1973 Princeton. Low volume.

[1971SuperLead]

Hello my dear friends,
I just received a 1973 Fender Princeton from an eBay seller about an hour ago.
1973 Fender Princeton Amp Amplifier Weber Speaker - eBay (item 280459431318 end time Feb-08-10 09:00:15 PST)
It sounds great. No hum or any other unwanted noise. The seller added a bias pot and some Sprague power filters without removing the original filter. It has a Weber replacement speaker.
It has a really great tone but the volume and distortion are lacking. I'm playing it on 10 and I'm sitting in front of it with my guitar thinking "Ya, sounds nice and clean but shouldn't my hair be blowing back?" It has great sustain and a lite crunch but it's really no louder than any of my old Fender Champs. Better bass response and it's "tight" but shouldn't I be getting a violin type of distortion when the volume is full up. Shouldn't the cops be knocking on my door? It's no louder than my Champs and so little distortion.

Thanks in advance!

Robert

[pecorporation]

Spragues installed without removing the originals?

[1971SuperLead]

Yes

Yes, the 4 Spragues were installed without removing the original cap. I must say. It is as quiet as any amp I've ever heard in 35 years. Tons of sustain. pretty as hell sounding.

I just took a look at the tubes and all seem to be glowing the same. I switched the tubes around and no difference. It sounds great but on 10 it has all the distortion of the intro to Day Tripper by the Beatles and I would say the volume is only enough to play with a jazz style drummer.

Is this normal?

Thank you!

[JoeM]

I have a '65 non reverb Princeton. Even on '10' it wasnt really breaking up. Eventually a tech at the music store I worked at did some mods to it (changed to a LTPI among other things), to get some more gain from it. Maybe yours is working OK.

[1971SuperLead]

Joe, how loud is your Princeton?

Can you hurt your ears? Mine is no louder than any of my three Fender Champs ('68,'76 and '78). Maybe it's that giant Weber speaker. It sure has a big and powerful magnet on it.

[JoeM]

Can you hurt your ears? Mine is no louder than any of my three Fender Champs ('68,'76 and '78). Maybe it's that giant Weber speaker. It sure has a big and powerful magnet on it.

No, I couldn't hurt my ears with the way it was stock. Only Fender I've ever played that you could have dimed and still be clean. The guy I got it from used some kind of preamp/booster in front of it to get some volume.

[1971SuperLead]

Not a Champ but

Joe, it's no louder than a dimed Champ but it is cleaner by far and has a much more beefy bottom end. A nice and tight amp. I feel the rumble in my chest that a Champ can't do. But I will not be soloing without a booster/od pedal and I will not be playing with a rock drummer without a PA or booster. I'm surprised Tom Petty likes these low powered amps.

Yet, the tone for recording....very very nice. It's as if the amp is alive and is trying it's best to make me sound good.

Too loud for the bedroom but not really enough for a pop band rehearsal amp without a mike.

What's the next amp up? A Deluxe?

How about a '75 Bassman head for $500?


Thank you!

[JoeM]

Really the next amp up, might be the Princeton Reverb. There's more gain available. If you dont use the trem, there's a schematic for using that stage to get the Princeton like a PR, but with no reverb or trem.

I think I've seen one with a switch to a higher value 'mid' resistor in the tone stack to make up some signal loss through the tone stack.