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Fender Princeton 65
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Fender Princeton 65
karlthec karlthec

« A Little Classic »

Published on 10/23/16 at 14:49
Value For Money : Excellent
Audience: Anyone
I play in a power pop covers band in the UK (The Fadeouts) I got this amp as a backup to my incredibly heavy Mesa Boogie Single Rectoverb 60, we play 10CC/Pilot/Be Bop Deluxe and much more besides (Lovin' Spoonful/Blur/Squeeze/Gigilo Aunts/Kinks)

I have used this amp live and I can honestly say it has exceeded my expectations, the guitars I use with it, untreated other than echo are a Gibson Les Paul Studio and a Fender USA Strat, the clean channel is everything you would expect from a Fender, clear and warm, the revelation to me was this is the only Fender Amp I have played that has a great overdrive channel, it really took me by surprise, while my Mesa has a beautiful sound, the Princeton has a lot of middle that makes it cut through the mix, it's bass is very good too.

I also play a Rickenbacker 660/12 with a compressor and 7 band graphic through the clean channel, it took the guitar to another dimension that the Mesa could only dream of.

I have seen a lot of people complaining about a Telecaster suffering from too much treble after volume 5 with this amp, I am not sure what the state of these peoples hearing is but I have never needed to play over volume 3 on this amp, maybe they were playing the Hollywood Bowl !!!! any fool knows a Tele is treble heavy so turn down the treble on the amp.

There are issues with the tone/volume pots being directly connected to the PCB, if the amp has been mistreated they will be loose, no need to worry about this too much, they can either be reconnected or an expert can hard wire a pot for you, but make sure you get it at a reduced price to compensate for this work.

The pros are it is a brilliant amp that is light in weight and easy to set up tonally,plus once you have set up both channels you do not have to make many changes when playing live.

The cons are while it is a durable amp and works even if you don't fix the pot problems mentioned, you do have to treat it with respect and take care of it.

I can only say with the guitars I have used with it I didn't believe I was playing through a solid state amp, it is not like the more modern day budget Fender amps which are generally all power and no finesse, this one really does have a classy, distinctive and powerful sound, I love it and my Mesa has become my backup.........this little amp is that good.