'65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue or Princeton Reverb Reissue?

[HoneyBearWombat]

It is the age-old question. But I am thinking of one or the other for home/studio use. I want excellent clean blues tone at low volume. I realise I won't be able to overdrive them without a pedal, but that's not an issue. Which one do you recommend for beautiful clear tones with a Strat? Does the Deluxe sound great clean at room level?

 

[Ascension]

Re: '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue or Princeton Reverb Reissue?

It is the age-old question. But I am thinking of one or the other for home/studio use. I want excellent clean blues tone at low volume. I realise I won't be able to overdrive them without a pedal, but that's not an issue. Which one do you recommend for beautiful clear tones with a Strat? Does the Deluxe sound great clean at room level?

Going to sound crazy but I like the cleans on my 2 PRS amps ( Archon 50 head MT 15)as well or better than the cleans on any of the Fenders. Was playing a 68 Twin Reissue in a lacal shop a couple weeks and and thinking how I liked teh cleans on my Archon head better no Joke! Stunned me!
A little MT 15 would have a smaller footprint and also has one of the most dynamic fluid expressive modern crunch channels out there. Only down side is the lack of on board reverb but they have a killer loop. For a home studio with a good IR set up can't think of a better set up!
Demo

 

[HoneyBearWombat]

Re: '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue or Princeton Reverb Reissue?

Going to sound crazy but I like the cleans on my 2 PRS amps ( Archon 50 head MT 15)as well or better than the cleans on any of the Fenders. Was playing a 68 Twin Reissue in a lacal shop a couple weeks and and thinking how I liked teh cleans on my Archon head better no Joke! Stunned me!
A little MT 15 would have a smaller footprint and also has one of the most dynamic fluid expressive modern crunch channels out there. Only down side is the lack of on board reverb but they have a killer loop. For a home studio with a good IR set up can't think of a better set up!
Demo

Not crazy at all! It sounds pretty and boy, can it distort! I will follow this up as well. Thank you!

 

[FuseG4]

Re: '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue or Princeton Reverb Reissue?

I've had both! And a fender supersonic 22 which is heavily deluxe reverb based

I like the Princeton, the phase inverter circuit gives it less gain, less harmonics, so it's a tiny bit warmer, flatter, smoother tone, then there's the fact that the PR has no bright cap stock whereas the deluxe reverb does. So the Deluxe Reverb also has the 12" which sounds bigger and also more detailed

Short version is the Princeton to me is a warmer amp and the deluxe can get much brighter but also thinner at low volumes with the headroom of 22w.

They both have their place and can be enjoyed at home but the deluxe helps to have to bright cap clipped if you use pedals at home

I still have the 68 custom Princeton
The cab can rattle a bit
Comes with a horrible speaker
Sounds boss with a Celestion g10 vintage though
Throaty voice for a 10"

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue or Princeton Reverb Reissue?

I own both a 60's DR and a 60's PR.

The DR is louder and cleaner. Bigger transformer and a 12" speaker make quite an improvement over the 10" speaker and smaller transformer of the PR.

BUT: I bought a 12" speaker board for my PR and with a 12" speaker it turns out I prefer using the PR now because I can crank it onstage.

It's a totally reversible mod and makes a HUGE improvement in the sound.

I bought a quartet of Celestion G12 Silver Alnico speakers taken from a 60's Vox Super Beatle amp 20 years ago.

Those are what I use in both my DR and PR.

 

[jeremy]

Re: '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue or Princeton Reverb Reissue?

the prs amps have a sound, i prefer a fender clean tone. the princeton and deluxe are both great amps, the 65 and 68 versions are fairly different sounding though. the 65 deluxe has a c12k which i dont love but i dont love the c10r in the 65 princeton either. the 68 models of both are nice too and i might go that way if i was looking, again the speakers arent my favorite but they can be changed. if you are just using the amp at home and want low volume clean, id get the princeton. my main amp is an old 66 deluxe reverb and it sounds beautiful at low volumes but may be more amp than you need. a princeton with a 12" speaker is a great amp too! the reissues are fine amps but definitely a little different than the old ones

 

[Mincer]

Re: '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue or Princeton Reverb Reissue?

How does the Custom 68 compare to the RI?

 

[jeremy]

Re: '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue or Princeton Reverb Reissue?

the reverb and eq are a bit different with a little less negative feedback and different speaker on the 68 models, the deluxe has reverb and trem on both channels as well

 

[playas]

Re: '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue or Princeton Reverb Reissue?

I recently bought a second hand 65 Princeton reverb ri and to be honest I was surprised how much clean headroom it has. For such low output and with a 10" speaker I wasn't expecting much headroom, but at home I wasn't able to turn it up much without having the guitar volume turned way down.

Anyway I'm really happy with it. It sounds the business and if I did need more headroom a more efficient speaker would be an option.
I'm glad I didn't get a Drri

Sent from my Redmi Note 8 using Tapatalk

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue or Princeton Reverb Reissue?

Lew suggested an original Silverface PR for me over a decade ago now. It’s a great amp. I made a few changes, having a selectable Negative Feedback on the old ground switch, slightly increased the coupling cap value to reduce flub early in the circuit and changed from the Jensen to an Eminence Ragin Cajun for a little more stout low end. Perfect for at home and it sounds great turned up too. I’ve outgrown it for playing with the band, I like the punch of a 12” and 6L6 for the gain levels I use now, but the PR is fantastic for lower volume jamming and great with pedals at home or without a drummer.

I think I missed the point... for lower volume and home use I think the PR is a near perfect amp. Also, even to get it “clean” you need it up around 3. That gets you a nice juicy tube clean that responds dynamically to your playing. It’s not a whisper level, it’s got some volume.

 

[NegativeEase]

Re: '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue or Princeton Reverb Reissue?

How does the Custom 68 compare to the RI?

I prefer the 68 Custom Silver to the 65 Black and both over a Princeton.

68 Custom Deluxe has 2 tones stacks -the Bassman Tonestack AND the Vintage Deluxe Tonestack -it WAY WAY more versatile of an amp than the other 2. (Has Channel switching and Reverb and Vibrato)

65 Black sounds incredible too but it's hard to shake the super vintage vibe if you want to go with more gain or different. (Has Channel switching between Vibrato and not and has reverb)

Princetons Reverbs are great, but do one thing extremely well

Honestly for home volume either Deluxe is A LOT of amp -you likely won't get it past 3-4 ever -but sound great at that volume.

 

[chadd]

Re: '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue or Princeton Reverb Reissue?

Not crazy at all! It sounds pretty and boy, can it distort! I will follow this up as well. Thank you!

Make sure you play it in person. Demos like this that involve outboard effects and multiple IRs aren't very representative of the amp in a room. I played one through a couple cabs last week and just don't get the love for this thing.

 

[HoneyBearWombat]

Re: '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue or Princeton Reverb Reissue?

I prefer the 68 Custom Silver to the 65 Black and both over a Princeton.

68 Custom Deluxe has 2 tones stacks -the Bassman Tonestack AND the Vintage Deluxe Tonestack -it WAY WAY more versatile of an amp than the other 2. (Has Channel switching and Reverb and Vibrato)

65 Black sounds incredible too but it's hard to shake the super vintage vibe if you want to go with more gain or different. (Has Channel switching between Vibrato and not and has reverb)

Princetons Reverbs are great, but do one thing extremely well

Honestly for home volume either Deluxe is A LOT of amp -you likely won't get it past 3-4 ever -but sound great at that volume.

What is that one thing that PRRI do well? I am leaning toward the Deluxe, they seem like the blues amp to get.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue or Princeton Reverb Reissue?

I personally think the Princeton does two things well: clean and crunch. But not everyone likes the Princeton crunch. It has some farty low end and is kinda nasty sounding, not especially smooth. And Celestion speakers help in my opinion. Not into the Woody, Reedy, American speakers when they break up with the PR.

It does 3 things really well if you count tremolo. The trem on a PR sounds "better" to me, somehow deeper.
4 things well if you count reverb lol

 

[HoneyBearWombat]

Re: '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue or Princeton Reverb Reissue?

I personally think the Princeton does two things well: clean and crunch. But not everyone likes the Princeton crunch. It has some farty low end and is kinda nasty sounding, not especially smooth. And Celestion speakers help in my opinion. Not into the Woody, Reedy, American speakers when they break up with the PR.

It does 3 things really well if you count tremolo. The trem on a PR sounds "better" to me, somehow deeper.
4 things well if you count reverb lol

What about the Deluxe? What are its great points?

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue or Princeton Reverb Reissue?

I personally think the Princeton does two things well: clean and crunch. But not everyone likes the Princeton crunch. It has some farty low end and is kinda nasty sounding, not especially smooth. And Celestion speakers help in my opinion. Not into the Woody, Reedy, American speakers when they break up with the PR.

It does 3 things really well if you count tremolo. The trem on a PR sounds "better" to me, somehow deeper.
4 things well if you count reverb lol

Check out what I did above... (coupling cap, speaker, NFB) The reverb and tremolo are pretty nice.

 

[esandes]

Re: '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue or Princeton Reverb Reissue?

I vote for the DR for reasons mentioned.

The spring reverbs from fender are very delicate. So be careful lugging it around. My pro reverb 1x12 was a glass princess of an amp.

 

[jeremy]

Re: '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue or Princeton Reverb Reissue?

my old '66 dr is beat to crap but hasnt really given me much trouble at all considering. what issues did your pro reverb have? old blackface or ?

 

[playas]

Re: '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue or Princeton Reverb Reissue?

...

It does 3 things really well if you count tremolo. The trem on a PR sounds "better" to me, somehow deeper.
4 things well if you count reverb lol

Princeton cleans can be fantastic.

The reverb is great. Not much more needed there I reckon.

It's funny but I bought it thinking that as a general rule I really dislike (don't want to use the word "hate" but getting close) tremolo as an effect and it's the kind of thing I'd only use extremely rarely. It's actually a hell of a lot easier than I expected to use it to improve the overall tone subtly, and I naturally tend to avoid gratuitous effects.

Sent from my Redmi Note 8 using Tapatalk

 

[Erlend_G]

Re: '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue or Princeton Reverb Reissue?

The Princeton was always my dream amp-

about to buy one, when my neighbor "bietch" stole 800USD of my money (dont ask how)

so I was left to buy a Blackstar. The Blackstar still got some.... tube chime, but not nearly asmuch as the Fender.

it does got a High gain channel though :/

(ml sucks)... ;/