The Steel Guitar Forum

I have just tried a Fender Princeton 65 Reverb not the Chinese, this one is made in Mexico, and I am absolutely knocked out with how the steel sounds through this little amp it`s is very loud with loads of headroom, I use the lead channel without any distortion and it really does kick it out.

Has anyone else on the forum tried one of these?




Jimmy

I had one for a few years. When it was new, it worked very well. After a while it started getting very noisy. Also, the tone controls stopped functioning properly.

When it was new, though, it worked great.

I took it to our local music store and they gave me credit toward the purchase of a Cube 80XL.

lee i bought a cube 80xl i really dont care for the sound with my steel i play a mullen sd10 rp i keep going back to my peaveys a 112 and nv1ooo.

That's what I'm using right now. They sound great.

I play with a guitarist who has a pair of them. On loud gigs he uses both. Wow!!

I've played steel through one and it sounds great. They seem to be high maintenance, though. He's had several problems with them that had to be repaired.

I use a Princeton 65 for small gigs and in our practice space, and a Steel King for larger rooms and studio work. The 65 sounds very nice if I don't push it too hard, although the reverb is a bit weak. As b0b alluded too, reliability is a bit of a concern - I've had to repair it once due to a bad input jack. I sure like its light weight, though!

I did opener for a David Lee Murphy show and lent the amp to the guitar player to use onstage. Miked, he sounded like he was playing through a Marshall Stack. They are very loud on their own also. Excellent effects on the amp.

I thought I would try a comparison test with this Fender and my Roland 80x at a gig over the weekend,and I was expecting the Roland amp to sound better, BUT this little Fender held it`s own in volume and tone they really are very loud for their size good tone and no breakup even when I gave it some wallop.

The guitar to my old ears also sounded better through the Fenders clean channel..

These are just my opinions I'm not knocking the Roland amps they are superb steel amps but these little Fender amps are amazing light and loud just the way I like it.

Just to add the Fender amp I have does not have the effects built in it just has reverb,and as I said this amp was not made in China.

As far as reliability goes I will have to wait and see, this amp is over 3 years old and the guy I got it from says he gigged with this amp every week and had no problems what so ever so hopefully I won`t.

Jimmy..



Jimmy....

Although these amps are pretty good, the volume controls are linear taper which basically puts the MEAT at the front of the zero to half way mark . This is what many manufacturers do to give the impression the amps are REAL loud, especially in the stores.

I had one and returned it after about 3 weeks, it died right after some strange buzzing noise...but it did sound pretty good up to that point !

The only effects for the Fender Princeton 65 Reverb are reverb and vibrato (really tremolo) and there is no "clean" channel, so perhaps we're not all talking about the same apple.

The one I tried in the store sounded really good and I would love to own one for small stages. I think the price points on all of the Fender RIs are absurdly high. The reliability issues would definitely make me consider buying an original black or silver face, however those prices have gone through the roof, as well.

Hence my decision to go with an affordable modeling amp for small stages.

There's a Fender Princeton 65 DSP. It's a very different amp - 2 channels, 65 watt solid state with lots of effects. The Princeton 65 Reverb is a 15 watt tube amp, essentially a reissue of the classic 1965 Princeton Reverb.

My Princeton 65 has 2 channels CLEAN and Overdrive separate tone controls on each channel.



Jimmy

Your Fender Princeton 65 (not DSP) is a solid state amp. It does has reverb, but it's not the same amp as a Fender 65 Princeton Reverb reissue. I was confused. My earlier comments about my bandmate's amp and its reliability don't apply, as it's a very different amp from what you have.

Sorry for the confusion.

Do any of you who use one of these for steel use the drive control? It seems that if you don't turn the drive up a little then it's not loud enough.

David Neslony

I use mine strictly through the Non drive channel, augmented with a Fender SFX Satellite slave amp (90W/12”). My “B3/Leslie” effect sounds huge, even the straight steel stuff.