brown princeton or tweed deluxe

from what i read these two seem to me to be similar amps except for the vibrato

i am pretty familiar with the 5e3 having used one for a couple years - i love its portablity and thick compressed, driven tone

will a 6g2 purchase will give me enough of a different tonal palette to make the outlay worthwhile?

would like hear from anyone on how the tone of the brown princeton [6G2] differs from the tweed deluxe [5E3]

to my ear, the 6G2 is just a bit tighter than the 5E3. IT is closer to the 5F6A/early Marshall thing imo. This could be attributed in part to the difference in biasing...cathode in the 5E3 and fixed in the 6G2...and the 6G2 also used a ceramic speaker vs. the Alnico JEnsen in the 5E3.

I have a '62 6G2 Princeton and a '55 Tremolux 5E9 (circuit is supposedly similar to the 5E3) and I don't think the two amps sound much alike. The Princeton is a lot tighter and has less low end. There's a big difference even when putting the 6G2 thru the T-Lux's speaker/cabinet. It's more focused wheras the Tremolux kind of blooms.
Both are cool amps. You should definitely check the Princeton out.

I agree with the above opinions, I had a Mission 5E3 and a 6G2. The tweed is a tweed and has "that" voice that we all know and love. The Princeton is tighter and has more headroom but gets really dirty from about 7 on up where as the 5E3 got dirty around 3 on the volume. The Princeton has bias vary tremolo and the Deluxe has two channels. Both bring a lot to the table and are different, the brown is literally and tonally right between the tweed and BF amps. The one I still have is the 6G2.:cool:

And some of the early brown Princetons did come with an alnico Oxford speaker Wally. Mine is an early 62 and it came with the alnico.

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u204/meyekel/_MG_4285.jpg

meyekel, if that speaker is original, then I stand corrected. The only all-original 6G2 I have had carried the Jensen C10R. The other speaker that is listed for that amp as OEM would be the Oxford 10J4. Do you have any codes from that speaker in your Princeton?

Hey Wally, the speaker code is 10JB-14 465-122. So best guess is 22nd week of 1961. Transformer codes are 606146. The amp is actually a 6G2A from the tube chart.

Not to hijack OP, so anyone in the Denver area is welcome to stop by and try out the amp. I think there are a few You Tube clips of a brown Princeton too.

Those dates fit the amp. That 'B' in the code must be Alnico????

Myekel-
The speaker code on my 6G2A is 10JB-14-465-123,and the date code is KK-November 1961.S/N P00898.I agree it sounds kinda half-blackface,half-tweed,and all cool.
Not to hijack,but inside my Princeton the number 205 is hand written in what looks like crayon on the speakerboard and also on the side opposite the tube chart.Anyone know what that means?

Myekel-
The speaker code on my 6G2A is 10JB-14-465-123,and the date code is KK-November 1961.S/N P00898.I agree it sounds kinda half-blackface,half-tweed,and all cool.
Not to hijack,but inside my Princeton the number 205 is hand written in what looks like crayon on the speakerboard and also on the side opposite the tube chart.Anyone know what that means?

No idea what it's about, but mine has "14" grease-penciled in the same spots. I'd be interested to know why too.