

[tunghaichuan]

The Champ 600 is based on the Blackface Champ, but has a fixed-resistor network instead of the BF tone controls. I found that I got a very good BF sound by swapping the stock 6V6 with a JJ6V6. I find that the JJ6V6 doesn't really sound like a NOS 6V6. It is more of a cross between a 6V6 and a 6L6.

As for the Deluxe Reverb reissue, I would try to buy a new one (are they still being sold?) with a warranty. Or a used one with most of the warranty left. Why? They are PCB based, with the tube sockets mounted to the PCB. Their construction leaves a lot to be desired. You will most likely have to upgrade the tubes and the speaker as well, so the amp starts to get to be a money pit.

If you are ambitious, you might try a kit.

Allen Amps makes one of the best BF kits:

http://www.allenamps.com/accomplice.php

http://www.allenamps.com/kits.php

In fact one of our new members just posted some clips (http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=9178), a very nice sounding amp. David Allen is good people, and is very helpful when it comes to troubleshooting the build. If heard nothing but good things about him.

There is also Mojo, their kits are supposed to be pretty good.

http://www.mojomusicalsupply.com/products.asp?id=44991

Finally, I've heard good things about this company:

http://www.griesamps.com/id4.html

But unfortunately, they're not taking orders (http://www.griesamps.com/). You might check their web site from time to time.

HTH,

tung

[tot_Ou_tard]

Yeah I had heard about the Gries amps & the fact that they're not taking orders. Kits are way beyond me for the moment.

I didn't know that the champion 600 was based on a blackface champ.

Vood, the Twin has 85 watts. Yikes! I'd blow the neighbors out of the water.

[duhvoodooman]

Vood, the Twin has 85 watts. Yikes! I'd blow the neighbors out of the water.
Yeah, I was kidding about that part. The Twin is famous for being one of the most hellaciously loud amps on the planet. But, hey--you can't be the "King of Clean" with 15 or 20 watts! ;) :D

[Fab4]

I'd second duhvoodooman about the Blues Jr. I A/B'ed one against my Allen Accomplice and thought that it held up well - not as versatile, with less bass response but very useful, nonetheless. I need a really small amp for orchestra pit gigs sometimes, so I have toyed with the idea of selling my Accomplice and getting a Jr. I might switch out the speaker, though (inveterate tinkerer that I am.)

There are also a number of mods and mod kits available for the Blues Jr. which sound promising. Anybody had any experience with them?

[Tone2TheBone]

I know Duhvoodooman modded his. I got mine with a cool bias mod done to it already and I did the very simple to do twin stack mod. With just those 2 modifications it's greatly improved the sound of my Blues Jr. along with a speaker swap to a Veteran 30 from Warehouse Guitar Speakers. I still think you can't beat it for the price if you're looking for that certain sound only a "Fender" can give. Even though it runs EL-84s it reeks Fender tone. I find that it sounds it's best at louder volumes. Boxiness goes away and you get nice juicy harmonics.

tOt - so you're wanting another small amp in addition to your Champion 600 or are you thinking of selling that one?

[tot_Ou_tard]

I dunno, I'm not sold on the Blues Junior. Maybe it's the EL84s. I'm thinking 6L6.



tOt - so you're wanting another small amp in addition to your Champion 600 or are you thinking of selling that one?
H3ll no! ;)

By the way. The new GP has a review of the Champion 600.