Fender Princeton Reverb II

I have two 1983 Fender Princeton Reverb II amps. The features are two foot switchable channels. You have three push pull knobs on the left side of your amp. Pull for lead, Pull for Bright, and Pull for Mid Boost. This amp is hand wired, no printed circuit board here. It has a shared EQ Highs Mids Lows Presence, a volume, and a master volume. It also has a spring reverb that is very nice.

I'm not going to talk about the clean channel, because everyone knows that Fenders have a great clean no matter what. I'm telling you about the things you don't know about this amp. I use a Fender Showmaster Guitar with a Pearly Gates in the bridge, and a Duncan 59 in the neck. I also have another Fender Showmaster with two Alnico II Pro Pickups bridge, and neck. For those of you that think Fenders can't overdrive you should try this amp. I put a Celestion Vintage 30 in one, and a Greenback in the other, and the result is a sound that will amaze you. I can get plexi like tones, also JCM 800 tones as well. I play classic rock, blues, and hard rock, and this amp suites me perfectly without an overdrive pedal. I use a DOD FX65 Stereo Chorus to run them both together, but that's it.

These amps have never let me down. I had to get a cap job done on both of them, when I got them, but that is standard for an amp over 20 years old. Other than that, if you take care of your amp, don't abuse it, and replace your valves when your supposed this amp will last you any years.

Over had to deal with them.

I've been playing guitar since the 8th grade, and have played many amps in my time as a guitar player, and this one just blew me away, especially the overdrive channel. You can't beat it. Hand wired amps are very hard to come by. If my amps ever got stolen, I would replace them both in a heart beat.

I am just adding something to a previous review, has anyone
tried using the metal can 6v6 vintage tubes from the 50's
WOW... I have tried these tubes in other amps and they have
some variance but one this amp the clean punch is like a
steel string singer that SRV used. These vintage metal can
6v6's really come alive in this amp... check it out! And
they are cheap too...

I am just FYI the previous post with metal can shielded vintage
6v6 tubes, awesome punch for the clean channel and first distortion
stage. Great for jazz, blues and great when clarity, sparkle and
chime tone is what you are looking for as well as real punch.

hey its fender!

all point to point hand wired... folks these are the real
Rivera amps, not the PCB board crap he makes today which are
like Mesa Boogies but the real vintage American handwired amps
this country was famous for making one time... sad they don't
make em like this anymore... unless you pay for custom shop.

This is a sleeper amp... one of the best of the line. Its a 12"
model, plywood cab not crapboard, weighs ~35lbs so its still light.
So its better than a super champ cause those are 10" and not as
heavy as the others like deluxe II or concert II so all around this
is the best of the line. I played some of the other models and this
will one day when the word gets out one of the best Rivera amps he
ever made. Its really like a deluxe 12" speaker with 3 boost channels
and a dumble inspired circuit

Riviera must have thought; "well, Mesa did build a whole company on hotrodded Champs and Princetons, let's give it a try" when Fender asked him to blueprint the new tube amps for the early eighties. So the Princeton got a 12" speaker and a extra preamp wich could be kicked in and out ... and he called it Princeton II.(The same thought must have crossed the mind of Randall Smith a few years later when Mesa actually made their own hotrodded Princton and called it Studio Series)
I have some other Fender silverface tube amps and these are pretty simple to get a good sound.. just adjust bass and treble and there you go. But the PII is a totally different animal.

First of all, the clean channel (without extra preamp tube that is) has a massive dip. Like it's almost trying to sound like a Fender but it does a bad job. No sonic bloom, too much bass and to thin and fizzy in the highs. However, pull the mid boost and the dip turns into a small hump. The effect is pretty dramatic, like it is an whole other amp. Because my silverfaces are sonicly somewhere between the dip and hump zone I understand some will alter the mid-capacitors for a more true classic Fender sound. Luckily, the amp has lots of bass and treble on tap (much more then the Boogie Studio)so the hump can easily be compesated. Bolder than a blackface and less stinging highs than a silverface but warm bouncy round notes that easily sticks through a band mix.
My favorite however is the lead "channel". Pull out the volume and kick in the extra preamp tube. To adjust the volume between the 2 settings, the leadsound has it's own lead level volume (but shares the master volume)As long as you keep that Lead Level above the preamp volume, you're fine, otherwisse it will sound raspy.
I generally run de volume on 4, the lead level on 10, no treble and mid boost and the master on whatever volume I need. It is not a totally clean sound but those hot silky authorative notes are pretty much the reason why people call the PII the "poor man's Dumble". I dont have a Dumble (!) but some time ago I ran it with my friend Ceriatone dumble clone and we both agreed they both did a pretty good job on that 10.000 dollar signature sound. The PII however could sound -big surprise- more Fenderish, almost like a Princeton (!)

For leadsounds I use a quality stompbox -usally a Zendrive or old Chandler tube driver- that leaves the amp's sonic character alone. You don't wanna spoil that with a ts808 or OCD.

Like other posters said, there are even some more sounds in this amp but those "fender with a twist" and the "poor man's Dumble" are more than enough for me.

There are a lot of mods for this amp that would make it more reliable but I dont think it needs those. After 25 years, it is still dead quiet with everything on 10 and it has still the original tubes and speaker.

This thing is Loud. More than a UK Vox AC-15 and almost as loud as a Boogie Studio. Enough for live giging. A light 12" handwired tube amp with a boutique sound and still up for grabs. I just bought a new Princeton '65 ri and I thinks it's a great little amp that is true to it's herritage. However, If I had to choose between the two, I would pick the oddball of the family anytime anyday.

Mine was one of the last made in '84. This is a great amp, covers everything from Blues to a bit of Shred and everywhere in between. There are so many options, mine came with the footswitch which allows me to access a few more.

So here goes... you have your straight forward clean channel(1), then you pull the switch for lead(2). Plug in your footswitch (which does change the tone/vol). So again you have your clean(3) then switch on the lead for a boost(4). Now pull the volume knob and go through it again, clean(5) then switch on the lead(6). One of the better combinations is if you remove the Red plug, so you have a few more options here again. Volume knob in, clean(7) lead selected boost(8). Volume knob pulled clean(9), overdrive(10). Although is might be subtle there IS a difference in each of these settings, both on the clean side and lead/boost/overdriven side. This is because Rivera built the footswitch into the circuit which alters the tone at each iteration. In addition there is a Bright pull switch AND a Mid boost pull switch to add to the mix. So this amp offers about 10 or more different formations of tone, not all easily accessible on the fly, but point out a PTP, hand-wired amp where you can get all this for less then 1K, (yeah didn't think so). No effects loop, no problem, this thing was made for pedals. I swear Rivera shrunk down the Taj Mahal and fit it into the Reverb circuit.

I do have one complaint. The speaker on this thing is quit shrill, Im thinking about either an AlNiCo Blue or Greenback to smooth out the high end. As stated this amps secret is in tweaking, while you can plug and play, you will be rewarded when you tweak it out. Also, this does have a SS rectifier so there is no "sag", and hardly no hiss.

I have yet to try single coils out on this amp (apparently thats where this thing really shines). There is so much in the way of tonal options beyond just EQ. I play rock, a little blues, ambient, and some indie licks. Due to the SS rectifier there is no hiss whatsoever. Im not into metal shred and br00tal gain, but you get into that territory with this (its supposed to go head to head with early Mark Mesa's). The lead in this amp is pre-amp distortion which has its place but I imagine most people aren't wandering around looking for this in there amp, the solution is to crank the master and dial in the lead and volume knobs. The stock speaker is the only reason for a 9 rather then a 10.

PtP, Hand-wired find a good tech and this thing should last forever. There are a few mods to smooth out the mids, to add a standby switch, and to add a bias adjustment (it has a fixed bias) These mods might add to the life of the tubes. The cab is solid, finger jointed pine if Im not mistaken. Great quality in each area. Not to mention light, you wont break your back with this.

I imagine the warranty is up since it is older then I am. I would just check it into my local amp dr. rather then get into it with Fender.

I have done alot of research before I purchasing this. I saw this amp not only as an investment in tone, but as one of the last PtP hand-wired Fenders built in the US this this is also a financial investment. If this thing were stolen Id sh*t a brick, they are geting harder to track down, and will surely be more then what I paid.

There is so much in this thing, every time I play I tweak it a bit more and find a new useable sound. Such a great, versatile, medium-sized amp.

Mine is 1983. Single channel with a boost select, switchable reverb. The deluxe has two channels which allows different tone settings. With the Princeton, often my tone settings for boost don't work well with my clean sound so there is some knob tweaking necessary. The reverb is great, no vibrato/trem. 20 watts, loud enough for work with a drummer. I think 20 watts is ideal because you can push the power section of this amp to get great tones. Using a 100 watt mesa with my former band (5-piece electric) the amp was already too loud for rehearsals on four. If the drummer is miced, just set up another mic for your amp, done. 20 watts also allows me to play at home for practice. Amps smaller than 20 watts usually sound small. Internal 12 inch loudspeaker, Jensen in mine (non-stock). Even with one channel the amp can get any tone I need, clean, blues, rock, metal, and yes...shred as well. Only feature I would want is the seperate channels found on the deluxe. Oh yeah, it is point to point wired, no printed circuit boards. These Rivera amps are the last amps to be made this way from Fender outside of the custom shop.

This is the only fender I have owned. I have played them before but always preferred the crunch of a Marshall. Now that I wanted a SRV style amp I came accross this one and was also suprised to find great distortion as well as that classic Fender clean.
Cleans are the best I have played. They really make your guitar shine. You can here differences from one strat to the next. I like most controls in the 4-6 range and the tone is full, complex, rich, and dynamic. Fast single note lines are articulate and bluesy bends just blossom with harmonic overtones. I found early SRV with my strat. A les paul is meatier and more powerful, the tone is true to your hands and instrument. Excellent.
Crunchy tones are easy with the Paul, the tone is cleaner with a strat. With the master on 10 the amp breaks up with the channel volume on 4 for the LP, closer to 6 with the strat. This is POWER AMP distortion. By the way, the volume is cut when using the foot switch due to the circuit design. I can play the amp flat out without ear plugs when the footswitch is in. Without the footswitch, the amp is too loud for flat out at home. So, the bluesy tones are progressive, controlable, clean up nicely with pick attack and guitar volume. This crunch sound is what people buy boutique amps for.
For high gain metal/shred the recipe is: vol 10, pull; treb 10, pull; mid 1, pull; bass 10, lead vol amd master to suit. Plug in a humbucker guitar and the result is a mesa-style preamp distortion a la Metallica's Justice album. I'm not kidding. I was very surprised it had this much in it. For death metal that makes a woof-woof, thud-thud percussion, you will need to add a sealed back extension cabinet and possibly an outboard eq to add bass. Malmsteen shred is easy as is EVH tapping and Zakky harmonics.

I wanted a PTP amp because you can always fix it. This amp is 24 years old and looks great, works perfectly and is very quiet. Important since there is no stand-by switch. Close the guitar volume and you're good between songs.

Find an amp tech you like.

I have been playing guitar 17 years. This is the best amp I've owned. I play it all the time, more so than my DSL Marshall (which is also a great 20 watt amp) and sounds better than my triaxis/2:90 boogie set up. I never got on with that rack style set-up. I like plugging straight into an amp and getting a sound I like. The only other amp I would really like to acquire is a mesa Mark IV. I would like to play a deluxe reverb II to see if I can get the same tones while also enjoying a second channel. I can't believe these things are still affordable with PTP all tube quality tone. I was looking to spend 1500 on a boutique amp and I am glad I stumbled onto this first.

Rivera designed... unofficially these are known as poor man
dumbles, a good tech or engineer can tweak the amp to get close
to a 80's dumble and the clean circuit is very close to the dumble
clean channel. Dumbles are hot rodded fenders anyway. PTP and
very well built many consider these the best of the post black face
phase and they are the last of the PTP fender amps from California.

Very quiet as long as you don't use the middle boost... the reverb
doesn't quite shut off on the clean channel but a very flexible amp.
Doesn't get as good of a clean channel as a silver face Princeton
but is a great amp just the same

very reliable its a fender

Feature rich with Gain, treble, and Mid boost. Nice reverb vertically mounted. I generally dont use any of the pull knob boost features. Ocassionally used the Mid boost for harmonica which is why I originally purchased the amp. Now I use it for guitar as I have other amps I like better for harp. I bought used, it came with an EV speaker which I thought someone added, but recently learned this was a factory upgrade option. In my opinion the EV was good if you want no speaker breakup, but way much for a 22 watt amp. I changed to a Jensen P12R. Amp is very portable.

Sound is great for many styles especially Blues! I will never sell this amp! It is loud enough to play with a tasteful drummer, and when driven beyond 6-7 on the volume dial has the smooth crunch and dimensional tone, you know what I mean! And you don't have to end up with ringing ears to get it. Gain boost adds volume and overdrive but seems to reduce reverb. Mid boost adds thickness and distortion.

I have had this amp for almost 20 years and have not once had it in for repairs. Unbelievably I am running the same pair of power tubes for over 12 years. (although I have several amps that i use so it does sit alot). It does not run overly hot so I expect that is a reason why it has been so good.

Never dealt directly with fender.

If it were stolen it would be very difficult to replace. I would never find one for the price I paid.

mine is a 1980 with the blackface that says Princeton Reverb but not Princeton Reverb Amp like the original blackfaces. It is prior to them becoming the Princton Reverb II. It has the best reverb I have ever heard outside of multi-thousand dollar studio units. Even though I don't like tremolo (or vibrato) it has an amazing version of that as well. It is quite comfortable going as loud as I ever turn my larger amps up to so power (12 watts) is more than adequate for most applications. It is not feature laden but it really sounds GREAT.

I am a professional musician an play for a living so I am called to do most any style that pays money. If it were up to me I would be playing just jazz and fusion. This is the real Fender sound that makes people spend alot of dough on these amps. It is pretty much perfect. I got this off Ebay and when I open it up I was kind of dissapointed as it was very cold and non toneful. Several of the controls did not function properly and perhaps the most horrible thing of all was it's prior owner had put Mesa tubes in it (recipe for disaster). I am lucky to have a best friend who is an amp tech. He put all new caps (orange drop) and pots, removed the push pull gain boost on the volume pot, properly biased it with NOS RCA 6v6 tubes and we tried about 20 different preamp tubes in each socet to get what it is now the best tone I think I have ever gotten out of an amp. This amp does not hide anything. If you have a crappy guitar then you will get crap but you will sound like you through this thing. It has been modded with a 12" baffle and has a Jensen C12N which is not my favorite speaker (Celestion V30 is my baby) but it sounds quite nice in this amp. This amp loves my Keeley Blues Driver if overdrive is needed. For guitars I use a Custom Heritage Prospect which is a 15" 335 style guitar with a floating center block (made of Basswood) a 3-piece Maple neck with Madagasscar rosewood board, 25.5 scale, Buzz feiten Tuning System, and 2 59's. My other guitars that ocassionally see daylight are a Tom Anderson Hollow Drop Top and a Heritage 550 (17" archtop jazz box). The amp seem to like them all. My other amps are a Bogner Shiva (EL34 model) and a Fender Vibroverb that has been mounted in a 3x10 mojotone cabinet. The Princeton Reverb sounds very similar to the Vibroverb but is abbout 37lbs. instead of 70lbs.

All point to point and same specs as a Silver Face so pretty easy for any tech to fix.

I have been playing for 32 years and have owned most everything. Just so you can gauge if my opinion has any merrit compared to your own taste. I HATE MESA AMPS and am usually discusted by the refuse that comes from them. I do however like Mesa cabs and own 3 of their 1x12 cabs. I tend to not be a single coil guy and prefer low to medium low power buckers and semi-hollow guitars. My favorite players are Pat Metheny, Mike Stern (but not Stern's Tone), and Scott Henderson. I love this amp and can get all of my perfect tones from it by simply turning my guitars volume and/or tone controls.

This amp was made in 1982. I play a mixture of early heavy metal, through blues and intend to learn some country licks, 'caus there fun. This is a 1 chanel amp but has a very effictive, "Pull Lead" switch which is foot switchable, if you are fortunate enouth to have the somewhat rare original foot switch. I just orderd a switch that will work. All the features have been covered. My only comment is that, pulling the "Lead and Mid Boost makes a big difference but I don't get much difference when I pull the trebble boost. I will have it looked at. I use the amp primarily at home and some times take it out to jam with friends. It has plenty of power for this and most gigs if I were still gigging. It is an all tube amp.

Right now, I am using a Warmoth Strat with Fralin Blues pickupsand a early Japanese Squire Strat with a USA Custom Guitars neck. I intend to get a Tele in the near future. I like these guitars very much and have had some of the most sought after Giblons and Fenders from both the 50s and 60s so I think I know when I hear good guitar tone. This amp has blow me away with its tones and versatility. It is surprisingly quiet and can go from sounding very simillar to the 2 BF Twins I have had and into the types of sounds I got from the Boogie Mark I and III I had. After trying radically different settings, I am very impressed with it range of sounds. I just got a Dirty Boy, Cannibal Boy pedal that is awsome and a SansAmp GT2. This amp loves these pedals.

Being that it is a point to point, hand wired amp, I suspect that it will be about as reliable as all the other pre CBS amps I have had, which means extremely reliable. I would give it a 10 but have only had it for a few weeks. I can't really give a fair answer.

I have never had my Fender amps repaired by Fender.

I got my first equipment, new, in 1964, a Fender Jazzmaster and a Deluxe Reverb. I have been playing on/off ever since. I had to get rid of the PR because it had too much distortion and switched to a 65 Twin. Yah, sure, you never made a mistake. It was pre Led Zeppelin you know. I have had Marshall JCM 800 50 watt, Marshall Artist, Supro Thunderbolt, Emery Superbaby, etc. Most were great for what they did. This amp is one of the best I have ever owned. I put a Celestion G12-65 speaker in mine. I love this speaker. Don't even consider using the stock, cheapo speaker. Its like having bias ply tires on you Ferrari. The speaker turns this very good amp into a great amp. The amp loves the Dirty Boy, "Cannibal Boy" and SansAmp GT2 pedals. I would replace it or have an extra Rivera Fender in a minute.

Rivera era Princeton Reverb II with amp cover and footswitch in perfect condition, sat in a music store for weeks, I thought it was solid state but when I asked he salesman he told me it was tube, I went home, read up on it and found that not only tube but PTP wiring. Mine has a Carvin British series 12" speaker which is the only thing not stock. I asked how much they wanted for it and they said $250 and I offered them $225 and they went for it. It looks like a blackface Fender, has 2 channels, one is supposed to sound like a Mesa Boogie, I thought it sounded like crap untill I stopped using the footswitch (don't be sad that yours did'nt come with a footswitch, it interacts with the circuit and causes the Lead (Mesa) channel to be loud and unusable.) I bought the amp and did a few mods (reliability) one mod to set the fixed bias lower, and changed a cap on the mid boost so it wasn't so pronounced, and of course a brand new set of JJ tubes.

This amp is 22W of beautiful clean Fendery sparkle on one setting and pull the switch and you have a punchy (more mid voiced) channel. Both channels love pedals. his amp reminds me of a twin that a former other guitarist in a band used to dwarf me with, only not as loud. There is a website that is dedicated to this amp specifically and has abot all the info that you'll need to get one up to snuff. I got the mods I did off the website and they improoved the sound.

This amp is over 20 years old and still works, real quiet I might add. PTP wiring makes it easy for a tech to fix anything and schematics, chassis layout and parts list are readily available. It still had the original tubes in it when I got it and had no issues. This amp looked like it was kept indoors for most of it's existence.

It's 20+ years old and it not atomic cyber modelling crap so I'll never go back to Fender. Like I said there's enough info on the web.

I rate this amp at $225 a steal. I always wanted a Princeton, I think I got more. This amp set for the clean channel with a few pedals in front of it is all I'll ever need, I think I may sell my Botique amp and keep this one.