The Steel Guitar Forum

Hi folks, I'm getting back into PS playing again after a layoff. I have this FP reverbless amp with new tubes. Would this be adequate for Steel. It has great tone so it should work. I have a Line 6 Spider with verb etc..but like the Fender. Anybody plugged in to one in the past? I haven't seen much talk on this amp so I figured I'd ask. any opinions would be great. Using a Dekley S10 3/4.Thanks, Chris G

Chris, I've got a '68 Princeton Reverb that I use a lot. Pretty similar amp to what you've got. However since the amp is only 12 watts, it's kind of only good for real quiet rehearsal or recording. It will give you that beautiful classic Fender sound for sure, just not real loud.

Brad Sarno

I'll echo what Brad said and add that it is a GREAT lap steel amp. All of the old Princetons and Deluxes are tone monsters, but, as Brad pointed out, just not very loud.

My suggestion is to try playing through BOTH, preferably using a stereo fx box. Could sound KILLER.

Where you will be disappointed using just the Princeton is with headroom -- that is, how hard you push it before it starts to distort. Lap steel sounds much better with those tubes pushing really hard, but the traditional pedal steel tone is a cleaner sound with less fuzzies. Most (I didn't say ALL) pedal steel players have gone with solid state amplifiers for that reason. A lot of us also use solid state amps but like a tube in there somewhere. Brad's Black Box can add warmth to a really clean solid state amp giving the best of both worlds. I've had guys ask me what kind of tubes are in my Standels (they're both solid state).
<font size=1>no extra charge for the advert, old buddy</font>

------------------
<small>Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Larry Bell on 18 May 2005 at 07:23 PM.]</p></FONT>

I like Princetons a lot, and the no-reverb model is one of my absolute favorite clean sounds. Of course, everybody's right, they're not very loud, but that can also be an advantage. I like these (or even a Vibro Champ) for low-volume applications such as playing with acoustic musicians or in the studio.

I often preamp the no-reverb Fenders with a Pod to get reverb and maybe a bit of delay. Also, the preamp gain on the Princeton no-reverb is very low, which is great for pedal steel, but guitar and lap steel can use a bit more juice. The Pod's good for all of these, and the pair makes a nice compact package for the type of low-volume/limited-stage-space applications I mentioned.

Someone like Dan Torres can add a speaker-voiced line out. This removes the only limitation to this amp. None sound better, IMHO.

I sometimes practice with my PR. But it's been modded. Stokes mod,21 watts. Allen PT. 12" Celestion speaker. Some cap changes. It's totally gig-worthy for six-string, but doesn't have the headroom for anything but practicing with steel. JB

I have an early '70s PR that has been modded very much like John Billings describes his. It is now more like a Deluxe than a Princeton as far a volume output (and speaker size.) I've also added a midrange control installed in place of the extension speaker jack. It is a primarily used as a guitar amp but I have used it on some demo recordings with pedal steel. As long as you don't turn it up past 3 or 4 it will stay clean and give you that classic "Fender" sound to the steel. If you also take a direct signal on a separate track and mix it with the amp track you can get a really great sound. Small amps can work great in the studio.

JP <font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by James Pennebaker on 22 May 2005 at 08:44 AM.]</p></FONT>

Thanks everyone on the feedback. Very helpful.
Thanks, Chris Please close