All user reviews of 5/5 for the Fender Princeton 65

i generally bought my gear for personal use.

Started with a strat knock off and a Peavy amp .Both nasty but get what you pay for .

upgrading

I like many types of musics rock ,pop etc
I ended up walking into the RockIn Guitars Mt Lawley Perth West Australia

picked up something a little different from a marshal ,ended up with the Princeton 65 .Amp was pretty steep around $1000 AUS.After testing it it sounded so good i didnt bother looking at the Marshals .
Anyhow this thing is a great amp.there is no way i have ever gone beyond volume 3 it is so loud and clean though .This thing packs a hell of a punch .I play at home usually on level 1.5 or 2-2.5 if there's a thunderstorm or something loud enough to mask the noise or the neighbours will have me for it which is way loud enough .It's incredibly loud and controlled and capable of anything you throw at it pity it didnt go to 11 though (spinal tap joke)
The treble,mid and bass are nice and clean enough for me .Reverb is really nice For something that is 19 years old now and never complained once i think i got a good quality amp .
The control knobs are capable of being broken which i have done on one of them.But the controllers have never broken .
The one thing i wish it had was a headphone jack ,so you can practice in peace .
Distortion is great ,but not absolutely perfect ,cant complain though it still sounds great .My jack plugs need a clean which i have to get to one day ,it gets dusty down my way and they can be a bit noisy with a slight move of the new chord .
When people say these amps are loud ,they actually mean they will permanently screw your hearing up if you over use the volume too often ,its that kind of loud they are talking about.but its a clean loud low distortion which allows you to become reckless at times.I have never had it over 5 by the way and that was just to see what it was like ,it was just over the top ,my dog shit himself i didnt see him for the next half hour .I wouldnt do that again .I am very happy with it though .if i got another amp it would be great to just have something with a different character ,different tones for a bit of fun if i felt like spending the money.I have a gibson epiphone and it sounds great through this,also the ibanez RG470 oddly sounds good as well as i would have expected it to be more suited to a marshal my take only..I dont need to upgrade anymore for what i do though.Its a great amp..

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.

2-channel amplifier. Reverb.
Equalizer two bands.

USE

The qualizeur two bands is very efficient. It's not like a Marshall: here the knobs are very sensitive and are obtained difffrents sounds radically following the path of the knobs. So you must be very late in rglages and attention to treble.
This amp is very easy to use.
Its 65 watts are not galvauds. It can be muted in repeats and very well for club gigs and small venues. At home, the knob will be maintained between 0 and 1 to stay friends with her neighbors and avoid a stay in the police station !!

SONORITS

I play with a Fender Lead II and an Epiphone Flying V
The clean sounds are really very good, and we are in the transistor !! Of course, do not compare with a Fender Reverb Twi ... but for the price, we obtain directly the sound unmistakable Fender 1000.
For the saturated channel I can not say much because I prefer to use a good effect pedal (Boss BD-2) that supports my amp perfectly.
I'll just say that does not seem to me at all ashamed, as the saturated ... if you like the White Stripes, he does it very well !! However, it is quite difficult to get a crunchy sound or bluesy ... but for an indie-rock is very good.
The rverb is okay.

NOTICE GLOBAL

An incredible price-quality ratio, especially at the price o used is found.
Ideal for rehearsals, it is also very powerful for concerts. I played the Java (room 450) and the portard has not surpassed 2 !! Everyone told me that I had a good sound. So it makes perfect illusion. Strongly advisable accompanied good effect pedals.

Solid State - 65 Watt

UTILIZATION

Took about 30 minutes to get the tone I wanted.

SOUNDS

Awesome Fender clean channel, Overdrive decent, but I'm probably gonna run a Big Muff through it.

OVERALL OPINION

I couldn't be happier for the price I paid ($100 USD). Got it used from some guy on craigslist. The clean channel on this amp has some of the best tone I've heard come out of a solid state amp. The overdrive leaves a little to be desired, but can be fixed with a pedal of your choosing. The spring reverb has that classic Fender sound. Don't be fooled by the size' this little thing is LOUD. I live in an apartment and had the volume between 1 & 2 and thought I was gonna get a noise complaint. It took me about 30 minutes to set it up for the tones I wanted. Great amp for the money!

I was looking for a half way decent amp that I could use to play local gigs with at a restraunt in town. I previously owned a Fender Amp Can, which was certainly a great amp, but there's no way this thing was going to compete with everyone else's amps, so I saved up and bought a Princeton 65. I did a lot of research myself buying this amp, making sure that it was the right one. I purchased it for 279.99 instead of the full price which was 400.00.

I did a lot of research myself buying this amp, making sure that it was the right one. I have heard a lot of complaints that the volume knobs on this thing are way to delicate, and if you're not careful they will break. Guess what? That's a bunch of hocus pocus...I spent a lot of time playing on a few of the same exact model, and I found one of them that had delicate volume knobs. Every other model of this amp that I played through didn't have this problem. Another complaint is that a few people didn't like the overdrive-they said that it wasn't heavy enough of a sound when attempting to play hard rock, metal, or punk. I play in a band. All the band members ever want to play is punk and metal. This little thing wales!! I prefer to play classic rock, surf music, whatever. This amp can handle it all! It puts my fellow band member's 100 watt Fender Amp to shame!


The reverb buzzes a little, but I've never found and amp that doesn't! As far as hum goes (fairly standard), it's pretty quiet. The only problem I could say about this amp is if you're going to practice (trying to keep it quiet), don't get your hopes up! The volume knobs are really sensitive-you try to put it on #2 (out of 10) and it'll blast you away. It takes a lot of messing around with the knob to get it at a quiet level.

It is built wonderfully! It even sound's great in the studio! No bad comments here!!

I would recommend this amp to all players who don't just want to practice!

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com