Fender Princeton Reverb II

Early 1980's Fender Deluxe Reverb II.

Great two channel amp. Channel one is based typographically on the blackface circuit and sounds just right. The vol. pot is a push/pull type and can give some bright boost if necessary.

Speaker out output in the back is good for connecting to external cabs.

The footswitch is more necessary for this amp than for the Princeton II and Super Champ, as the DRII is a true two channel amp (the other two are not true two channel amps in the same sence). With the footswitch you can easily switch between the clean channels great sounds and set up the dirt channel as you like.

The 22-24 watts are pretty loud. It it pumps out enough for gigging and rehersal. I owned one of these amps back in the late 80's and the other guitarist had a JCM800 and I was well heard in the mix.

The cabinett is built from fingerjointed birch of top quality like on a true vintage amp, no cheap plywood stuff like on Fenders new stuff. It literally looks like it is 100% handbuilt.

PTP wired with mallory caps, carbon resistors and orange drop capacitors. Top class all the way, no corners cut.

Fender stopped making the Rivera amps 'cause in the end they cost the company more to build than they actually made selling them.

The DRII is a true Deluxe Reverb without the tremolo on channel one. Channel two is a great channel either for a little more boosted clean tone, or more bluesey overdriven sounds. Great strat & tele tones!
Beware though that maxing channel two makes it choke, easy on the settings and be careful how you tweak it and it sounds sooo good.

It takes pedals very well too. I usually set channel two up a little dirty, then juice it with a Fulldrive 1 or an old Rat set low for boost when I need to go over the top.

I am using a tele, a strat & humbucker guitars (all Hamer's).

Playing classic rock, funk and similar stuff with the DRII. When set right the 2nd channel can get a very 80's west coast type of sound, a' la Steve Lukather. I have never owned another amp that I could get this sound from. It is fun to play with although I don't play this kind of music. In this mode I have to say the amp sounds "very expensive", like a boutiqe style dumble clone. To get this sound I need an overdrive in front of the amp, like my Fulldrive 1.

The amp is not noisy. It has a very warm tone with that Fendery shimmer on top on the cleans.

As it is a 1x12 amp with 6V6's you won't get any brutal palm mute metal tones from it. As with all 6V6 amps the bass is a little loose, which I like. Cranking the DRII can get you some mean choked Neil Young tones. It holds a lot of different sounds for such a small beast.

The Deluxe Reverb II is my favourite of the Rivera era amps. I have a Super Champ as well, but the 2 separate channels, a 12" speaker and couple of extra watts makes a difference. But they are similar in sound.

I retubed my DRII with blackface RCA 6V6's, and put in old Telefunken 12AX7's in for the preamp tubes.

I have tried a Weber Signature 12b in the amp and it sounded awesome for cleans, but a little loose when I drove the amp hard. So I tried an Eminence Red, white and blues and that made all the difference. Total bliss now for both cleans and overdriven sounds, much tighter in the lower register.

My DRII sounds as good as an old Fender or an expensive boutiqe amp. Tone to die for, just as the Super champ (these are cousins after all). It's 100% point to point. This is a much, much nicer and more well built amp than for instance the 65 Deluxe Reverb reissue. The DRII sounds way better too, great blackface type cleans and if you take your time to tweak your tone, great overdriven sounds as well.

I had some caps changed in the bias circuit and put in screen grids on the tubes, and also put in a bias pot so I can change tubes more easily. No biggies, it cost me perhaps 50-60 us dollars to get this done. Always good to have a tech look at a 25 year old amp, usually there is something to fix.

Never dealt with Fender.

I had a DRII in the late 80's and regretfully sold it. I started looking for one again perhaps five years ago but they do not come around that often in Europe. Got lucky this year and found one in good condition with the original footswitch included. I bought a nice cover for it so I can take it with me easily in the car.

If you buy one of these be sure to check on the Princeton II website for how to fix the bias circuit. And re-tube it with as good tubes as you can afford, and put in a new speaker. After that you'll have an amp that you will keep for a long time, it's that good.

It's a musicians amp. Take your time to learn how channel two works properly, listen with your ears and learn your settings.

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.

This amp was a gift from a friend of mine who died awile back ago. It was usually left at at his house where we spent weekends playing R&B,soul,and blues.Where this amp really shines.as far as features,it's a two channel amp,but I use the term loosly.Rivera tried to mimic a Mark II boogie but kinda' failed on the overdrive.It it has a bright pull switch and a mid-boost pull switch. The latter seems to smoothe out the over-driven tones.the reverb sounds pretty good at low settings but gets a little buzzy at higher settings if the pick-ups are wide open.However both chanels can sound great for blues once you get used to tweaking it out.

Everyone of my friends that hear this amp says the same thing.It sounds big.But that's what it has,the classic fender dimension. At 20 watts it's just not loud enough to play clean for a rock band but if you mike it out it does the trick.(by the way,The line out sucks. It's just there for humor.)I never had much time to screw with the tubes like I do with bigger amps, but I think if you goof around swapping different pre-amp tubes and put a choice set of power tubes in it. It would more than likely smoothe out the overdrive channel.I've been reading here about swapping the speaker and I think that may make a big difference (I'm thinkin' about a greenback.)

well- just two tubes so far. I have noticed that the reverb has been fading out lately. but I really don't take care of this amp much.I think I might put a better reverb unit in it.

Are you kidding. Who would I call? That's why I'm here.

I've been playing for 26 years and I play everything from Charlie Christian to Head Automatica.If you're a plug-in and play sorta' guy, You'll dig this amp.If you like to use a distortion pedal, It handles it and sounds it just like a twin or a deluxe. It's probably as close as you'll get to a fender & mark boogie in such a small tube package.I WOULD NOT PAY $850 DOLLARS FOR IT.(The people in England are crazy.)But if I could find another one, that would solve my problems of miking it.I've had this amp for about 16 years and I got used.I played a strat, les paul, jacksons, all sorts of different pick-up combinations and they all sound good,in fact,It's probably one of the the best sounding fenders I've ever had.The most surprising sound I got was out of my friend's shitty old kramer pacer.The guitar always sounded bad on any amp,But it got a real cool "burby" blues sound on the fender.(Must be it's soul mate).Like I said the lead channel sounds a little ratty, but anyone that has had fenders isn't used to a overdrive channel anyway so thats just iceing on the cake if you learn how to work it.

THE GUY JUST BEFORE ME MUST HAVE CAP PROBLEMS. MINE SOUNDS GREAT!!!
1984 I BELIEVE. 1 CHANNEL. LINE OUT. REVERB. TUBE AMP WITH SS RECTIFIER. 3 -12AX7A,S & 1- 12AT7 2 6V6,S 20 WATTS OUTPUT. THIS IS MABYE THE BEST BLUES AMP I HAVE EVER HAD. IVE HAD PEAVEY/FENDER DELUXE REVERB,S/REISSUE VIBROLUX REVERB. HAD IT ONE WEEK & REVERB WENT OUT/ NEXT WEEK TREMOLO WENT OUT. DO I LIKE REISSUE AMPS ///NO/// THE PR WOULDNT BE LOUD ENOUGH FOR LARGE AREAS BUT FOR SMALL CLUB JUST RIGHT. YES I LOVE IT. IF YOU WANT MORE VOLUME & TONE TONE TONE GET A CELESTION ALNICO BLUE.

I USE SINGLE COILS. TEXAS SPECIALS IN A TELE. C/S FAT 50,S IN MY STRAT. TRUETONE PUPS IN MY JAP STRAT./ 83 STRAT ELITE WITH ALNICO II PUPS/THIS AMP LOVES THE FAT 50S. I RUN THE MASTER FULL OPEN WITH THE VOLUME AT 5 FOR MY CLEAN SOUNDS & FOR BLUES I TURN UP THE VOLUME UP TO 9 & AJUST MY GUITAR VOLUME. I DONT NEED THE OD CHANNEL THE CLEAN DOES ALL I NEED.A FRIEND OF MINE UAES A PRII FOR HARP. HE LIKES IT BETTER THAN HIS SUPER CHAMP.(WIDER RANGE) THE OD CHANNEL GETS LOUD BUT IM NOT INTO THAT. I HAVE 2 OF THE PRII,S & I RUN A CELESTION G12H30 IN 1 & MY FAV. A CELESTION ALNICO BLUE IN THE OTHER. TALK ABOUT COMING ALIVE THE CELESTION,S WAKE THESE LITTLE AMP UP!!

IVE HAD FENDER ALL MY LIFE (SINCE 1962) NEVER HAD ANY TROUBLE EXCEPT FOR TUBES.

SURELY THIS IS A JOKE . RIGHT??? WAY OUT OF WARRENTY.

LET SEE IVE BEEN PLAYING OFF & ON SINCE 1962. I HAVE 2 SO IF THEY STEAL ONE I HOPE ITS NOT THE ONE WITH THE BLUE.YES I WOULD REPLACE THEM.IN A HEARTBEAT.THE ONLY THING I DONT LIKE ABOUT THE PRII,S IS THE SPEAKER.BUT UNDERSTAND I THOUGHT THEY SOUNDED GREAT UNTIL I PLUGGED IN THE ALNICO BLUE & THE G12H30. MY GOD WHAT A SOUND.I DONT HAVE THE FOOTSWITCH BUT I WOULDNT USE IT ANYWAY. THE REVERB IS LUSH LIKE MY SILVERFACE DELUXE REVERB.IVE HAD S/F DELUXE REVERBS/ S/F PRINCETON REVERBS/ REISSUE VIBROLUXE YUK NO BOTTOM BUILT CHEAP/WHY DO PEOPLE PAY $2000.00 TO $3000.00 TO GET THE SAME SOUND THESE POINT TO POINT HAND WIRED AMPS HAVE. AT LESS THAN HALF THE PRICE. I DONT GET IT.??? IF YOU WANT ONE OF THE BEST BLUES AMPS ON THE MARKET GET A PRII & IF YOU LIKE CREAMY WARM SOUNDS GET A G12H30. IF YOU LIKE CHIMES FOR BLUES OR COUNTRY GET A ALNICO BLUE. I BOUGHT A JENSEN REISSUE P12N. THAT HAD ICEPICK HIGHS IN EVERY AMP I PUT IT IN.

I believe the amp was made around 1986. 2 footswitchable channels, reverb, Solid State Rectifier, 2 6V6 3 12AX7 and 1 12AT7 tubes. Lead and Bright switches via push-pull pot.

An effects loop would be nice but who really uses those? It has more than enough power to gig with.

I switched out the GE tubes with JJ's, didn't hear a diffence. MayWhen I first bought this I was using the sellers 70's SG. He had the controls dimed so it sounded very nice in comparison when I eq'ed it properly. be a little loss in the high end, thats about it.

I use humbucker equipped guitars. I find that this amp sounds better with single coil guitars.

It was alittle noisy, I don't really like the sound of it. The EQ isn't very responsive either and the stock speaker that came with it was very ratty sounding so I ran it through a Mesa Recto 4x12, it sounded very nice and crunchy through that but I feel it didn't have enough power to push the cab all that much. It hung with a drummer quite well.

With the lead channel on you get a very nasty Mesa type over saturated gain thats very harsh. I tried the trick that Mike suggested on 02/17/2003 thats on this page. I found that it helped alot but was still alittle too harsh and gainy but still a great improvement. If you like Metallicas tone and are 14 years old you would dig the lead channel.

There is not too much variety in this amp, a decent clean channel and a lead channel that sounds like a dying cat.

3 with the stock speaker, a 5 or 6 with a new speaker. I hear the Eminence Cannibas Rex is a good replacement for not alot of scratch.

As mentioned in previous reviews the amp does have point to point wiring. I think mine might have needed new capacitors. The soldering joint to the speaker broke off while I was playing it and it got this nice self osicillation sound that really hurt my ears. After I repaired it the amp was fine. Nice transformers, solid state rectifier.

No warranty so Fender probably doesn't give a rats ass.

I have been playing for 4 years, my main amp is a Mesa Boogie Trem-O-Verb. I ended up selling this amp to my friend because I was going to eBay it to some sucker but he said he needed a tube amp. I told him it was a bad sounding amp but he still wanted it. If I bought this amp again I would really only pay around the 300 dollar range as thats all this amp is worth.

This is a 1982 Rivera Princeton Reverb II!
About 11." deep and 20.5" wide by 17" tall. so it's a bit bigger than the original Princeton Reverb About an inch and a half all the way arounf larger.
8 controls and a switchpedalfor boost and reverb.
Nice 12" speaker but an SRO sounds best in my opinion.
The all Pine Jointed cabe even has a 13 ply .75" pine baffle too.(good to hold up your JBL or EVL speaker)

Sounds like a Pass between a Fender Deluxe and a Mesa MarkII. These rivera built all hand wired amps just have the tone a moddeler or todays PCB's cannot offer the player.

Nothing is more reliable that a solidly built Point to Point amp. This amp is all Pine Jointed and even has a 13 ply pine baffle.(good to hold up a JBL or EVL. This amp has never had any work done except for new speaker and tubes. The amp is 22 years old and it's so quiet you have to play to know it's on. The lead dress is impecable on these amps.

Never needed, and it's PTP so any good tech can fix it with off the shelf parts.

Overall it's the best Blues amp I have evr ownerd. I'm talking Smooth British Blues Blues, to Yanky Blues raunch to Texas Blues to Blues ballads. This amp is the blues amp to have. This does, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, SRV, John Sykes, Gary Moore, and Cocco Montoya to a "T"

I would kill the one who tried to steal it. He wouldn't get far either. The amp ways about 25lbs and add another 18 from the SRO. hehe, lets just say he wont run too fast. I could have my coffee first.

Princeton Reverb II, PRII PR2, all the same thing!
All-valve (tube) signal path
Unbelievably low-noise operation (hardly any hiss), which is why they're popular for home recording, and you can do quiet practice without losing too much tone.

Extremely strong construction - fully welded metal chassis and dovetail joints in the plywood cabinet

Point-to-point wiring (no printed circuit board, making for ease of repair and physical reliability.

This last point is based on the fact that the controls, audio sockets and valve sockets aren't mechanically mounted on the wiring board.

Therefore if the amp rolls down a flight of stairs, you may have replace a few knobs and pots, but no mechanical shock is passed on to the heart of the amp and you won't be left with a PCB cracked in two.

Very Loud for 22W. Just like an old Deluxe Reverb actually!

Fixed-bias, the amp design which gets the most power from output valves. This is probably the loudest 6V6 amp on the planet.

Very Conservatively-rated transformers. They will apparently deliver enough power and stay within safe temperatures even when the amp is modified up to 35W. with 6l6's

Transformers are expensive, so this level of reliability is reassuring to me!

Solid-state rectifier, so big bass response and quick attack from the pick to strings!

The basic sound! Very musical!

Depending on the quality of your power (output) valves and the bias setting, you can get marvellous overdrive tones once you turn the master volume knob over 6 or 7 (approx) - or earlier with the mid boost selected.

Big variation in tone; bass, mid, treble, presence, plus mid boost switch and treble boost switch

Versatility - people are using it for blues, metal, country, jazz, blues, even amplifying classical guitar. There are better metal amps but this amp does everything convincingly on stage.

Duane Allmane is in this circuit I sware! Peter Green is in the Luch reverb section. Ted Nugent is inthere. Santana for sure and even early metalica. This amp sounds oh so good!

never had a problem, but it's PTP so it's cheap to fix if ever it occurs.

I've been playing 22 years and this amp has been making me happy in the last 3 months I've owned it. I am in an Allman Brothers tribute and SRV tribute band and this amp is perfect for this!

It only compares to the deluxe reverb and deluxe reverb II. Sounds great for Fender or mesa sounds wrapped up in one. There is a mod to get Marshall crunch on the lead channel but I already have a studio 15 for that part.

1985 Fender model Princeton Reverb II
* 2x6V6 power tubes, 1x12AT7 reverb tube, 3x12AX7 preamp tubes
* tube-driven reverb
* clean and lead channels via a push/pull volume knob
* individual volume controls per channel, shared EQ, master volume
* push/pull treble boost, push/pull midrange boost, bass, presence
* 12" speaker Celestion
* line out, reverb in/out, jacks for pedals to control channels
* about 25 pounds
* single input jack on front panel
* 22watts RMS

Reminds me so much of my Silverface Deluxe Reverb it's scary!

It's also alot like my friends Super Champ but the Princeton Reverb has a more Lush syrupy reverb, and gets a lot more bottom out of the 12" speaker and larger cabinet.

Perfect Duane Allman tone when playing loud and with slide guitar. It get's very honky with a tight bottom. Perfect Duane tone for me!

I mean the most perfect Live Statesboro Blues tone I've ever heard.

No Problems. It's harder to bias than a Blackface Deluxe Reverb but it's as easy as a silverface. I will probably mod it to have a Bias pot like my Bassman.

No trouble ever!

I bought a mint one with original cover, switch, and it only cost me $725. I was going to get the Deluxe Reverb Reissue but the Princeton Reverb II was PTP and sounded better on Slide Guitar. The DR Reissue was a little thin to get good sound with slide.

I hope I don't need to find another one. The price has doubled in two years and they are hard to find. I heard less than 800 where ever made. Who knows?

No idea when it was built- Serial F 327561. I play rock and blues using an amplified Yamaha acoustic and a Strat copy.

I get some distortion at higher volume- sort of a rattle- thought it was the speaker- and replaced it with an Eminence 12"- better but still there, I now think I should have the tubes checked and bias adjusted.

Never a breakdown- I don't expect one, I have had two Fender amps previously and both were as reliable as gravity.

Never dealt with Fender- out of warranty before anything occured. (If indeed something is wrong.)

I have been playing for almost 40 years. Owned a Twin Reverb, then a Super Reverb in my "professional" days, then went acoustic until 1996.

I bought this amp NEW in 1996, from a music store in a little town in Ohio. $389. Yup- one of the few great bargains I have ever personally found. I sent in the warranty card and about five weeks later got a call from Fender, wanting me to read them the tube numbers, and serial number off the amp, to see if it was genuine.

They said it WAS new, never sold, and therefore I got a five-year warranty (with a comment from the guy that they hoped it never needed replacement- they would have to give me a $1000 amp!!). I knew then I had found a gem.

I think it was mad in the early eighties. One of Riveras best while at Fender. Like the fabled super champ but louder and larger speaker. Two channels which are footswitchable or changed via pull pots. But the renowned Rivera sound is from the footswitched channel select instead of the pull pots. All tube, all the time. Point to point wiring.

I loved the sound until I put in a Celestion Vintage 30 and now love cannot describe the magnificent sound of this amp. Very quiet amp at all levels. Sounds great with humbuckers or my tele. Great Fender reverb. Very loud for around 20 watts. The clean rivals anything under $1000 and the distortion is much more defined than Marshall or Mesa.

Change the tubes and you are good to go. No problems whatsoever.

Never tried them but who cares. Use a good local amp tech. The schematics are all over the net.

If you ever have the chance to own one, jump on it at any price under $750 because that is what they will be very soon.

An excellent 20-25 watt amp; my main reason for submitting this review is simply that all the other reviews were written by guitarist, but there were no harp players reviews...so here's one for the REAL players! Mine is an 82' and I got it from its original owner -- for free! I had harassed him for years as I wanted his Fender Super Champ, so one day he stops by at the office, says he's moving and needs to get rid of some extra stuff and gives me the Princeton. Yowzah! All features (pull knobs, reverb, etc.) are friggin' great for harp! More than sufficient power output for 90% of all my gigs -- only had to mic it once in a large, amphitheatre venue. All p-t-p soldering, solid as a rock. I/We play both Classic and Contemporary Blues (stictly Blues, dammit!) and this amp has been referred to as "the holy grail" of tone by a fella I consider to be the best harp player in the State. Lots of crunch, punch and great tube sag and breakup. Dave Barrett of HarmonicaMasterClass wanted badly to use it at a gig, but opted at the last minute to use a 59' Bassman (hey, what can I say?), but he was amazed at the depth and punch of this amp and said he's going to find one for himself. It's worth its weight in gold, no kidding. Extremely versatile, fits the bill to a "T." I've got MASCO's, Gibsons, Bogens and all kinds of miscellaneous amps -- this is the amp that I take to gigs, everytime. Never crapped out on me yet.

I've got two guitarists begging me for this amp right now (ah, the sworn enemy of all harp players!) and they can FORGET IT! The reverb gets a little watery at the higher settings, but kept at about 2, it maintains a nice "Little Walter" bounce to it while still maintaining its punch. Not the cleanest of vintage "gold tones" like my 53' Gibson, but a heck of allot more cajones (got a set of balls on it that would make an elephant smile...) than anything else I've heard -- and there's no fear of taking it out on the road like my old classic amps. You can rip clean, sharp lines ala William Clarke, but still pull off some really nice, midnight blue tones ala Sonny Boy. It's got em' all! Interface this amp with a good Shure black label controlled reluctance element or an R7 crystal and you've got yourself an amp that will serve your needs 95%-plus of the time. Silky highs, razor sharp mids and just the right depth in the bass lows. Minimal knob-dicking will produce about any desired results.

I've only had one problem with it, but here's a testament of what kind of amp this is: my pal, the previous owner, had accidentally switched one of the 7025's for the 12AT7 in its power circuit -- and one of the caps had leaked -- but the old soldier just kept on cranking it out. Half the triode had been toasted, but lo and behold, not a problem. This is one tough, damn-near idiot-proofed circuit design -- and by the way, the mythical "Rivera Circuit" isn't a myth -- just plug straight in to the standard input jack and you're there! If your are a harp player, YOU NEED THIS AMP!!!

Never had to deal with Fender as all my stuff goes to one guy -- but other than the switching of two tubes that had been reversed and the replacement of one leaking cap, which I wasn't even aware of until I took it in for a cleaning, it's been as steady as Liberty's Torch.

Been playing for over 30 years. I also have a 53' Gibson GA-20, a Bogen VP-17X and a MASCO MA-17, but as mentioned, this is the amp that I always end up taking to gigs -- it's the toughest and bestest! Can't beat the Gibson Gal for gold tones, the Bogen's a Deluxe in disguise and the MASCO is just all out fun, but they're not my "working amps;" that title goes solely to the Princeton. Like I said, if you're a harp player, you NEED this amp!!! Better get one soon if you're even considering scarfing one; I've been watching the price of these amps steadily rise for years -- and it's for a darn good reason, too. This amp will cut through more crap than any guitarist can dish out -- no matter how large their ego! Front lines or as backup, this old soldier will get you through it with class!

To me, this has got to be just about the perfect amp. Just the right size, weight and power output. A good looking amp too. Just the right classic Fender black face cosmetics except the power switch is front mounted. An improvement, I think. Plywood cabnit, first rate reverb, a very useful master volume, 3 band EQ with a mid boost and all point to point wireing. All this for a third the cost of a modern boutique amp.

The best discription I can give of the sound is like that of a black face Deluxe Reverb but punchier. The Princeton II has more control over tone also. The Treble, Mid and Bass controls are very effective and overall, it's not short on either highs or lows. The reverb can go from light to way deep. This amp runs very quietly too,very good for recording. My amp is all stock except for NOS Westinghouse 6v6 power, JJ ECC83S preamp and JJ ECC81 reverb tubes.

This amp may not have enough power for bands with very high stage volume. But I will say that if it's too loud on stage to hear a Princeton II, I'm not having fun anyway. I use it in a band with 2 horns, bass,drums and keys with Hammond without any problem. I do have a Shure 57 sending a signal to the fronts in bigger venues.

1983 Fender - Rivera - 1x12 stock Fender speaker - newish Fender (Chineese I think) tubes - 6V6 - 6V6 - 7025 - 7025 - 12AT7 - 7025.

22 W class AB push pull on a pair of Chineese 6V6GT(s) - overdrive effect circuit - not point to point a la Matchless but a la Fender, Kendrick, Trainwreck etc. Reverb tank on side. NO footswitch came with the amp but I have some for other amps that work.

Bias adjustment on the back!

WOW! Low noise! As a previous owner of at least 2 dozen vintage and newer tube amps, and a current owner of a 9/10 5f6a (1959 Bassman - NOT THE RE-ISSUE) clone, this amp is the shit. I bought this amp due to: 1) its reputaion, it has a very good one and 2) the reviews on this board HERE.

I play jazz, blues, country, funk, rock, rockabilly and this amp has what it takes to cover me in all those styles. I play two electrics: one 1958 6120 - w/redone filtertrons, and a 1997 Tele - w/Bardins.

The tone on the clean channel is like the blackface/silverface Princeton reverb(s) - same 6V6 ring/shimmer/sensitivity with a fantastic response - but tougher sounding too - I attribute this to the stock speaker. Nice, nice, nice sound from this box.

With the distortion activated, you go towards Mark I/early Boogie territory, familiar Boogie snarl, yet very fender-like. Nothing like newer Fender tube amps - you know the Hot Rod ________ types, this distortion is user friendly, and better than most pre-amp distortion tube circuits.

Why did I buy it? 2 reasons ? 1) CHEAP, GAWD!!! THIS IS BIG TIME TONE FOR 400 BUCKS PEOPLE, GET ONE WHILE THE GETTIN? IS GOOD!! 2) Because I like to open amps up, and a 5f6a is too much power if you play with horns (I do), and this 22W is perfect, you can still drown your bandmates wide open, but you can get more 6V6 ? output tube punch at reasonable levels than the 6L6 push pull designs. This gets a solid 10 here, you could spend thousands...but why, when there are these things around.

Based on other Fenders I've owned, I expect good things here.

Fender just sucks in this catagory.

I wanted big Fender 6V6 (Deluxe/Princeton) tone for cheap (who doesn't) and this amp went well past my expectations. This distortion is great too!

See the other reviews - no need for me to be redundant here. I use all the available features of the amp.

I'm using it with a Strat, and pushing it thru a 4x12 cab in addition to the stock 12" speaker. The extra body added by the closed 4x12 turns it from a good amp to a great amp.

The reason I'm writing this review is to impart some potentially useful info. I didn't have the standard footswitch (rare, apparently) so I used a Peavey dual switch. Turns out that the sweetest sound available in this amp is an overdrive (NOT the distorted 'lead' sound available from the front pullswitch) which is available only by avoiding the RED switch input entirely. In the PLAIN jack, the tip switches reverb and the ring accesses this overdrive. This is probably the "mythical Rivera Ciruit" you hear so much about.... lemme tell you it ain't a myth. It's real, and it's awesome. Not long ago I was gonna trade this amp in fo something else, but since I found this overdrive I'm keeping the amp.

I do like the 'lead' sound too.... I'm in the process of customizing the amp to make the normal, overdrive, and lead sounds (and the mid-boost too) available from footswitches. It's like having 4 different sounds at your feet. Who knows - when I figure it out maybe I'll market it or something.

Never broken down. Got dropped right on a top corner once, and only scraped off a bit of Tolex. Th wood stayed intact, and the amp is fine.

n/a

Now that I've found just what's available under the hood, this amp gets a 9 rating from me. Only reason I'm not giving a 10 is because of my own preference for separate heads & cabinets.

The setup is very similar to early Mesa Boogies. Two channels that share volume and tone controls. This can be a hindrance if you are looking for the "ultimate" clean and distorted sounds out of the amp. In my case, it doesn't apply: please read on.

A buddy of mine owned one of these amps and was constantly "blowing away" anything that I had both in volume and tone. 15 years later I finally decided that I wanted one too! This amp was designed by Paul Rivera. He used to have a little shop in San Diego where I lived and he was the go-to guy for Fender or Marshall repairs/mods. I have owned a R50 and a R100 Rivera amp in the past and have pretty much enjoyed them. Which brings me back to this 35 lb. bundle of dynamite.
Mine came with a footswitch, not the original, but a correctly built copy. So I am able to access everything that this amp has to offer. That said, my tones are found without the footswitch, and with the pull boost pots pushed in. I don't care for the overdrive tones out of the amp, and would rather adjust it for the ultimate clean tone. What heavenly clean tones are found here! The tone stays clean at stage volumes too! Imagine a 35 lb. Twin Reverb with a little more mid and here you have it. NOT the typical jangly Fender clean, but something a little different, but wonderful non the less. Did I mention that this sucker is loud? Imagine a Deluxe Reverb on steroids.

Built like a brick s**t house. Real pine cabinet just like the classic Fender amps of the past, hand wired, a thing of beauty under the hood. I replaced the ORIGINAL tubes that were still in it with a new set of Electro-Harmonix. It turns out that one of the original power tubes wasn't even working, but the little bugger still functioned. Try that with a Hot Rod Deluxe...

Don't need them...any competent amp shop could work on this.

If you are looking at HR Deluxes, Blues Juniors or anything in that power/price point, do yourself a favor and look for one of these. It'll still be churnin' out great tones when the other ones are coffee tables. Don't worry about finding the footswitch, you'll be able to get great usable clean tones out of this amp without it. Just invest in a good distortion pedal. This amp LOVES pedals too!

I thought I bought mine new in 82 , but I may be wrong as I have heard they were not available then, so mine is a '83 . I bought it because it was the right size really. All the solid state ones were just too heavy. Its funny because I was in to a bright sound then and it worked great, Now I look for a different tone flavor and its still there! an extremely versatile amp. I enjoy the direct / Line out for recording a signal late at night. I am a pedal freak so I dont mess with the pull channel much unless I need a real loud raunchy tone. I also sometimes just pull out the Mid knob for a boost , this will add a threshold of distortion thats very cool .

I have two Telecasters one has 2 single coils and the other a Humbucker in the rythym position. I have played in bands with various styles, Blues , ska , Reggae , Punk and straight ahead Rock and Roll. the PR 2
has handled it all. I have miked it in bands that have louder drummers ( hey 20 watts is 20watts) . It response well to the twang . I keep the reverb @ 4 if I have a delay on . This thing has a real wet reverb (hence the name )I favor distortion pedals because I dont want to be pulling knobs between songs.I favor a Pro Rat and a MXR . The clean channel is why I bought it and have kept it so long. There was no switching pedal, I always thought it activated the reverb so I never looked into it .

This amp has logged some miles and some years so here's the history.

Bought in 82? -
in 94 I noticed a crackling noise when it warmed up - took it to the local amp guy. He rebiased the it and dropped in some of those Russian tubes, It was noticeably louder but lost that treble bite so I brought it back and He dropped in a set of Chinese tubes instead and that was the trick. Killer tone , very warm with the full range of grunt and shimmer.
94 - The little bulb in the off /on light blew out - I was playing a gig and thought I had blown it up. Lucky for me I waited and it still worked- But it freaked me out not seeing that jewel light.
95- The electrical plug wiring became exposed, a typical Fender thing. So I had a new one put on - and thats it . I used to kick it to get that crash reverb thing and I am sure it fallen over in the truck several times and always worked . 20 years now

Work well under warranty - Never had any dealings with the Fender people. I am sure user groups are much more informative.

Only thing I own that probably worth more today than when I bought it so that is a good thing. I have had amps that have had built in tremelo, that would have been a good feature but tremelo pedals are cheap, and I dont use the effect on every song - Many people in the industry admire it and I have had cash offers after a lot of gigs. I have bought and sold other amps but this one just agrees with me - I love it.

I've submitted before - tow down fom here - mine's a 1983, bery happy with it. Main reason for submitting is, I've built a website with useful Princeton Reverb II links and a write-up on how to rebias the output valves (tubes). I hope it helps someone; comments welcome.

www.geocities.com/princerev2

see previous/other posts

This is an update to a previous post I did I a few years ago. I replaced the stock speaker just recently with a Celestion Blue Alnico - 12" 15W 8ohm. Apprehensive at first because of the cost of the speaker (list $395.00 US, got it for $200.00), and wattage rating. This speaker is said to be designed for low power class - A amps, but.... popped it in, used at a gig right off the bat. Fantastic. Never took master/channel volume over 5/5. (okay, I pushed it up to 7 or 8 during one solo). The tone was fabulous at all volumes. I found it amazing how different the tone controls respond to this speaker. Almost make it a different beast. One note of caution to those pondering the same swap - I could not remove any of the original speaker mounting screws. The original speaker is mounted with eight screws, the Celestion Blue has 4 screw holes. I broke off 4 - yikes...but it did the trick. This set up made my Strat with Lindy Fralin pickups sound just like I dream about. I intend to use this rig for recording and low volume gigs. I'll bring the Vibro King when I need to move more air.

Recently acquired amp; gigged twice; loving it; nothing to add to other reviews. MAIN REASON FOR SUBMITTING REVIEW is, I'VE GOT A FOOTSWITCH DIAGRAM sketched by someone at Fender in 1986 and faxed to the original owner. I haven't built it yet (neither did the original owner) but it seems to make sense and includes indicator led's (green reverb, red lead channel). If you want a copy, email me. I will build one soon.

See other reviews for more info. Basically it's a 20 W combo with 12" speaker and two channels: ?Clean? - typical Fender and ?Dirty? (I haven't heard any other Fender amp with similar sound). Very versatile for its size and price.

I play Strats. It's not the best sound in the world, but for the price I'll give it 10. Rivera did a really nice job. The amp should be cranked up for best results, but I am afraid to screw my 12" alnico which is rated at 20W.

Never had a problem.

They sell photocopies of schematics for $5.00. Idiots.

The amp is fantastic value. If you can get one don't miss it, even if you already have a similar amp (not too many around). It's all point-to-point and more powerful and versatile than BF and SF Princeton Reverb. By the way, the reverb is fabulous. I'd like to know what's the better deal for the money (see review bellow).

1986 mdl. 100% orginal
changed tubes to 1 12at (reverb) 5751 (preamp) 2 12ax7's
Small gig amp
i use A 1966 Jensen c15n in an extention cab

Called a 2 channel amp, but it is not even close to being independent. The amp shares the reverb tube in the 2nd channel. Removing the reverb from the mix (THIS WAS DUMB. The volume from the 1st channel controls the gain in the second. (very dumb). Footswitch, its a one of a kind that works only with the rivera amps. (this is also dumb)

This amp has 2 good sounds. a warm (kinda) clean sound and a pretty good overdrive when you push the amp around 6-10

2 sounds, tone controls very sensitive and change the tone a bunch.

its a tank

Its ok, its a PTP all tube amp, but its not a real fender nor does it sound like one. They are a great amp for 250.00-300. More then that and there are some others that are money better spent

My amp is from 1984. There are 3 push-pull nobs on this amp. One for lead, one for mid boost, and one for treble boost. It gives a lot of options, but I give this a 7 because don't really care for any of them and think the amp sounds best as is. There is a jack for the "mythical" foot-pedal that I wouldn't use any ways. It has a reverb that sounds best at 3. Any higher than 3 and it starts to sound real tingy and fake.

This is really a great sounding amp. Warm as can be and perfect for the blues tone I like to get. The amp also sounds great with a chorus effect. I play a Gibson Les Paul and a PRS and the humbuckers just sound amazing through the amp. The warm tones the amp gets also helps a LOT when I coil tap my humbuckers to single coil.

The amp could be a bit louder, but I'm not complaining because it's definitely loud enough to hear as a monitor during a gig when it's miked. The amp rattles a little when you crank up the low, but what amp doesn't?

My only complaint in the sound is the lead channel. I got rid of my Crate Vintage Club 30 for this amp. The VC30 was a lot louder and had a killer distortion channel. The lead on the Princeton just sucks if you are looking for a good amp distortion. I'm cool with that and just use my Boss DS-1 Distortion and SD-1 Super Overdrive. That works just great with the amp's regular warm tone. I ended up swaping the speaker out of my VC30 into this amp and it has made a slight improvement.

This amp is 17 years old and the speaker just went a week ago. It only went because it was stored in a terrible climate that is humid as can be.

If the amp were stolen, I imagine that I would look around for another one. It's pretty good and the price is probably the best part. People are paying 450 to 500 for a Hot Rod Deluxe and you can pick up a used Princeton for between 250 and 300 and it sounds just as good minus the loudness and distortion.

1983 Fender Princeton Reverb II with following features:
* 2x6V6 power tubes, 1x12AT7 reverb tube, 3x12AX7/7025 preamp tubes, SS rectifier
* tube-driven reverb
* clean and lead channels via a push/pull volume knob
* individual volume controls per channel, shared EQ, master volume
* push/pull treble boost, push/pull midrange boost, bass, presence
* 12" speaker
* line out, reverb in/out, jacks for pedals to control channels
* only 32lbs soaking wet
* single input jack on front panel
* 20 WRMS

The amp has no effects loop or headphone jack.

With the push/pull this 'n that and the clean/lead channels, this amp has more thna enough controls to get any tone you want from clean jazz to overdriven Boogie and anything in-between.

I have never seen a single amp as versatile as this one and that sounds as good at any setting.

I use a '79 Peavey T-60 (humbucks w/coil tap and out of phase switch) and humbucker-equipped jazz archtops. I (try to) play mostly jazz, but like to dabble in blues/rock.

Prior to a speaker change out, I was a little disappointed. The amp sounded flabby, lacking definition of colored jazz chords on clean settings. I slapped in my spare, recent Jensen C12K and everything changed. The stock Eminence speaker does not do this amp justice.

The amp is virtually noise-free until you hit the lead channel and invoke the mid-boost, then it gets just a little noise - certainly not enough to complain about.

This amp can do clean jazz, Molly Hatchet overdrive, crunchy blues or anything else you want. You've just got to play with the push/pull boost knobs, EQ, and volume settings and it only takes seconds to dial in the right tone.

For 15-20 watts, this amp is very loud - much louder than other 18 watter tube amps I've had (Hohner CA-200, Gibson GA-5T, etc).

The clean stays clean up to tolerable volume levels with crisp highs and good bottom end. when you kick in the lead channel stuff and boosts, man oh man, you get any kind of overdrive you want from clean blues to crunchy texas tones to over the top distortion (not death metal, though).

I'd say this amp excels in good solid jazz tones, clean blues, Texas SRV-type of tones, and rock 'n roll.

One downside is that the reverb is WAY too deep beyond 3 on the clean channel. Of course, that may be a good feature for other folks. With the lead channel engaged, the reverb lessens considerably as Fender used part of the reverb tube for an extra gain stage. So, I just crank the reverb to 10 at that time anbd it sounds perfect - just enough tube 'verb to dimensionalize the sound a little.

I really mean that this sounds awesome, so she gets a 10.

Amp is 18 years old. Appears to be as solid as a rock. Well-built. Mine is in NM condition inside and out. All tubes are still tight in their sockets. No mechanical noise; no weird buzzes - everything as it sohuld be. Had to swap out original 12AT7 reverb tube as it had gone microphonic, but so far that's it. I am not the original owner, but thankfully he took excellent care of the amp. Still, unitl I have the amp for 5 years, I won't rate it for reliability.

Amp has long been out of warranty. Fender has always been responsive sending me schematics and user manuals when I send money. I've hadlots of Fender amps and they have never let me down. Even so, when it comes to this amp, I have not had a reason to contact Fender, so i'll leave the answer as "No opinion".

I've been playing for almost 10 years and own other Fender amps including a SF Super Reverb, Princeton Chorus (the PR II bloes it away), and SF Fender Champ.

I can only say that if you need an amp to cover BB king blues, Texas tones, jazz, and rock n' roll, his is the amp you need. 32lbs of pure solid toneful joy! And it looks cool, too with blackface cosmetics, point-to-point handwiring, black tolex.

I can't really say this amp is a "Fantastic Value" as these amps run form $500-$650 depending on condition. And these amps are simply going up, up, up as Rivera-era Fender gear does. Ergo, I'll give it a "9".

Year of manufacture unknown, but I purchased it used (without footswitch of course) in 1986. I have found it to be a very versatile amp. I am strictly unskilled labour as a guitarist, but the PRII has pretty much done whatever I have asked of it. It would be nice to have an effects loop or a tremolo (or a footswitch) but who am I to complain? As I use the amp for basement noodling, casual jam sessions, and amateurish recording, the power has never been an issue. It was pressed into service for club gigs on three occasions, and performed admirably. With an appropriate resistor in place of the speaker, the line out jack comes in handy for late-night silent recording!

My current guitar inventory consists of a Takamine EF-360, a Danelectro Convertible, and a Harmony Flying V copy w/Gibson Humbuckers and creative wiring. I play whatever style takes my fancy, but tend towards blues/y'allternative. The PRII can be a little hummy in some situations (e.g. single coil setups), but it's nothing I can't get around. It excels at crunchy rhythm sounds and warm blues leads, but it certainly can handle most other sounds you wanna make (within reason). I don't like to crank the clean channel too far, but then I rarely need to. If i were to get another amp, it would be for my electric/acoustic, but i'm not really inclined to. The distortion is great; one sound with a wide range of variation, but what a great sound! When I need more or different distortion I use my Danelectro Fab Tone stomp box. It sounds very nice through the PRII

I have been told how much better this thing will sound when I replace the speaker or tubes, and I will, but not until the original ones break. Not a single problem since I got it, though it is a heavy-duty piece of equipment leading a light-duty life. (one exception to that: I live with cats, and they have barely been able to make their mark on the vinyl or speaker cloth; after what they have done to upholstery and woodwork, that's impressive!)

No problems, but many bad stories about dealing with Fender. If I did have a problem, I would take it to one of my electronics/audio geek friends. I don't trust Factory Service when 20 years have gone by. I also long since obtained the schematics.

I have been playing for 25 years, 15 with the PRII. The only other guitar amp I have owned was a solid state Traynor 2x15 combo which did not suit me at all. I tried out various new and used tube amps based on my limited budget (without much knowledge of what I was looking for) before finding the PRII, and it was unquestionably THE ONE. I don't even want to think about it getting lost or stolen, because I don't want to replace it. Several people have played this amp then started looking for a Rivera-era Fender for themselves.

I picked it up used in '99 in Absolute Mint Condition without a footswitch. Man, what do these people do, keep something in perfect- mint condition for 20 years and then loose the damn footswitch? I have got used to using the clean channel master volume at 10 and the preamp set to whatever the room needs anyway. I've heard the footswitch is a must but I've been happy without it!

It would be nice to have an effects loop. I have always wondered if you can use the reverb in out as an efects loop but never tried. Don't want to risk screwing up a good thing.

I play a Strat and a G&L Asat Jr. through it and it's an absolute killer with both. I play Classic Rock & Rock Blues. I find it's perfectly suited for use as home practice to just about any small club, Pub or Lounge and possibly just a tad small for a large club, "Possibly". This thing rings, groans, barks, sings and just a about anything else you might want it to do. Put any standard pedal setup in front of it and your doin it!And I mean doin it! I put in a Celestion Vintage 30 on advice from a Harmony Central Member and "Holy Shit", Was that Dude ever right! "Mesa Boogie Move over".

As far as reliability goes. This little guy is a tank! One bad tube kept the reverb overdrive and lead gain down once. "Once", "Only One time ever". Just about as bullet proof as they get! Revera cut his teath on these Reverb II series units at Fender. Lucky for Fender he got it right the first time!

Never needed it. A footswitch would be nice but I've been told not to bother trying, It just aint gonna happen!

Started plating in the early seventies with a Telecaster through an old dual showman head on a beat to shit Marshall 1960A. Had all kinds of tube units, never anything solid state though! I had not even tried a small combo before. This was just a "by chance" thing. Saw it in a store, tried it out for the hell of it and it blew me away! Took it home for a practice amp and ended up using it full time!

Would not hesitate for a millisecond about buying another!

For starters, I do have the coveted footpedal, but I rarely use it anymore. I just use various other pedals and occasionally reach back and use the push/pull pots for mid or high boost when needed. To be honest, I think this amp has too many features for what it is: a great small club/practice room amp. It's deceptively powerful (20W that sounds like 30). I play wacky funk and blues and found that the lead channel takes too much tweeking to be bothered with. But that's just me. If you play straight forward rock, blues, jazz or country i can see how the lead channel and boost controls could be very handy.

I bought my PRII in 1984 with a G&L Skyhawk. The two have been happily married ever since. The classic single coil out-of-phase sound drips from this amp. I guess the operative word here is CLEAN. Whether warm or twangy, this amp stays clean at high volumes even after it's warmed up. That's what I love. But I once let a friend borrow it for a gig, and he punk rocked the bejeezus outta the thing with a Les Paul. Sonded great. However, I do find that it can get a bit noisy when you try to overdrive the thing, but I guess that's to be expected. The reverb shimmers, and the tone cuts through the mix. I love the way it makes my collection of cheap stomp boxes sound better. Versatility? I try to use this amp for every occasion and gig - even if I have to mic the little bastard. Damn good amp.

I don't baby my equipment, and I haven't had a problem. Changed my tubes recently, but it's been what? 16 years or so?

Never had to deal with the Fender folks, but I hear they're not very helpful.

I've been playing about 20 years, and most of those years I've used the PRII. I guess that says something. It doesn't do more than it promises and it's reliable. I also use a Sovtek head with a 2x12 Carvin cab and I gotta say, it delivers. But my Princton is the only amp that sits in the livingroom unpacked and ready for action.

the lead channel takes a little "tweaking" and getting used to,
especially for thos of us who grew up during the 1980's heavy metal
scare. spend time with it and you'll have no complaints. The "boost"
and "bright" push-pulls can be disconcerting to the novice who is used
to solid state o.d. channels

I've been playing this amp for literally more than half my life (i'm
28 and this came into the family in 1986) and it has kept up with
EVERY mood, attitude or style change from hardcore punk to jazz. I would suggest that if you like digital/industrial thrash tones this might be too "warm" for you even when running a dist. pedal. the lead channel won't interest you at all...however this thing has the best 70's punk tones i've ever heard. think "holidays in the sun". I've put strats, tele's, LP's ect through this thing and never had a reason to be unhappy w/ any combination. one hint...on really snappy sounding single coil p.u. guitars (tele's and strats in particular)
you may get more twang than you want so turn that ol' treb down

its been dropped, kicked, and hauled across the u.s.a. for more than
a decade and all I have done is clean it occassionally.it has yet to think about not working perfectly every time i plug in. My only kvetch is the reverb unit which tends towards overkill...it has two settings...off and mineshaft.

i've never had to call fender about this amp but they have always
been very professional when i've dealt with them on other matters.

I've gone through marshall, crate, roland, vintage univox and I have
no idea what else. I have bought and sold guitars for several years and was recently told to start buying gear and writing it off by my
accountant and went nuts on guitars and don't even WANT another amp!

i'm a bedroom player, been playing for 35 years.this amp has alway surprised me with it's versatility. 20 watts,12" speaker (i put in a mesa boogie vintage in it about 11 years ago. i also switched all the tubes to mesa boogie. it now blows the doors off a studio 22. i bought this amp new in 1983 at eu wurlitzer's in boston.

better sound after i replaced the above

my stepson blow the original speaker in 1988.

been out of warranty for 16 years, never needed help from fender. they did send me schematics for my same era concert amp i asked for.

i own the original footswitch so it would have to be a grand offer for me to sell it.

Used this amp live for years and years. Clean channel sounds great, classic Fender. If you only use the push/pull boost, you just get boost, like the late seventies Fenders. Sounds like crap. You can't really access the fabled "Rivera Circuit", which kills the reverb and uses the reverb tube as an extra gain stage, without the footswitch. Partssmart has these in stock, BTW. Then you hear the real OD that this baby can put out. Problem is, you need to adjust your tone, mid boost etc., between the clean channel and the OD - you can't just leave the knobs where they were. OK for recording, but not very practical for live. I use the clean channel live with a Fulltone Fulldrive for OD. No loop, but it does have a Line Recording output which sounds awful - real tinny. And the Clean channel starts to break up at higher volumes, sounds as crappy as the push/pull tone, so you have to mic the amp - it's only 12 watts without the Rivera Circuit. Then it gets to 20W. Bottom line - with very little effort you can make this amp sound just like a Twin or a Boogie, but you DO have to make the effort!

Play covers for money, country for art. Use this amp clean live and record with the Rivera on , just enough to give me the "clean-on-the-edge" tone that I love from Deluxes. Amp is very versatile, and just the right size.

Typical tube amp - keep fuses, tubes, etc. handy just like for my other Fenders

Fender won't help you at all unless you're somebody.

This is a great series of amps. I know where a Deluxe II is, and I've been trying to get it since 1990. Twin II's are fairly common, but Way too loud! And heavy! Would like the "true" channel switching of the Deluxe II or the Concert II - they have separate sets of knobs for each channel. The little Champ II's and the Super Champs have priced themselves out of the market, unfortunately. But for versatility, great tone, and (up to now) great prices the Fender Series II's can't be beat!

I think this amp was made in 1985. That is what I have concluded from all the info I have been able to gather so far. I play mostly country and mostly Telecasters. As with everyone else, I CAN'T FIND THE DARNED FOOT PEDAL! The line out feature is unusual on a tube amp and can be very useful. It may be only 20 watts, but it is great for most places. If I need more power I simply mic it!

I play 2 tele's and a strat through it. My main Tele is a Merle Haggard Tribute. This guitar sounds awesome through most any amp! I also play a modified Tele Plus whhich I ripped out all the Lace Sensor pickups and put in Custom Shop Texas Tele's with a 4 way switch. This guitar sounds great now! Both the Teles and the Strat benifit from the pure Fender tone.

Very dependable! Only problem has been tubes (of course!)When I got it used, it had the original set and I have replaced them once. The power tubes I got were lousy (Raytheon)and I need to replace them again after 1 year.

I have e-mailed Fender a couple of times with questions but they have never even responded. It took me 16 months to get my Custom Shop Tuff Dog Tele built. I was originally told 90 days. Then excuse after excuse after excuse followed. I was lucky enough to get Merle Haggard to sign the guitar on the pickguard. I contacted the Custom shop again and asked if I could purchase a replacement so I would not destroy the signature. They said they would be glad to send me one but it would take a couple of weeks. I have called them twice since then still no pickguard. That was almost a year ago! In other words, I think Fender customer service sucks! They don't have any! I love my Fender equipment and have used Fender for 45 years, but it is a good thing it is so reliable!

I have played for over 45 years. Besides the previously mentioned guitars, I have a Vibrasonic Custom amp. Over all this amp is perfect for practice and small club jobs. The tone is outstanding!

Reviera era Fender amp made between 1982 to 1985. One input with 2 footswitchable channels. Output is 20 watts with 2 6V6 output tubes and solid state rectifier. Full eq section with nice range of control over tone. The definitive Fender clean sound on ch.1. The overdrive channel lacks tonal character. Best suited for all styles where clean to medium overdrive is appropriate. Used for aggresive blues. Output is there in a full band situation unless you want to fry pigeons at 20 paces.

As a player for 30 years, I'm fortunate to have a variety of guitars to use and amps to compare to. Before we go any further, expect to change the stock speaker - it stinks. I had great success with a Jenson C12N. It's reasonably priced and perfect for preserving that Fender clean and on the brink tone. Humbuckers retain their character in this amp ( I'm a Gibson guy). Good Strat pickups esp. neck position sound terrific ( I use Fralins in my Strat.) Clean ch. only. The harmonic quality of this amp works very well with overdrive pedals. I use a Barber Tone Pump 2, older Real tube pedal w/ 12at7 (lower gain tube),Tubescreamer (cheap sound tank model) and an occasional compresser. Each has it's own voice and all work well with this amp depending on the guitar and voice you're after. Unfortunately, this is effectively a one channel amp. The overdrive channel lacks the benchmark tone of the clean channel and sounds generic. With a pedal in the clean channel though, this amp delivers.

After a year and change playing many jobs, no problems. A dependable amp.

Never had to contact Fender. Dosen't matter. Amp is out of production.

Highly reccomended. Almost a must if you really want that special Fender tone. Don't worry about the overdrive channel. A good pedal and guitar in the clean channel is worth the price of admission. From Dire Straits to SRV on steroids, this amp is great.

See others: dual channel(distortion channel useless, and the foot switch must be in the twilight zone with all the other missing footswitches, socks and cassette tapes). reverb(lush...), treb/mid,bass. add tremelo, you got a 10.

I play a std am Strat with Lindys, a std Tele, a Carvin tl60, and a DeArmond Starfire thingy. All sound good thru this amp, the Strat and Tele sound like heaven at low to moderate volumes. I play mostly roots rockin' boogie blues stuff. If my band didnt have a keyboard player with the bass-vacuuming left hand, it'd be perfect. Just a tad too few watts for this band. (I had success jamming in another situation without keyboard player, though). This amp is unbelieveably quiet! When its on and you're not playing, it sounds like it's off. Seriously. Put an ibenez tube screamer in the mix, you got an awesome amp for small club dates and especially recording(thats what i mainly plan on using it for). I've found that if you push volumes up all the way, bury all tone, then use either bass or mid, or both as volume control, you get a distortion that far exceeds the on board distortion.

I got it with original Sylvania tubes and non-working reverb. I replaced reverb tank, and retubed(reluctantly) with, uh, i think Electro Harmonix. Surprise, surprise...sounds great. Never broke down, though I don't mainly use it for clubbing.

n/a-havent taken it in.

I've been playing for about 30(dear god) years. I havent actually owned a tremendous amount of amps, but I honestly must say that this is the best sounding for what I do. I also play a Boogie Rocket 44, and a Fender Blues Deville(ehhh).
I have had success gigging with this amp running line out into the face of my Boogie. This gives me the ability to preserve 75% of its tone at a louder volume using the boogie as a boost. Pretty cool.
I bought this unit from a band mate(harp player), who had it sitting around for years and never played it. I thought 200 bucks was pretty fair since it needed a new reverb tank. (at least, that what I told him). If it were stolen, I'd weep. Then I'd spend the insurance money either trying to find another, or to put a hit on the thief who stole it. I have no plans to ever part with this amp.

Extremely versatile. I have used it for recording and small clubs. Excellent clean tone, which distorts nicely at lower volumes for recording.

I have used this with a Les Paul Studio, Standard Strat, and currently run a Tele with Lace sensors. It has gone the gamut from country to all types of rock beautifully. I love the harmonics at higher volumes. I rarely use the overdrive channel, due to the lack of a foot pedal. I consistantly use an Ibanez Tubescreamer for added distortion. It really helps fatten the sound.

I kept blowing fuses, and discovered a spring on the circuit board. No idea how it got there. Other than that, it has been completely reliable. I replaced the tubes five years ago, and am starting to get gremlins again.

No warranty, and the standard story of searching for an elusive foot pedal. Come on, if they built one, they must have plans or something. How hard can a foot pedal be?

I love this amp. I bought it when I first started playing, and lucked out. The seller needed a "bigger" amp. I have always been able to cut through a mix, even with more powerful competion. Fender definitely had their act together on this baby, other than the foot pedal issue. Several amps have come and gone, but the Reverb II stays by my side.

As everyone has already said, plus the much sought after footswitch for lead and reverb, with looong lead.

Clean is CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN, the reverb is gorgeous, and the overdrive is classic. I don't even have this amp
yet, but I know it will sound fantastic with my Hamer Sunburst and Standard, and Tomkins Tele w/B-Bender !!

No problems in the past with other Fender amps, so I don't anticipate any with this one.

Never needed it before.

As someone has already stated, everyone seems to go for the Super Champs, but the Princeton Reverb II does everything the Champ does, just a little louder. I foolishly sold a Super Champ in '88, having owned it for about 3 years. In the past couple of years I realised the error of my ways, and I've been on the lookout for another. I've got
a Marshall 25/50, but that only does one sound. The Princeton fell into my lap one day, and at AUD$600 (about US$365), I feel it's a bargain for the quality of tone it produces - an absolute gem.

Just wanted to make a retraction in my review. I stated that the amp had an effects loop. Well, I had my Deluxe 112 sitting next to the the Princeton and as I was writing the review I glanced around to see If I missed anything and zeroed in on the Deluxe 112. Sorry didn't mean to miss lead anyone. There is not an effects loop on the PRII just an input jack on the front and a line out jack and speaker jack on the back. I stand by the rest of my review. These are great amps. Good job Paul!!

This is a 1982 unit - the Rivera influenced channel switching model with 20 LARGE watts and a beefy 12" EV Force speaker. Point to point wiring and very impressive craftmanship. All tube with three 7025's and a 12AT7 in the preamp and two 6V6GTA's in the power section. DEEP reverb and Boogie-like overdrive. Got this used, so no footswitch was included and they're damn near impossible to find, so any channel swithing requires a pull/push on the knob.

I use a pair of Strats ('57 Reissue and Std) and a Tele through this amp. They all sound beautiful. Im own a couple of other amps that I play out with, but this one has the TONE. This amp is a real sleeper. Its 20 watts will simply overpower many higher rated boxes. No probelm being heard, even with a loud drummer. The clean channel is classic Fender and the OD channel can be dialed in to get just about any amount of fuzz you'd care for. Personally, I use just a touch of OD since I play mostly blues and classic rock. But it has the capability to deliver the Marshall/Boogie type of sound if needed. In a word, this little amp is GREAT. If you can find one, grab it! You won't be sorry.

Solid as a rock. Paul Rivera was behind this design and it shows through in the heavy duty construction and variety of tones it produces. Never had a problem with it and doubt that I ever will. The Fender-Rivera team was a good one.

Never needed it. Never will, in all likelihood.

I've played for awhile and I own several other amps. All are tube, most are Fenders. All have good to great tone. But this one's my favorite. I got it used on the recommendation of another guitarist and I'm SO glad I did. Collectors seem to have a thing for the early 80's Super Champs. Well, this is the Champ's big bro', and it rocks. If you like the Deluxe Reverb, you'll LOVE this one. It does anything a DR will, and more.

Early 80's Rivera designed PR II. I play the blues and nothing else. This amp is excellent for my taste in music.
20-22 watts. Great reverb. Rich and lush.Two channels clean and overdrive. Channel switching via the "rare" factory footswitch. (Yes I have this switch and no I don't want to sell it.) The lead channel is very responsive to tweaking and can go from mild OD to over the top OD. The clean is exceptionally clean, almost like crystal clean. The amp has an effects loop which I don't use. The only feature it doesn't have that would make it more attractive, for me, is a headphone jack. A useful feature for apartment dwellers.
I use this amp at home and to jam with friends and other musical acquaintances. When I first got this amp, I researched various avenues for increasing the wattage. I thought if I could squeeze 30 watts out of it I could use it for gigs. Then I started to jam with a guy from work who uses a Marshall 1/2 stack. This little amp sounds remarkable up against this Marshall and holds it's own until you get to upper sonic levels that only dogs should hear.

I play a tele. Don't even own another electric besides my Godin BG IV bass, which I have played through this amp. I disconnected the speaker and ran it through a 15" bass cab. Sounded great. This amp fits all my needs. It has plently of clean and distorted power. It's light and compact. In a crowded practice room with other amps and guitars in close quarters it can get noisey on the drive channel. But, keep in mind, I use a tele with stock single coil pickups. With a little tweeking and manuvering I can overcome the noise.This little amp can go from clean country, to blues, to over the top distortion. The clean channel is clean to way into the upper volume levels. Add an OD pedal to the clean channel and you can get some excellent blues OD. The drive channel can be driven into varying degrees of OD without a pedal. Add a pedal here and you have endless sonic possiblities.

I've only had the amp for four months, but it has never even given any indication that it wants to break. I don't know how old the tubes are (two 6V6's, and a full complement of 12ax7's), but they seem to work fine. I would be tempted to gig with this amp without any backup. But, I seldom gig anymore.

Never dealt with the company. Never needed any repair, yet. No warranty. The amp is nearly twenty years old.

I've been trying to learn and play guitar for almost forty years. I own several other amps, but this is my pride and joy. If it were lost or stolen I would definitely buy another PR II. I love everything about this amp, just wish it had a headphone jack for practicing. I've owned several amps over the years. I've always been search for something that was compact and powerful enough for gigs. This amp seems to fill the bill. I paid a premium for this amp because of the sound and the fact that it has the all to rare factory footswitch, but it is worth every penny.

This is a 1983 model and I use it to play rock and blues. The amp has channel switching, but I never use it because it did not come with a footswitch and they are near impossible to find! There are a couple of overdrive stages which are Boogie like, and the reverb is very good on the clean channel.(reverb also work when overdrive channel is used. Vibrato would have made this a 10.

I us a Les Paul with Super distortion humbuckers.Most of my playing is studio work, and I can get any sound I want except for heavy metal transistor scream. For that I use a Peavey Studio pro 40.
The speoker has been changed to a 1980 estion G1265, sounds great

Have had this amp for over 10 years, no problems, just new tubes.

The couldnt get a footpedal to save their soul.

I have been playing for 25 years. I have a Boogie, Vibrolux, Concert112 a Traynor and a Mitchell 100. This little amp gets the most use of all and if it were stolen or destroyed, I would get another one.Vibrato would be nice though...

This fine little amp was built by Mister Rivera in '83, I guess. It have a so-called lead channel. Switching by pull poti or foot switch (almost impossible to get one, weird system). Wonderfull mid-boost, good enough for the sixties blues-stuff like Canned Heat, Chicken Shack etc. If it had a tremolo, it was perfect!

I play with several bands, mostly sixties/seventies stuff and dinner music. My bread guitar is a '66 Stratocaster, but I often use a '78 Telecaster and my '80 Guild Starfire too. The Princeton is fine for every of these cuties. I use several stomp boxes: t.c. Chorus, the Boss Overdrive SD-2, Ibanez Delay, Boss Acoustic Simulator. In every situation, the sound is ok, sometimes its to die for! Shure, you can't compare the clean sound with my Super-Reverb, but the crunch and lead thing is compact, gutsy and melodic. I use the built-in overdrive (lead-channel) quite seldeom. At little club-sessions, sometimes; when I am to lazy to carry my stomp gear. But I have to tell you, my wife always says at those eves: Best sound you ever had! One thing about the 22 W RMS: There ist not too much headromm in clean - no Country Roads at higher levels! But if you love the warm, slightly distorted sound: hit the pawnshop and get you an Princeton Reverb II!

The usual tube-amp thing: one fine eve you will have a problem with the power tubes. But you can't compare with my Vox AC-30! That Amp is a mean thing. The Fender is ok, it's the backup for my bigger amps!

Tried to get an footswitch. No hope, no help. They bug me!

I'm in my late 40's, I try to play the guitar since I am 15. I have the Selmer amp, the Super Reverb Silverface and the 69'Vox AC 30. If the Prince were stolen, I would try to get me another one. I love the sound and how easy I can get it, but I hate the worries with the foot switch. One thing left to say: This is not an bedroom-amp, drive it to the limit!

This amp is God...in almost every way. Good for jazz, vintage rock, modern rock, everything...the other guy wrote about it's features.

Amazing clean sound...I can play jazz, rock, or whatever I want, with minimal adjustments. One problem...which isn't really a problem...more of a fact of life; when I run my boss fz-3 fuzz pedal into it on full fuzz, the amp just explodes, but i guess that's they way it is with most amps.

the tubes have lasted for about 15 years, and it's tough as a brick...also heavy like one too.

Warranty's over... bought it new in the early 80's, and i haven't had to have anything changed or fixed.

Just nab one right now. Sounds great with all vintage pedals...especially tape echos.

Great Rivera design ,channel switching ( really lead mode using the reverb drive) 1 --12" oxford speaker .vol treb bass mid (with pull for mid boost) Reverb(only in normal mode) Master vol & presence..20 watts rms (sounds more like 50 watts)

Great clean Fender sound,and Boogie type overdrive sound....

Have had it 2 years no problems

N/A this amp is 15 yrs old totally out of warranty

Very satisfied uI use it for practice at home and i've used it to play with full group.Cuts thru the mix fine..