Fender '65 Princeton Reverb Reissue

The Reissue model, 2009. One channel, two imputs, each with different volume and tone. Features: GREAT fender tube sound. Won't tweak your back hauling it around.

Sound quality is 10. Up to a point. I have a 65 Reissue Deluxe Reverb also that has more watts and juice. I do not need this amp. But I plugged into it in a store and hammered it on the spot before the prices went up. It is to my ears a scaled down Deluxe. You could do a small venue, low volume gig no sweat. But if its a noisy dive this aint going to cut it. It runs out of gas fast with the 10 inch speaker.
The so called creamy distortion to my ears is mud above 4 volume. At least on my guitars. (I am not into any kind of pedals mind you) I tried plugging it into a couple different 12 inch speakers and decided to stay with the 10 inch speaker and not screw with making a baffle and all the work that goes with those projects. I replaced the Fender speaker with a Eminence Ragin Cajun 10 inch speaker. Keeping the price medium range and it had good reviews. It of course changed the Fender so called tone/sound. But it gave this little amp some balls. At 4 and 5 volume its no longer a bedroom amp. I didnt like the change on my Gibson with humbuckers. But for Strat and Teleacaster man its crystal clear beautiful. Having said that its been a month or more the speaker is maybe broken in better and the Gibson is taking on a new mojo with it. Ok back to the amp. Now when pushed on the volume if breakup is your gig it is clean and not mud and with punch. I dont know how to describe this stuff. As the amp sits stock its very nice mind you but it does not begin to use the 15 watts of tube power with the light weight speaker.

Ive used customer support once. I talked to a human rep and they replaced my item instantly. Can you believe that??

I play out, older musician. Too much equipment. All my amps are Fender. I've owned every Fender tube amp up to this size. NOTHING comes close to this for sound and tone.

These have been thoroughly covered. It has all the basics that a guy needs to amplify a guitar signal with reverb and tremolo effects on board. 15 watts of all vintage tube power into a 10??? speaker. I suppose there are times that I will wish it had an effects loop or a line out but I bought it anyway so those features are obviously not high on my list.

The sound quality is really wonderful! Luckily, I don???t seem to have gotten one with the dreaded cabinet noise or rattling tubes. My goal was to get an amp with good usable sounds at very low volumes. I got it! The bonus is that this thing has very usable sounds at higher volumes as well! The first thing that struck me about this amp (once home, I never count the music store as it always sounds different when I get it home) was just how spanking clean it is. It is blackface Fender all the way! The reverb is exactly what you want, sweet spring reverb from smoky blues to deep surf. I agree with others that the tremolo could be a little slower but it is a very usable effect. The other thing that jumps out is how much clean sustain my notes have at such low volumes. The natural compression on this amp is really good. This has got to be the country player???s ultimate low volume practice amp! I usually run the guitar wide open, but not on this amp! I use the guitar???s volume and tone controls more than I ever have before! It has very dynamic sounds at low and high volumes.

OK, I have talked this thing up pretty good but nothing is perfect! At high volumes the speaker starts to show its size and the bass notes start to lose traction, they distort in a not so pleasing manner. I bet the 12??? conversion would make it a better gigging amp. The lower power has a hard time keeping up with the bass notes as well. Those frequencies can be effectively rolled off, which works but??? I guess this is when you know that you need more amp. The counter to this is that in a small venue, it has plenty of volume to hear yourself on stage over the drums with good quality tone but miking it will be necessary in most places. This is the first amp that I have had where the speaker seems like it needs to break in. I don???t know how to explain it but I get the sense that it will improve as it gets used. It already has in just a short time.

This amp seems to be designed to stay as clean as possible. When it does break up, it is not quite the creamy sustained distortion that you get from a cranked Champ. If I feel the need for distorted tones, they will likely be shaped with pedals rather than counting on the natural breakup of the amp. Maybe as I get more used to it I will be able to coax overdrive tones that I like out of it. Jim Campilongo does so???..

I don???t know. I do know from 25 years of buying gear that it is rare to get solid performance out of things long term these days. I know many folks look at PCBs as a bad thing but I do not. I built my own Champ (my favorite amp next to this) and I became keenly aware of the importance of wire routing and how much a slight shift left or right of a wire can make in sound/tone/noise. PCBs allow the signal to be precisely routed. Their down side is that they are not as friendly for the do it yourselfer when it comes time for repair. It seems sturdy enough. My guess is that it will last a long time for me as I don???t play in rowdy bars and it will mainly live in my studio for my personal enjoyment.

I don???t think I would bother with Fender unless I have to. (Fingers crossed!) I empathize completely with the folks with cabinet issues. I would say at this price a particle board baffle is unacceptable! However, the amp sounds so good, that once you own one it would be worth chasing that stuff down. If I had read about all of these cabinet problems, I would have checked it more thoroughly on my amp prior to purchasing, but like I said, apparently I was one of the lucky ones! Or, they have reacted and have quietly resolved it? If you are going to buy one, I would insist on cranking it up in the store and hitting some of those lower notes. Hard to tell in that setting with other musical items vibrating off the walls but you definitely should try before you buy by the sounds of things! It was silly of me not to check these reviews before buying, this is a really great site and an advantage of the time we live in! Use it!!

What can I say, it functions exactly the way I was hoping it would! I tend to be a ???plug strait into the amp??? kind of guy. I judge an amp???s sound quality by how it sounds dry. If the tremolo and the reverb broke, I would happily play on until it was convenient to have it repaired! It sounds great all by itself. It is expensive, however, and there are LOTS of other options! I spent 4 weeks debating back and forth with myself whether or not to buy it. The price is a choker! But, this gave me exactly what I have been wanting in an amp for 25 years! It is easy to make an amp that sounds good loud, but to make one that sounds this great at volumes you can comfortably talk over, is very rare and I am so happy that I finally found what I was looking for! Have I heard better amps than this for my purposes? Yes. The CARR Mercury is my all time ???low volume??? fave. It has luscious overdrive tones as well as an excellent clean sound, but at $2200???. The Princeton also has the advantage of being a usable amp live. I don???t know that the CARR would offer that. I like that it says Fender on it and I have always had good luck with their gear. Just grab your favorite stout, plug in and play your heart out!!