Fender Princeton Chorus

Fender old 2x10(Fender Special Design Speakers ... Eminence ???) 51 watt amp Made in USA ... not big ... not heavy ... but loud as hell!!!

Perfect choice for someone who want get nice cleans and raw overdrive . First CLEANS very bright sparkle but tight too .. ideal for some Texas Blues and blues rock/good old R&R OVERDRIVE little more unusual as the others GAIN , LIMITER , PRESENCE , VOLUME and extra MID BOOST buton ... for some begginers its really hard to get nice overdrive and get perfect combination but if You spend some time to find a ,,sweet spot,, it`ll be really satisfied especially for like I wrote for Blues/Rock music ... You wouldn`t find in here any BLACK DEATH METAL sounds ... its classic Fender sound pure vintage almost Tube !!!

Overall its great solid state amp with really nice tube sound .... sparkly cleans and screamin overdrive ... good for rehearsal and for stage eighter !!! ... TUBE or not TUBE !!!!!

The Princeton Chorus series are, (since the 80's), solid-state amps with ample power and very well rounded speakers.
You are given the standard two input option common on many Fender Amps. Also you have both a mono and stereo FX loop, foot switch jack and a headphone output.
The model that I own, (approx. '90), delivers 125 solid state watts of power and is plenty enough to compete with much more powerful and larger amps.
On your clean channel you have volume, bass, mid, treble, and reverb controls.
On the distorted channel you have gain, limiter, presence, and volume controls as well as a mid boost switch.
Then you have the chorus settings which includes a rate and a depth control.
One odd thing about the way this amp works is that the clean channel EQ section and the reverb control remain in use when you switch over to the distortion channel. This makes both the mid boost switch and the presence control in the distortion section very important if you intend to use the onboard distortion channel. I would personally suggest staying on the clean channel all the time and using an external distortion pedal or multi-effects board.
The chorus is pretty good overall being a very limited and cheap factory installed ho-hum chorus. The reverb is your typical spring reverb and it...well...it's reverb.


UTILIZATION

The Princeton Chorus's 2 10in. speakers provide quite an unexpected amount of very well defined low-end. When I first got mine I was very impressed with how well it sounded live and how well it recorded, especially with palm-mute, chunky, distorted guitar sounds. It also has a great clean tone.
Of course, your choice in instrument will always have a rediculous effect on the overall sound of your amp. I've used a Fender Telecaster, PRS soapbarII, Epiphone Les Paul, Harmony Stratotone, and various other accoustics and electric guitars with the Princeton Chorus and have always been able to get a good sound from it.
Surpisingly, on a few very low-key quiet gigs I've even plugged my guitar and a microphone into my princeton and gotten away with a decent sound with no PA! I don't really recommend this by any means I just thought that it is an interesting thing to point out, food for thought as it were.
Having purchased mine used, I never had a manual but I really can't see how the manual for this amp would be either incomplete or lacking.

SOUNDS

As I stated above, I've used many, many different guitars with this amp, ranging from really vintage sounding ones to very modern sounding ones. I've never been dissapointed.
The Princeton Chorus really shines in the lower mid-range. It also has a very sufficient low-end growl and punch but, the highs aren't what i would call "brilliant". Overall, it seems that the frequency response kind of drops off above 6kHz. This is nothing that can't be remedied by a good multi-effects processor/pre-amp though.
If you are fond of a very milky, very mid-rangy type of tone, then with the right guitar this amp will certainly fit the bill.

OVERALL OPINION

Don't buy this amp new or used for the chorus effect. Buy this amp because the factory 10in. speakers are of very good quality, and the 125watt solid state amp holds it's own very well and is also of good quality. I've had mine for many years now, driven it until it screamed for mercy, put it through the torture of "the road", and all I've ever needed to do was clean the dust off and clean and lubricate the pots every now and then. It's been a reliable workhorse for me for a long time.
The Princeton Chorus has a somewhat muted, low-end heavy, robust mid-range tone that makes me tend towards classifying it as having a somewhat vintage sound. Yet, don't be fooled, with the right multi-effects processor or whatever you prefer, you can coax some very sharp, tight, modern sounds from it.

I'd wanted this amp for a long time because I'm a sucker for that clean fender tone. I bought it used at Music-go-round in Minneapolis for only $250. The condition was perfect.

It has a great clean tone, plus the chorus for super sweet rhythm playing. It is powerful enough for recording and practice (which is all I use it for) and sounds great with my Fender Jaguar. The controls are clear and easy to use. The chorus works on both channels and has a very nice quality to it. For a solid state it has a nice warm sound.

I hate moving it up and down stairs. But mainly, the distortion channel is useless for more than weak fuzz. I'm looking into adding a nice modeling Amp to my collection but I don't want to get rid of the Princeton for that genuine fender tone.

It's built well, but I wish it was easier to move around. The knobs are solid and don't jiggle. I never buy an amp with loose knobs (like a crate). Of course it's got the classic fender look, which is nice as well.

Bottom line: If you play jazz or just want a great clean sound for rhythm/experimental sounds this is a great investment. No death metal here kids. Sorry.

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