I recently picked up a Valco made Airline 62-9020a (thunderbolt) for a very reasonable price, and it has me questioning a lot of my previous, more expensive purchases. It's SO good!
The Princeton reissues that Fender makes now days are very good as well. They're not hand wired (unless you spend the $3k on the 64 custom) but they're still phenomenal gig worthy & great recording amps.
The amps are different circuits with different speakers and cabinets of different sizes, so they won't sound the same. I think the Princeton Reverb has a better clean tone, and the Silvertone sounds better overdriven. If I were to keep one, it would be the Princeton Reverb for its superior clean and superior investment value.
At least $1500 of it is because its a hand wired version. For me that isi all about being more durable and repairable and prestige. I have several amps and owned dozens in the past. The cheapest tube amp I ever bought sounds pretty good. $225 for the Monoprice 15. Ive changed a few things on it for my taste. It does not take $$$$ to get "good tones". Both a Rolex and Timex keep time very well. Both amps in your comparison have their own tone...It just depends on the sound you want at a given time or for certain tunes.
I've learned from Glenn Fricker (Spectre Studios) that speakers make a whole, whole lotta difference in the sound. He goes as far as to say (mostly not joking) that the speakers ARE the sound. He'd probably suggest you do this test running the amps' outputs to a third speaker cabinet., ie not using their own speakers. That way you're really testing the difference in the amplifiers only. I realize that's not likely to be practical and I'm not knocking your test. And anyway, to most amateurs the box with the jack, switch and the speakers IS the amp ;) Hey, thanks for this video. It really was interesting hearing the difference between those 2 boxes.
Glenn is a bit of a fraud. You know in those pickup comparisons he was leveling the audio? This really matters because when you raise volume you also raise the noise floor. Who knows what else he was doing as I did A/B with different pickups for myself and from active EMG pickups to low output Duncan's they sounded very different.
Emma, I have some tips for you. First of all, don't buy a vintage Fender amp in tip top condition. It will be really expensive. Look for a vintage amp that has ideally never been serviced. Why? Because that means you are buying an amp that a tech hasn't messed with. And the seller will know that the amp needs work and will have to sell it cheap. Most sellers are not willing to invest in the cost of a tube amp repair. Second, do some research about the Silverface and Blackface era Fender amps. There are lots of great web sites with plenty of free info. You will find out that there are very small circuit differences which make very little sonic differences among the Fender amps of the late 1960's and early 1970's. Third, buy a head a separate cab; don't buy a combo. The combo amps like the Princeton Reverb and the Deluxe Reverb are really expensive. A vintage head (even a Bassman, which was the basic design of the first Marshall amp) can often be less expensive than a combo. Here is an example. I just took my 1968 Silverface Fender Bandmaster head in for service today. It needs some work to fix scratchy pots and probably power tube failure caused distortion. Plus it needs to be re-capped with new electrolytic capacitors. Like I said, it may need new power tubes, too. Even so, including parts, it won't cost me more than $450 to have a really excellent amp tech repair it to like new sonic condition. I got really lucky because I paid $225 for it. It also happens to have been built with Pre-CBS parts and the Blackface AB-763 preamp design that was used in the 1967 Bandmaster. Which is very, very close to the sound of the Blackface Princeton Reverb you have there. And I'll have it for $700 or less. Bandmaster heads from the Blackface era in excellent condition usually sell for at least $1,000. But that's still one third of the price of the Princeton you bought. And if you are willing to buy a 1968 or newer Bandmaster, the price should be quite reasonable. Turning a Silverface into a Blackface is a simple, inexpensive mod. The hardest part is carrying the head to the shop. They do weigh a lot.
FYI guys these are just re-uploads from my main channel, I won't be checking or replying to comments unless you're a cool one or something
I recently picked up a Valco made Airline 62-9020a (thunderbolt) for a very reasonable price, and it has me questioning a lot of my previous, more expensive purchases. It's SO good!
Silvertone overdrive for me! cool amp
The Princeton reissues that Fender makes now days are very good as well. They're not hand wired (unless you spend the $3k on the 64 custom) but they're still phenomenal gig worthy & great recording amps.
The amps are different circuits with different speakers and cabinets of different sizes, so they won't sound the same. I think the Princeton Reverb has a better clean tone, and the Silvertone sounds better overdriven. If I were to keep one, it would be the Princeton Reverb for its superior clean and superior investment value.
At least $1500 of it is because its a hand wired version. For me that isi all about being more durable and repairable and prestige. I have several amps and owned dozens in the past. The cheapest tube amp I ever bought sounds pretty good. $225 for the Monoprice 15. Ive changed a few things on it for my taste. It does not take $$$$ to get "good tones". Both a Rolex and Timex keep time very well. Both amps in your comparison have their own tone...It just depends on the sound you want at a given time or for certain tunes.
I've learned from Glenn Fricker (Spectre Studios) that speakers make a whole, whole lotta difference in the sound. He goes as far as to say (mostly not joking) that the speakers ARE the sound.
He'd probably suggest you do this test running the amps' outputs to a third speaker cabinet., ie not using their own speakers. That way you're really testing the difference in the amplifiers only. I realize that's not likely to be practical and I'm not knocking your test. And anyway, to most amateurs the box with the jack, switch and the speakers IS the amp ;)
Hey, thanks for this video. It really was interesting hearing the difference between those 2 boxes.
Glenn is a bit of a fraud. You know in those pickup comparisons he was leveling the audio? This really matters because when you raise volume you also raise the noise floor. Who knows what else he was doing as I did A/B with different pickups for myself and from active EMG pickups to low output Duncan's they sounded very different.
@ Glenn is not a fraud. He know's a lot lot more than you. If you can disprove him upload a video of your results.
@brandonthompson8413 He is indeed a fraud and I have a lot more experience than him.
Both are terribly recorded :/
Emma, I have some tips for you.
First of all, don't buy a vintage Fender amp in tip top condition. It will be really expensive. Look for a vintage amp that has ideally never been serviced. Why? Because that means you are buying an amp that a tech hasn't messed with. And the seller will know that the amp needs work and will have to sell it cheap. Most sellers are not willing to invest in the cost of a tube amp repair.
Second, do some research about the Silverface and Blackface era Fender amps. There are lots of great web sites with plenty of free info. You will find out that there are very small circuit differences which make very little sonic differences among the Fender amps of the late 1960's and early 1970's.
Third, buy a head a separate cab; don't buy a combo. The combo amps like the Princeton Reverb and the Deluxe Reverb are really expensive. A vintage head (even a Bassman, which was the basic design of the first Marshall amp) can often be less expensive than a combo.
Here is an example. I just took my 1968 Silverface Fender Bandmaster head in for service today. It needs some work to fix scratchy pots and probably power tube failure caused distortion. Plus it needs to be re-capped with new electrolytic capacitors. Like I said, it may need new power tubes, too. Even so, including parts, it won't cost me more than $450 to have a really excellent amp tech repair it to like new sonic condition.
I got really lucky because I paid $225 for it. It also happens to have been built with Pre-CBS parts and the Blackface AB-763 preamp design that was used in the 1967 Bandmaster. Which is very, very close to the sound of the Blackface Princeton Reverb you have there. And I'll have it for $700 or less.
Bandmaster heads from the Blackface era in excellent condition usually sell for at least $1,000. But that's still one third of the price of the Princeton you bought.
And if you are willing to buy a 1968 or newer Bandmaster, the price should be quite reasonable. Turning a Silverface into a Blackface is a simple, inexpensive mod. The hardest part is carrying the head to the shop. They do weigh a lot.