That Was a Close One

[Agileguy_101]

I was at GC today and played this llllkiller 66 Princeton Reverb. It was in near mint condition and had the cover (but no footswitch) and was priced at $1600. I was like yeah that's cool and whatever, but then the salesman said that used gear purchases qualify for 12 month interest free financing.I was rejected, thank god. If I had been approved I would have absolutely bought it.Dr. Vegetable talked me into it.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: That Was a Close One

Be glad. $1,600 is dumb for that amp. Yes, they are some of the best sounding amps ever made (I have a '68 Reverb and a '69 non-reverb, and play regularly through a black-faced one as well), so I am with you on that. But no way in hell are they worth that kind of money. Not even ten years ago, they were half the price everywhere, and I thought it was ludicrous then. Now they are older, and will tend to either need more work or to have had more bad work done to them.

Check out the new reissues (not the silver-faced '68 one). They sound very, very good, and will cost you a lot less. If you can't get one sounding 98% as great as that old one, the problem ain't the amp.

 

[Agileguy_101]

Re: That Was a Close One

Lol ok

 

[Agileguy_101]

Re: That Was a Close One

You know that 10 or maybe 15 years ago, prices for everything were different, right? Things change. That long ago my drip edge Bassman would have been like $200. But good luck finding one that cheap anymore.

 

[zenmindbeginner]

Re: That Was a Close One

Be glad. $1,600 is dumb for that amp. Yes, they are some of the best sounding amps ever made (I have a '68 Reverb and a '69 non-reverb, and play regularly through a black-faced one as well), so I am with you on that. But no way in hell are they worth that kind of money. Not even ten years ago, they were half the price everywhere, and I thought it was ludicrous then. Now they are older, and will tend to either need more work or to have had more bad work done to them.

Check out the new reissues (not the silver-faced '68 one). They sound very, very good, and will cost you a lot less. If you can't get one sounding 98% as great as that old one, the problem ain't the amp.

$1600 is a decent price... its on the high side but it's not like it was on Craigslist or anything... retail stores have some overhead that they need to charge extra for.

Most Princetons that I've played are in great shape too... not an amp that's notorious for needing repairs.

The great deal would be to get a '66 Princeton Reverb for $1600. The Princeton Reverb is louder and more aggressive than the smoother voiced Princeton. A Princeton Reverb can hold it's own with the loudest drummers on 5 or 6... the Princeton would need to be dimed and would still be a little shy of where you need it to be volume-wise with a loud drumset.

I need to upgrade the Jensen Mod 30 that's in mine... A Celestion Gold would give me maximum power and depth with the sweet highs of Alnico (the Mod 30 that's currently in there is a ceramic sort of cheapo speaker IMHO)

 

[Agileguy_101]

Re: That Was a Close One

I should have mentioned, it actually is a Princeton Reverb. I forgot there was a non-reverb Princeton.

 

[zenmindbeginner]

Re: That Was a Close One

I should have mentioned, it actually is a Princeton Reverb. I forgot there was a non-reverb Princeton.

Killer deal then.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: That Was a Close One

I should have mentioned, it actually is a Princeton Reverb. I forgot there was a non-reverb Princeton.

Well...that does make a significant difference in desirability, and in discussions of value!

It's also wise to assume that anything in Guitar Center has non-original parts, has been owned by a jackass at some point (maybe more than once), and has no provenance or guarantee of originality. Those things significantly ding the value IMHO. In general, Guitar Center, being the Mickey D's of guitar stores, is not the type of place that deserves to ask for or receive top dollar for old equipment.

So, a non-Reverb in a GC for $1,600 is way out of line IMHO. A Reverb model in a well-reputed vintage shop? $1,600 is a more believable price.

IMO, if you are discounting the modern black-faced reissue (which is awesome, and consistently so copy to copy), a non-Reverb is the way to go if you want to save some money. Owning a Princeton Reverb and a standard Princeton of adjacent years, both of which are original, I'd say that the Princeton pretty much just feels like a Princeton Reverb without reverb. The differences are probably there the way they are between any two hand-wired amps of that age, but they are often overblown. I doubt that on a stage or in practice, someone could reliably tell the two apart. If it wasn't for the fact that one had reverb and one didn't, I'd use the two interchangeably. Personally, I like reverb, so I almost always play the Reverb model. I sometimes add the other one in parallel to click on as a volume boost.

 

[zenmindbeginner]

Re: That Was a Close One

Owning a Princeton Reverb and a standard Princeton of adjacent years, both of which are original, I'd say that the Princeton pretty much just feels like a Princeton Reverb without reverb. The differences are probably there the way they are between any two hand-wired amps of that age, but they are often overblown. I doubt that on a stage or in practice, someone could reliably tell the two apart. If it wasn't for the fact that one had reverb and one didn't, I'd use the two interchangeably. Personally, I like reverb, so I almost always play the Reverb model. I sometimes add the other one in parallel to click on as a volume boost.

That's not been my experience. They are a lot different IMHO.

 

[FretFire]

Re: That Was a Close One

This makes me really happy about the $350 I spent on my '64 Bandmaster head about two years ago.