Princeton Verb.???

scott anderson · Posted 10 Jan 2001 2:37 pm

I have a mid 70 princeton verb. really want a Delux verb. or a Twin. How hard would it be to put a good 12" speaker in it. would it help, would it fit, would it hurt the princeton, I have a new nash 400 & the princeton maybe I should try to trade them for the real deal. any thoughts on this would be good

thanks
Scott/Hawaii

Robert · From: Chicago

Scott:
You said it yourself - if the Princeton Reverb isn't doing anything for you, then trade it towards that Deluxe or Twin Reverb.
The Twin Reverb would be a good amp alongside your 400 for a different (and good) PSG sound. If you butcher that Princeton, I think you'll regret it. You'll end up with a neither/nor situation and STILL want the larger amp, but your trade value on the Princeton will have flown out the window . . .

Rob

ajm · From: Los Angeles

A couple of more ideas......

I believe the Princeton Reverb has exactly or almost exactly the same circuitry as the Deluxe Reverb Vibrato channel. I believe it also has a 10" as the internal speaker as well as an external speaker jack. Why not hook up an external 12" cabinet? This gives you the ability to mess around with different speakers as well as the closed back versus open back thing.

If you do the separate cabinet thing you're also not limited to just a 1-12. Want to hook up a Marshall cabinet? Go ahead (but just watch the impedances). You may also want to (or need to) disconnect the internal 10" already there.

Not quite enough volume? Try replacing the internal speaker with a more efficient one or running an external cabinet with a more efficient one (an EV comes to mind, but there are others). Or rigging up a line output to a more powerful amp.

Whatever you do I wholeheartedly agree with the previous post; I would definitely not modify the Princeton Reverb. Even though it's a mid 70's, the circuitry is the same as the earlier ones except for the pull boost which has no effect if it's not engaged. I have one and it sounds terrific, and best of all for us old people...IT'S LIGHT. If you put it on the Forum at a decent price it'll probably go in a heartbeat.

Joe E · From: Houston Texas

I had a black face Princton Reverb and did just that. I took out the baffle board and replaced it with a new one with a 12 route. E-mail me if you want the details.

Also I have extra grill cloth from the same era I can sell ya. Don't destroy the original, just replace it and hang on to the old.

As for the 12" in the amp. Awsome. I used a JBL and it was great. Not really loud enough for a rock band, but the blues gigs and weding gigs I was doing it was plenty.

E-mail me ....also Rick Davis has done a few conversions too, he may be able to answer questions as well.

Joe

[This message was edited by Joe E on 11 January 2001 at 02:07 PM.]

scott anderson · Posted 11 Jan 2001 4:20 pm

Thanks for the info, I think the stringmaster sounds better though the princeton then the nash 400 I guess thats just my ears. What if i tryed to run the wires off the princeton to the speaker in the nash 400 do you think the princeton has enough power to get sound out of the 15" speaker???? I guess your right I should sell them both and try get a Delux or a twin

Scott/Hawaii

ajm · From: Los Angeles

Scott,

Maybe the best thing to do is to find a tech or a musician in your area who knows a little about hooking up amps and get him to help you experiment.

If you are inexperienced with some of this stuff you could end up really damaging some equipment. It sounds like you've got a couple of nice amps there, and there should be a pretty simple way to get the sound you want without hurting something.

Bob Metzger · From: Waltham (Boston), MA, USA

The Phase Inverter/Driver circuit on a Princeton Reverb is different than the one in a Deluxe or a Twin. Take the amp for what it is. With its tube rectifier, cathodyne phase inverter and 6V6 power tubes, you'll never get it clean enough at any real volume level for a traditional steel guitar sound. Yes, it does have the wonderful Fender preamp sound, but that power amp will never get you the cleanliness, power reserves and headroom necessary for good steel tone. If you permanently modify it, you'll eventually regret it. You'll also greatly devalue it as far as resale. There are lots of good amp out there these days and you probably can sell the Princeton for a ton of dosh. To modify it correctly, you'd need a new speaker, new transformers, a new filter supply, a new power amp and a new bias circuit. Then it would no longer be a Princeton and all that would be very expensive, indeed. Most top-notch techs hate heavily modding amps to this degree (and building it inside a classic Fender amp) and sometimes that leaves you with the less than brilliant types, which isn't a good idea with such a broad rethinking of this amp. I'd keep the NV 400 and buy another small, bright, clean and loud amp with a good sounding reverb and al least 50 watts of power and a 12" or a 15" speaker. My rig of choice right now for steel is a NV 400 and a 2x 6L6 amp (about 50 watts) with a 12" speaker (very clean) in stereo. Let the Princeton Reverb be what it's trying to be: a Princeton reverb!

Bob

Rick Johnson · From: Wheelwright, Ky USA

I agree with Bob. I couldn't have said it any
better. Nuff said.

------------------
Rick Johnson

Bob Metzger · From: Waltham (Boston), MA, USA

Not quite enough:

On the other hand, if you're a 'modding' sort of guy and like the Fender sound, but not the (lack of) volume and don't really care for the Peavey sound but love all that clean power then how about a preamp out jack installed in the Princeton, in place of the ext. speaker jack, on the back panel. This preamp out jack can then plug into the power amp in jack on the NV 400 back panel and, voila', you have a Fender preamp and a Peavey power amp; the best of both worlds. (But now you're carrying an extra piece of gear.) Of course, this is totally reversible to stock in about 15 minutes, if you get sick of lugging two amps around or want to sell the Princeton for $$$$$$.

BTW, this operation can be done with almost every Fender amp, but the hip way to do it is to use a jack that has some switching capabilities so you can 1) break the signal line in the Princeton and route the preamp audio signal to the preamp out jack, and 2) switch the power amp to standby. Using switching jacks makes this all occur simultaneously when a plug is inserted into this jack. If the Fender (or other amp) you decide to use has reverb, then you can include the great Fender reverb sound in the preamp out, as well. If you're doing any recording, you can use that preamp out as if the amp were a rack mount device and go DI into a console, DI box, pod or whatever you like. You could also leave the power amp in the Princeton on, if you wish, and drive both amps simultaneously. The possibilities are really endless; you just have to think it and it can be done. Any good amp tech should be able do this but try and find someone who has done it before successfully, so the wheel doesn't have to be reinvented (translation: less cost).

But this is only if you're determined to use that Princeton (for steel) in some way. I still think you should leave it be and buy another cool amp (from the myriad of cool amps now available) and play it in stereo with the NV 400. Then you'll be stylin'!

Bob

[This message was edited by Bob Metzger on 19 January 2001 at 11:39 PM.]

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