Been looking for a Princeton for a year or more. Today one finally appeared on our version of E bay (Trademe) Couldn't believe that it had a buy now of only 330$ so pushed the button and its mine.(haven't picked it up yet) Yikes a bit of googling later it seems i have bought a SS amp (rated 60watts) Never entered my mind that Fender would release a SS amp carrying a revered valve amps name. That'll teach me to be a bit more thorough and remember the old adage...if appears to to good to be true it probably is... Anyways anyone ever played through one of these?I am a pedal user so am hoping that maybe some judacious use of a pedal or two 'might make it usuable for harp? Maybe i'll just have to accept the fact that i'm an idjit.lol
I don't know anything about your new amp, but Fender has always re-used amp names. How many different "Bassman" amps have there been over the last 60 years?
The "60 watts" should have been a clue. Classic Princetons are 12-14 watt amps.
Last Edited by on Nov 27, 2012 8:45 PM
best resell it but make sure buyer knows it is solid state. these don't come close to real princetons or that newer thing w/ the black face that i can never remember the name of.
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if you were hoping on a tube princeton, you got the wrong amp. If it wasn't stated as solid state you could most likely appeal to ebay and cancel the purchase. State you assumed it was a tube princeton. I would give that a shot first. We all have made such purchases at some point if you stay in it long enough. If you are stuck with it try it out and go from there. Some people love solid state. BB King played (in most peoples opinions) pieces of junk solid state amps for years and made them sound great. I always dig hearing somebody sound good on something that should sound like crap and get a laugh out hearing people sound like crap on stuff that should sound good :-) Walter
here is bb's ss in action
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Walter raises a really good point. You've got a few of options.
1. Try to cancel the sale. 2. Resell the amp on your own. 3. Keep it for a while and use it to develop your technique.
Option 3 is going to be a tough road to travel because people will tell you that your amp will sound like crap because it's solid state and you will likely believe it.
Personally, I started with a 50 watt solid state Yamaha amp around 1980. I bought it for about $100. I spent years developing microphone handling technique, amplified hand effects and most importantly, tone. Eventually, I sold it for $75.
I spent a lot of time trying to recreate the sounds that I was hearing on traditional Blues recordings of the 1950's and 1960's. I didn't know anything about tube amps.
I lived in Chicago. Most of the harp players that I saw played through the PA. A few had Fender amps, but Junior Wells, James Cotton, Louis Myers and most of the heavyweight old guys played through the PA and sounded great.
So, I kept using the solid state amp. I didn't know that I had a variety of options. I was ignorant. I worked with what I had.
I started developing amplified playing skills and tone. When I finally learned about tube amps, there really wasn't a lot to learn to transition. If there was a transition, it was simply learning how to deal with the amp, which is something you'll need to learn anyway.
If you learn with what you've got and don't let it deter you, you'll develop some skills and be better off than the guy who says, "I don't have right equipment."
People use non-traditional equipment all the time and make it sound good.
1. There is a guy in Mississippi who uses some obscure Shure microphone, which isn't a traditional microphone choice. He plays it through a solid state Mouse. Again, another non-traditional choice.
2. There is a guy in Chicago who plays a solid state Peavey with a funky Electro Voice vocal mic. He makes it sing enough to have been on over 200 recordings.
3. There's a guy who played with the Rolling Stones that played through a Mesa Boogie amp.
4. Thirty years ago, nobody used effects pedals, now lots of people do.
There are no hard and fast rules. There are enough videos on the Internet of "harp blowouts" featuring several players playing through the same gear and all sounding different to allow even the most casual player to know playing a Princeton isn't going to make me sound like Big Walter.
Finally, you aren't an idiot. You learned something. A good Princeton or Princeton Reverb will likely set you back more than $330(US).
@Joe Might surprise you but I'm near as old as you..bought my first amp(SS) in 1985 ;-) Most of my on stage stuff has been straight into a PA as well.Reasonably happy to do that especially if i can get a chance to'tweak' it a bit. Mind you i have come across a few PAs' that have just been dogs ..like tryin' to blow up a big balloon with empty lungs. Only really got into the whole valve amp thing a few years ago when i started reading the internet and realised that i wasn't doing it right :^). Bought myself a Blues Deville a few months back and yeah i have got it,with a few tweaks, sounding good. I got to play through a Princeton at a jam a while back have been hankering after one ever since.The goddamn thing just sang and weeped to the point where even my wife said she'd never heard me sound better. Hence when i saw 'Princeton' on the auction Due Diligence went outta the window and i went for the Buy Now option.. Gotcha! But of course you are right in the end an amps an amp .I'll try a few pedals or whatever through it and hey if it don't work for me..i'll just relist it.Might even make a small profit..^(mmm) Mind you i have Richard Hunters Digitech patches that are designed to be played through a clean SS amp so that could be an interesting exercise.(they sound good through a PA)
I have a solid state Peavey Special (120 watts) - the first in the Peavey Special series. The more I play through it, the more I experiment with the sound, the better it sounds. I find ways to get the sound and tone that I want. I would never part with this amp. Oh, and while using only Electrovoice mics, none under 40 years old. It's not the be-all and end-all by any means. When the time is right and the money is there, I will buy the tube amp that I want. But there seems to be a prejudice against solid state amps that is unjustified to some extent.
Last Edited by on Nov 28, 2012 4:52 AM
The naming situation is even worse than I thought:
The Fender '65 Princeton Reverb is an all tube amp that puts ~15 watts into its 10" speaker. It is part of Fender "Vintage Reissue" series.
The Fender Princeton 65 was a solid state amp with built-in digital effects that claims 65 watts into a 12" speaker. It doesn't seem to be in Fender's current amp line up, but there are still lots of them around.
I doubt if you're the only person who has made that eBay mistake. Caveat emptor, I guess.
