Great video Zac! It’s so refreshing to see a video by a normal guy who is not pretentious and is serious about his music and videos! I learned a few things about Fender amps today. Thanks again
I just got a 54 5D2 and I can’t believe how little volume comes out of it vs the champs that came out a few years later. It’s definitely a different sound- almost like you are playing through a 1950s automobile radio speaker. Great for recording or mic’ing in a small live environment, but what I love the most is that it’s no louder than a television, so I can play near the kids and they don’t freak out.
That's the sound right there :) I scored a wide panel deluxe (53/octal tube) at the GC in Berry Hill last December. I LOVE IT!!! Not quite as cutting as the 5e3 but it's fat and warm and if I want some more bite out of it, one of my dozen overdrives will do the trick...
great video! my main amp has been a 54 Princeton for many years now. they're wonderfully underrated and they take pedals shockingly well especially with a new speaker.
Another Tweed Princeton/Champ related amp is the Gibson GA-8 Gibsonette. Same Schematic as the Tweed Princeton, BUT it runs two 6v6s in parallel (single ended as if they were one tube), so 8 watts into a 10” speaker. These are incredible amps! Great cleans and plexi-like distortion. I borrowed an idea from Marshall and put the first signal cap on a switch, so I could substitute a smaller signal cap and really get into plexi territory. I also put in a 10” Greenback. Thank you Western Electric!
Thanks for the video, Zac! So interesting that the on/off is the tone knob. I've seen the exact same thing, believe it or not, on 60s-70s school record players. They're built like tanks and have a built-in speaker and look like suitcases when they're closed up. The old tube ones actually make good little practice guitar amps if you do a little soldering and change out the old external microphone jack for a 1/4 inch jack.
Cool video! Reminds me I need to assemble the 5F2A kit from Weber I got a couple years ago. 1 volume, 1 tone, 10 inch speaker. I went with a green covered cabinet.
Zac, another great amp review. I find this more interesting because I have the same amp and love it. I also have a 53 Deluxe, all original, that is a real gem. If you would like to try the Deluxe, I am over in Knoxville and can bring it over.
Great video, as always. Love the sound of that old Princeton! I have a 57 Champ that I acquired around ten years ago from the original owners son. I'm pretty sure it has the original leather handle on it, as it sat in a closet unused for over three decades before I bought it. It sounds great, but I need to get the 2 prong plug swithed over to 3 prong, so I dont play it much. ✌️🎸
I think I need that book Zac! I've never heard of the "Harvard". I was born in 1952, and bought my first Fender amp in 1969, a Silver Face Twin w/2- JBL's. A rather long, and funny story in itself!. Hope they reissue that book!! Thanks!! Peace --gary
@gtr1952 Silver Face Twin w/2 JBL's is LOUD and HEAVY! I was a bass player in the early 1970s. Had to have a Standel w/2-15 Altecs and later an Acoustic 371 just to keep up. Not sure if I lost more hearing working with guitar players with your rig or Marshall stacks. Would like to hear more of the story of yours.
No wonder this all seems familiar, I've got the fender amp book. Went through it a dozen time when I first got it. Think I'll go through it again! KeepSmiling!
I own a Headstrong lil King S and really think it's great! Wonderful tone, reverb and vibrato with a twelve inch speaker. I really appreciate and respect your information and enjoy the stories. Thank you!
I got my '59 wide panel Princeton in either late '76 or '77. It has NEVER disappointed me. Truthfully, the guts eventually ended up identical to a Champ, but the larger speaker (8", rather than the Champ's 6"), and the larger cabinet to accommodate that speaker, gave the resulting sound more heft than a Champ. In my own case, I replaced the 8" Jensen with an 8" JBL 2110, that has a wider frequency response at both ends, and is also more efficient. The earliest models lacked the speaker-side feedback resistor that kept unwanted treble in check. But by the 5E2 model, they included that negative feedback from the speaker side of the transformer. I've experimented with lifting one end of that resistor, and the result is ice-pick-in-the-forehead highs. Like NIgel Tufnel's wildest dreams, the controls go "up to 12". I find everything up to around 6 or 7 is volume, and everything after that is variations of grind. The tone control is identical to what is found on the Harvard and Deluxe of that era. It does two things. Rotated fully clockwise, it provides the same treble bypass on the volume pot that you'd see with a "bright" switch in later years. Rotated counter-clockwise, it cuts treble. But I mention this because, just like bright switches and bypass caps on guitar volume pots, the treble boost disappears as volume is turned up. Of course that's a blessing as one hits saturation at "9" and higher, because harmonics of harmonics are generally not anyone's cup of tea. The automatic attenuation of treble hitting the second 12AX7 stage is part of what makes the overdrive sweeter.
Great history of all things Princeton. Sometime in early 2000's I saw Joan Osborne's opening set at sellout concert (not sure who was headliner) at a large indoor arena -- around 12,000 capacity. She had no problem filling up the venue with her little blackface Princeton Reverb!
I built a 5f2a clone, and I wasn't in love with the sound and tone control... So I added the power supply choke from the previous version back, took out the negative feedback loop, removed the tone control completely, and wired the 6V6 as a triode. The amp absolutely came to life. Gorgeous cleans on the new Jensen P10R, and warm harmonically rich breakup. If I need tone shaping, I use an EQ pedal or the tone control on the guitar. Tone controls on power amps kill tone, IMO. Neil Young bypassed them on his tweed Deluxe.
Nice thanks Zac. I have a '53 with the octal preamp tube and EX+ condition tweed. Wide open with a Tele bridge pickup is pure Glimmer Twins tone. Ironically, I found it at Guitar Center around '98 and I think I (felt like I over) paid $1,200 for it at the time. But like Warren Buffet, buy quality, buy and hold is the key. It's worth a little more now, but mostly it sounds great for what it does.
I wonder if a solid state Acoustisonic amp could be mod'ed with an output tube? The onboard fx and clean crunch are worth keeping. Sadly, the one I used forever experienced a slow circuit death and is now just a husk.
Actually the first champ of 1948 was the champion 800 with the greenish covering. It was only produced a short time and very rare only around 100 built. The following year 1949 started the 2 tone champion which ran into 52.then in 53 the wide panel tweed was produced and to find a clean one of those for whatever reason isnt easy to do.
From my old time club experience, (I'm 81") I would assume the corroded top might be attributed to "vibrated vodka gimlets". At least that was the midwestern trend in the mid 60's.
I have a TV panel Princeton and it sounds great through an external 12” Alnico Cream and amazing through the 4x10 Alnicos in my super reverb! Do you think it’s necessary to use a brown box or variac with these older amps?
I can never afford any tweed fenders that come up. I did find a 57 Magnatone 113 troubadour. Doesn't have the killer vibrato going on but in general, a great sounding amp. I love the single tone control pretty much impossible to make it sound bad.
I just bought a new Fender American Performer Hum. A few months ago I bought a La Brea neck pickup. What are your thoughts on a humbucker in a tele. Would you replace the humbucker with the La Brea? I have a new wiring harness if I do change them out. Thanks
@@AskZac Ok, thank you Zac. I've been through so many neck pickups trying to find the right sound: humbuckers, P90s, firebird, etc. I'll land on it eventually.
Are you almost ready to do a black panel Bassman head episode. I’m wondering if all those folks in Nashville play them stock, or if there are common mods people do. I sure see a lot of them. I even own one
A fender sleeper amp is a made in the USA Bera California 1990 1991 is the Fender Pro jr with the big blue alnico speaker its a awesome amp do you guys know about this amp all i know is the speaker is the same as a super reverb amp only done like that as the first year then went to Mexicobad ass little amp that can take it even on 12
Great video Zac! It’s so refreshing to see a video by a normal guy who is not pretentious and is serious about his music and videos! I learned a few things about Fender amps today. Thanks again
I absolutely love this channel. Could listen to this talk for hours. Thank you
I just got a 54 5D2 and I can’t believe how little volume comes out of it vs the champs that came out a few years later. It’s definitely a different sound- almost like you are playing through a 1950s automobile radio speaker. Great for recording or mic’ing in a small live environment, but what I love the most is that it’s no louder than a television, so I can play near the kids and they don’t freak out.
Your amp videos are always so enlightening. I've enjoyed watching them. You are just a wealth of knowlege.
I appreciate that!
That's the sound right there :) I scored a wide panel deluxe (53/octal tube) at the GC in Berry Hill last December. I LOVE IT!!! Not quite as cutting as the 5e3 but it's fat and warm and if I want some more bite out of it, one of my dozen overdrives will do the trick...
Thanks a lot for sharing this Zac. Even though I'll never get to own the sort of stuff you feature I still love your videos.
Great video filled with some great Fender history. Always cool to learn something you didn’t know.
Appreciate your time.
Thanks
great video! my main amp has been a 54 Princeton for many years now. they're wonderfully underrated and they take pedals shockingly well especially with a new speaker.
Another Tweed Princeton/Champ related amp is the Gibson GA-8 Gibsonette. Same Schematic as the Tweed Princeton, BUT it runs two 6v6s in parallel (single ended as if they were one tube), so 8 watts into a 10” speaker. These are incredible amps! Great cleans and plexi-like distortion. I borrowed an idea from Marshall and put the first signal cap on a switch, so I could substitute a smaller signal cap and really get into plexi territory. I also put in a 10” Greenback.
Thank you Western Electric!
Thanks, Zac! That’s my favorite amp. It’s the deal!
Great video Zac! Lots of great info! And loved hearing the amp!
Thanks for the video, Zac! So interesting that the on/off is the tone knob. I've seen the exact same thing, believe it or not, on 60s-70s school record players. They're built like tanks and have a built-in speaker and look like suitcases when they're closed up. The old tube ones actually make good little practice guitar amps if you do a little soldering and change out the old external microphone jack for a 1/4 inch jack.
Cool video! Reminds me I need to assemble the 5F2A kit from Weber I got a couple years ago. 1 volume, 1 tone, 10 inch speaker. I went with a green covered cabinet.
Thank you !!!
Nice video. Deeply deep dive
Great video. Thanks
Another fun one! Thanks Zac.
Great video! I love the tweed Princeton 5f2 (with choke) and 5f2a circuits through a good 1x12" like a celestion blue. Great tone control /circuit. 🎉
Love it. Not sure why it's described as "reedy" sounding, but it fits the description.
Zac, another great amp review. I find this more interesting because I have the same amp and love it. I also have a 53 Deluxe, all original, that is a real gem. If you would like to try the Deluxe, I am over in Knoxville and can bring it over.
That amp sounds great. The first thing that came to mind was ‘70s Eric Clapton tone. Nice!
cool info - as per the norm - thanks for your excellent channel
Great video, as always. Love the sound of that old Princeton! I have a 57 Champ that I acquired around ten years ago from the original owners son. I'm pretty sure it has the original leather handle on it, as it sat in a closet unused for over three decades before I bought it. It sounds great, but I need to get the 2 prong plug swithed over to 3 prong, so I dont play it much. ✌️🎸
Keep it 2 prong just mark the neutral side of the plug with blue tape, that amp is a survivor
I think I need that book Zac! I've never heard of the "Harvard". I was born in 1952, and bought my first Fender amp in 1969, a Silver Face Twin w/2- JBL's. A rather long, and funny story in itself!. Hope they reissue that book!! Thanks!! Peace --gary
@gtr1952 Silver Face Twin w/2 JBL's is LOUD and HEAVY! I was a bass player in the early 1970s. Had to have a Standel w/2-15 Altecs and later an Acoustic 371 just to keep up. Not sure if I lost more hearing working with guitar players with your rig or Marshall stacks. Would like to hear more of the story of yours.
No wonder this all seems familiar, I've got the fender amp book. Went through it a dozen time when I first got it. Think I'll go through it again! KeepSmiling!
I own a Headstrong lil King S and really think it's great! Wonderful tone, reverb and vibrato with a twelve inch speaker. I really appreciate and respect your information and enjoy the stories. Thank you!
I got my '59 wide panel Princeton in either late '76 or '77. It has NEVER disappointed me. Truthfully, the guts eventually ended up identical to a Champ, but the larger speaker (8", rather than the Champ's 6"), and the larger cabinet to accommodate that speaker, gave the resulting sound more heft than a Champ. In my own case, I replaced the 8" Jensen with an 8" JBL 2110, that has a wider frequency response at both ends, and is also more efficient.
The earliest models lacked the speaker-side feedback resistor that kept unwanted treble in check. But by the 5E2 model, they included that negative feedback from the speaker side of the transformer. I've experimented with lifting one end of that resistor, and the result is ice-pick-in-the-forehead highs. Like NIgel Tufnel's wildest dreams, the controls go "up to 12". I find everything up to around 6 or 7 is volume, and everything after that is variations of grind. The tone control is identical to what is found on the Harvard and Deluxe of that era. It does two things. Rotated fully clockwise, it provides the same treble bypass on the volume pot that you'd see with a "bright" switch in later years. Rotated counter-clockwise, it cuts treble. But I mention this because, just like bright switches and bypass caps on guitar volume pots, the treble boost disappears as volume is turned up. Of course that's a blessing as one hits saturation at "9" and higher, because harmonics of harmonics are generally not anyone's cup of tea. The automatic attenuation of treble hitting the second 12AX7 stage is part of what makes the overdrive sweeter.
Great history of all things Princeton. Sometime in early 2000's I saw Joan Osborne's opening set at sellout concert (not sure who was headliner) at a large indoor arena -- around 12,000 capacity. She had no problem filling up the venue with her little blackface Princeton Reverb!
I bet it was a great show
You're the man !
Get an attenuator for the Champ or Princeton. It goes in line with the speaker cable. Then you’ve got something.
Great recording amp!
Mahalo Zac!
Ha that’s my favorite amp at home.
Great explanation - but I’m just curious why banjos and mandos use a different tuning interval?
I built a 5f2a clone, and I wasn't in love with the sound and tone control... So I added the power supply choke from the previous version back, took out the negative feedback loop, removed the tone control completely, and wired the 6V6 as a triode. The amp absolutely came to life. Gorgeous cleans on the new Jensen P10R, and warm harmonically rich breakup.
If I need tone shaping, I use an EQ pedal or the tone control on the guitar. Tone controls on power amps kill tone, IMO. Neil Young bypassed them on his tweed Deluxe.
Nice thanks Zac. I have a '53 with the octal preamp tube and EX+ condition tweed. Wide open with a Tele bridge pickup is pure Glimmer Twins tone. Ironically, I found it at Guitar Center around '98 and I think I (felt like I over) paid $1,200 for it at the time. But like Warren Buffet, buy quality, buy and hold is the key. It's worth a little more now, but mostly it sounds great for what it does.
That's not corrosion Zac! That's patina darn it.
Love your videos!
Thank you!
very cool vid
I wonder if a solid state Acoustisonic amp could be mod'ed with an output tube? The onboard fx and clean crunch are worth keeping. Sadly, the one I used forever experienced a slow circuit death and is now just a husk.
Actually the first champ of 1948 was the champion 800 with the greenish covering. It was only produced a short time and very rare only around 100 built. The following year 1949 started the 2 tone champion which ran into 52.then in 53 the wide panel tweed was produced and to find a clean one of those for whatever reason isnt easy to do.
From my old time club experience, (I'm 81") I would assume the corroded top might be attributed to "vibrated vodka gimlets". At least that was the midwestern trend in the mid 60's.
I have a TV panel Princeton and it sounds great through an external 12” Alnico Cream and amazing through the 4x10 Alnicos in my super reverb! Do you think it’s necessary to use a brown box or variac with these older amps?
I did.
I can never afford any tweed fenders that come up. I did find a 57 Magnatone 113 troubadour. Doesn't have the killer vibrato going on but in general, a great sounding amp. I love the single tone control pretty much impossible to make it sound bad.
I just bought a new Fender American Performer Hum. A few months ago I bought a La Brea neck pickup. What are your thoughts on a humbucker in a tele. Would you replace the humbucker with the La Brea? I have a new wiring harness if I do change them out. Thanks
Does it sound good to you?
i have a question zac: when did they stop using the actual blood of oxes...for the front screen?
Never stopped
We would love to make ya a custom cover for that beautiful tweed amp!
I only borrowed the amp. I could use a cover for a Princeton Reverb
Just kidding here, if I get a haircut will it make me sound better?
Cool video thanks👍. Always loved Fender amps.
I’m so glad that’s not a new model amp, I was afraid I might need to buy one 😂
"...and then I go to the neck pickup on the Esquire..."
this is pure madness
Exactly!!!!!
Awesome
THANKS!
What neck pickup do you have in that Tele? It's still kinda spanky sounding for a neck.
It's an original 54 that was rewound by Ron Ellis. The tone is bypassed in the neck position. That helps!
@@AskZac Ok, thank you Zac. I've been through so many neck pickups trying to find the right sound: humbuckers, P90s, firebird, etc. I'll land on it eventually.
God bless America🇺🇸
Ooooo fun
Are you almost ready to do a black panel Bassman head episode. I’m wondering if all those folks in Nashville play them stock, or if there are common mods people do. I sure see a lot of them. I even own one
I have a 53 it's pretty cool find a glass Sn7 not metal. Those Tweeds have a strip of asbestos that needs to be removed or encapsulated.
Everything old is new again....
Keep on pickin' Cowkidz
A fender sleeper amp is a made in the USA Bera California 1990 1991 is the Fender Pro jr with the big blue alnico speaker its a awesome amp do you guys know about this amp all i know is the speaker is the same as a super reverb amp only done like that as the first year then went to Mexicobad ass little amp that can take it even on 12
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Rusty Glides. Thats a pornstar dude name! Lol cool vid! 👍
Der klingt scheisse