65 PRRI thoughts please

rlw

I had one of these for a while but sold it on as it didn't do a lot for me.  I found it very polite at bedroom levels and it didn't really seem to like my pedals - BD2/OD3/DS1 - very much.  But, I loved the built in reverb and tremolo.

My very amp is back up for sale, still at a very good price, and I'm tempted to buy it back to see if we get on a bit better. So, the question is, at what level do they start to break up and sound like I imagine they could?  I rarely turned it up beyond 3/4 at home and I found that quite loud in a small space.  Do they really need to go up to 9/10, very loud to give of their best or is there some magic setting that I didn't find first time around?

If I had to describe a sound or tone, I think the early electric John Lee Hooker or Lightning Hopkins kind of thing is what I seek.

octatonic

I'm a huge fan of the Princeton circuit but all you will find yourself in the same situation as before.
Wind it up, play it loud and be happy.
They don't need to go to 9/10- but 3-4 at a minimum IMHO.

If that doesn't work for you then go down the modeller route- they are pretty good now.

What guitar do you use?
I always plug into Princetons with single coils into input 1 and humbuckers into input 2.

ICBM

It probably needs a better speaker, for what you want - I don't find the 10" Jensen very pedal-friendly really, it can sound a bit thin and scratchy. I would go for something thicker and darker-sounding, probably either an Eminence or Celestion of some sort (worth checking out different models of both). If it's still too loud when it breaks up an attenuator will fix that - it doesn't need to be an expensive one since the power requirement is low, in fact a cheap L-pad type will work fine.

menamestom

Princetons sound great at low volume and break up relatively early, but not at home volume levels, unless you don't have neighbours near by.   Changing the stock speaker definitely helps with pedals, the stock one is nice for low volume clean playing but not much more.   Most speaker options will probably make the amp louder and harder to break up, so an attenuator may be the best option.  Personally, I think a Timmy or similar into a PRRI sounds great at low volume and I've never bothered with an attenuator myself.

The other option is a modded Princeton like a Carr Sportsman or similar with some kind of master volume or other means to get some grit at low volumes.

Chalky

I'm wondering if that might be my old one from a few years ago.  I'd definitely change the speaker to something more rounded, and I wonder if adding a Mid control would make a PRRI more usable.

ICBM

Chalky said:

I wonder if adding a Mid control would make a PRRI more usable.

You can do that quite easily without drilling holes, by converting the bass control into a bass/mid sweep, like an AC30 - since almost no-one (even me!) would ever run the bass up full on a Princeton normally, or fully off, the two ends of the range are useless as stock. With it modded, bass high gives the stock BF scooped mid, bass low increases mids.

rlw

Chalky said:

I'm wondering if that might be my old one from a few years ago.  I'd definitely change the speaker to something more rounded, and I wonder if adding a Mid control would make a PRRI more usable.

Its the blue flowers one I bought new.

rlw

I'm very tempted by the Juketone amp in the classifieds which might be a better bet?

octatonic

Chalky said:

I'm wondering if that might be my old one from a few years ago.  I'd definitely change the speaker to something more rounded, and I wonder if adding a Mid control would make a PRRI more usable.

It is why I bought a Louis Electric Road Runner amp.

richardhomer

I absolutely love the PRRI - it does exactly what I want from a Fender amp - but my requirements are very different. I want a big clean sound and don't own any drive pedals.

A great amp if its strengths appeal - but not the ideal amp for your requirements by the sound of things.

rlw

rlw said:

I'm very tempted by the Juketone amp in the classifieds which might be a better bet?

I've bought the little Juketone Royal Blood 10 that was on here.  Cheap enough to experiment with and it seems pretty good to start with so we'll see.   Also, saved a lot of money over buying back that Princeton.

If anyone actually wants a 65PRRI, the blue flowers one on ebay was mine and left me in perfect condition around a year ago and was moved on again a bit later.  I have no interest in it, or the seller, but at £600 it's a good bit less than the Tolex covered ones - for some crazy reason given that it was a special edition.

thebreeze

rlw said:

rlw said:

I'm very tempted by the Juketone amp in the classifieds which might be a better bet?

I've bought the little Juketone Royal Blood 10 that was on here.  Cheap enough to experiment with and it seems pretty good to start with so we'll see.   Also, saved a lot of money over buying back that Princeton.

If anyone actually wants a 65PRRI, the blue flowers one on ebay was mine and left me in perfect condition around a year ago and was moved on again a bit later.  I have no interest in it, or the seller, but at £600 it's a good bit less than the Tolex covered ones - for some crazy reason given that it was a special edition.

Could you post a link, I couldn't see it?  (Unless it's sold of course.)

Gassage

12" speaker makes a huge difference but make sure the back of the speaker fits

Modulus_Amps

I suspect you may need different flavorings of pedals to get where you want to go with that amp, the BF amps are very scooped out which is why TS type pedals and Klons work well with them.

As for driving the clappers out of it you would need an attenuator for home use I would think.

rlw

thebreeze said:

rlw said:

rlw said:

I'm very tempted by the Juketone amp in the classifieds which might be a better bet?

I've bought the little Juketone Royal Blood 10 that was on here.  Cheap enough to experiment with and it seems pretty good to start with so we'll see.   Also, saved a lot of money over buying back that Princeton.

If anyone actually wants a 65PRRI, the blue flowers one on ebay was mine and left me in perfect condition around a year ago and was moved on again a bit later.  I have no interest in it, or the seller, but at £600 it's a good bit less than the Tolex covered ones - for some crazy reason given that it was a special edition.

Could you post a link, I couldn't see it?  (Unless it's sold of course.)

It seems to have gone.

thebreeze

Okay - thanks for looking.

fretfinder

rlw said:

thebreeze said:

rlw said:

rlw said:

I'm very tempted by the Juketone amp in the classifieds which might be a better bet?

I've bought the little Juketone Royal Blood 10 that was on here.  Cheap enough to experiment with and it seems pretty good to start with so we'll see.   Also, saved a lot of money over buying back that Princeton.

If anyone actually wants a 65PRRI, the blue flowers one on ebay was mine and left me in perfect condition around a year ago and was moved on again a bit later.  I have no interest in it, or the seller, but at £600 it's a good bit less than the Tolex covered ones - for some crazy reason given that it was a special edition.

Could you post a link, I couldn't see it?  (Unless it's sold of course.)

It seems to have gone.

Yes it has. An offer was accepted, but sadly not my lowball one!

rlw

fretfinder said:

rlw said:

thebreeze said:

rlw said:

rlw said:

I'm very tempted by the Juketone amp in the classifieds which might be a better bet?

I've bought the little Juketone Royal Blood 10 that was on here.  Cheap enough to experiment with and it seems pretty good to start with so we'll see.   Also, saved a lot of money over buying back that Princeton.

If anyone actually wants a 65PRRI, the blue flowers one on ebay was mine and left me in perfect condition around a year ago and was moved on again a bit later.  I have no interest in it, or the seller, but at £600 it's a good bit less than the Tolex covered ones - for some crazy reason given that it was a special edition.

Could you post a link, I couldn't see it?  (Unless it's sold of course.)

It seems to have gone.

Yes it has. An offer was accepted, but sadly not my lowball one!

Cheapskate