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My rusty, trusty 1999 Fender Princeton 65 (the solid state PR-410 model) finally went the way of all things back a few months ago, pre-COVID.
It sounded "Fender-y" enough -- clean as soap, good overdrive, good with pedals -- but it was all surface-mount pots, with plastic quarter-inch jacks. Trouble from the get-go; the clean channel bit it during a bar gig. Hasn't made a sound since. (I had to finish the night with a direct box through the PA. Ugh.)
I babied it as best as I could, but 21 years of gigs and practices will take down all but the most durable designs. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did.
What to do? I needed an amp that wouldn't kill my wallet, go the distance, and still sound good enough to record and gig with.
Not enough in the budget for a tube amp, and having been the father of a few already, finding matched sets of pre's and power amp tubes are a royal pain.
(Don't get me started on speakers... yeesh!)
Having stepped on my Boss ME-50 for years now (many thanks to Gearjoneser for that hookup!), with nothing worse to show than needing a solder repair for the wall wart, I figured I'd give this one a go.
I watched the videos, read the reviews, and listened to the shootouts.
Finally pulled the trigger just before my birthday... not in time to unwrap it on the actual day, but it just showed up at my door a few minutes ago.
I'll jam with it a bit, and give you my impressions.
It sounded "Fender-y" enough -- clean as soap, good overdrive, good with pedals -- but it was all surface-mount pots, with plastic quarter-inch jacks. Trouble from the get-go; the clean channel bit it during a bar gig. Hasn't made a sound since. (I had to finish the night with a direct box through the PA. Ugh.)
I babied it as best as I could, but 21 years of gigs and practices will take down all but the most durable designs. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did.
What to do? I needed an amp that wouldn't kill my wallet, go the distance, and still sound good enough to record and gig with.
Not enough in the budget for a tube amp, and having been the father of a few already, finding matched sets of pre's and power amp tubes are a royal pain.
(Don't get me started on speakers... yeesh!)
Having stepped on my Boss ME-50 for years now (many thanks to Gearjoneser for that hookup!), with nothing worse to show than needing a solder repair for the wall wart, I figured I'd give this one a go.
I watched the videos, read the reviews, and listened to the shootouts.
Finally pulled the trigger just before my birthday... not in time to unwrap it on the actual day, but it just showed up at my door a few minutes ago.
I'll jam with it a bit, and give you my impressions.
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