Amp for p-90 + HB Tele

[Augustin187]

I saw a guitar I just had to have and I took the plunge. Big spend - but I flipped some gear for it and I know I’d forever be looking for it if I didn’t get it now. So congratulations to me! I got a custom shop tele with p90s and a humbucker at the bridge.

I’m not a super experienced player but I’m an audio engineer and it’s nice to have good flavors around my room. I’m looking for a good / great amp pairing for this guitar. I did some googling and the Fender Tweeds seemed to be popular.

—————-

The amps I have:

Fender '65 Princeton Reverb 1x12" 12-watt​

(It’s the tweed looking one from sweetwater - but am I correct in thinking it’s not really a “tweed” amp)

Orange AD30 with a 4x12 with the stock Vintage 30s

—————

I was thinking about going a couple routes. I’m mostly interested I 1x12s

- get nothing, that would be a wise choice but I’d like my new axe to have a friend if the amps I have are as unsuited as the internet makes them out to be. Maybe I’m covered relatively that would be great news.

- get a true “tweed” 1x12 (something newly available and returnable and demoable

- get an orange 1x12 cab and put an alnico gold or blue in it for the AD30

Thanks for your thoughts wise and experienced sonic lords.

Idk why some of this is bold and some isn’t I tried to fix that but failed

 

[Augustin187]

I should add the most experience I have with HB and fender amps is a 57 champ reissue and a Les Paul…. To my mind and for that player they didn’t gel - too much pickup for the champ maybe…. So I didn’t include the champ in my choices

 

[Silverface]

The '65 Princeton RI (yes, it's just tweed covered) is a great amp with P90's. I play several P90 guitars through mine - a goldtop with 50's P90's; a mahogany Tele with birdseye maple top that's just blistering;An Epi Les Paul Custom that someone - do NOT blame me for this - completely hollowed out on both sides from the peak of each upper bout to the peak of each lower bout (I got it for basically a handful of parts - and the thing is an absolute tone monster!) - it has wonderful clean tone, to a bit of grit to saturated distortion.

The key with that amp is to install the right speaker, as the stock one is VERY weak in the reissue. I suggest a Celestion creamback or the Warehouse speakers copy (I think they have a 10) - I have a Tone Tubby Red that's voiced a bit differently for enhanced mids (a 10" vesion of the Clapton 12").

And getting rid of the stock tubes is a priority. NOS (and "pulls" that have been amp tested) RCA, Sylvania, GE, Amperex, Mullard tubes from the 60's and 70's are usually excellent (NOT the new ones made by New Sensor - NOT the same tube) - it's bizarre how many players have been convinced that they need to change tubes every year or two: my 1961 blonde Showman is running on all the original tubes, and it was a touring amp for decades. The power tubes are still bias-matched to within 3ma of each other.

You've got a 12 watt amp that could sound excellent *IF* you work with your amp tech to optimize it for your style and "touch" (both left hand string pressure and right hand attack, movement and damping.

If you wanted to pair it with something voiced differently, the Vox AC15 HW1 is a 15 watt hand wired amp with the volume of most 25-40 watt amps, and has two distinct preamps - the Vox "Top Boost" preamp and one using the EF86 tube - with a pentode/triode switch for different gain levels, plus a bass voicing switch. It essentially is combining the two early Vox preamps with the one 15-watt power amp and a 12" speaker. They can be found for reasonable prices because many players don't understand them - and the hand-wired construction is more durable and easier to service that PCB amps. I had one that sold only because I had to quit gigging for health reasons and I used it mainly as a stage amp.

I just don't see where "going tweed" would really be of much use unless you really want a more raw, gritty sound. If so, you'd be looking at laying out some cash - you would not want a "tweed" amp with a dead-sounding fiberboard or cheap, butt-jointed plywood cabinet - and more info would be needed about what style(s) you play -

That AD30 with a 4x12 is overkill for most club work; it's doubtful you can turn it up enough to properly drive the speakers. The AD30, like a Vox AC30, has the volume of Fender's 40-80 watt amps. The key to good tone is the right amp/speaker setup turned up near the top of its headroom. I see mostly 15-30 watt amps in clubs unless a band is playing hardcore or metal; and rarely seeing those levels..usuqlly lower...if amps are mic'd.

A 30 watt EL84 based amp turned up to 4 isn't getting anywhere near the full response out of the amp.


Hope that helps

 

[Augustin187]

It super helps thank you so much.

As far as voicing goes - the ac30 vs the tweed deluxe are very different I’m reading online… I wonder what speaker I can put in a 1x12 cab to make my ad30 more versatile and add a lower volume flavor maybe leaning toward the tweed if at all possible.

 

[Dukex]

I think P-90s sound good with everything--at least everything I've tried.

 

[tele_savales]

JTM-45 would be fun. Then you'll have that Marshall sound also.

 

[jvin248]

.

P90s are awesome as bridge pickups (too muddy for neck pickups), just like Tele pickups.
I'll rotate bridge humbuckers so the screw poles are on the neck bobbin and raise the screw poles to get more of a P90 tone from them.

As far as the amp ... just get something that plays to the volume loudness you want. Too many players 'gotta have tubes!' that they put a mic to that runs through a solid state PA -- they are just using the tube amp as an expensive pedal.


Stacking pedals:

"My amp is set depressingly clean"



Find a used Peavey Bandit. Loud, durable, inexpensive, and takes pedals great.



.

 

[Augustin187]

JTM-45 would be fun. Then you'll have that Marshall sound also.

I’m looking to understand what infact the tweed sound is / why p90s are famed to like them…. how that might compare to a JTM or an Ac30

 

[Augustin187]

Found a thread

Tweed Deluxe clean vs JTM45 clean?

I have been convinced for a good while that I need a 5e3 and a JTM45 in my life. Lately I have become a big fan of playing through clean(ish) settings and hitting the amp with a boost/OD when needed. If it helps, I'm pretty big on single coil pickups. I like playing classic rock & blues...

www.tdpri.com

 

[PhredE]

Ever consider getting a Joyo American Sound and experimenting with a range of Fender tones? For $40, you get lots of EQ /tone shaping. You can get to decent (not identical !) Bassman, Twin, early Tweed tones, etc with one.

jvin248 has at least 2 posts about it in his post above.

 

[Augustin187]

I’ve falsely maybe read the ac30 and the ad30 are really similar sounding. So I never look at the ac15s - those have blue alnico new

 

[Augustin187]

Ever consider getting a Joyo American Sound and experimenting with a range of Fender tones? For $40, you get lots of EQ /tone shaping. You can get to decent (not identical !) Bassman, Twin, early Tweed tones, etc with one.

Not sure what that is - will check out some demos! Thanks for the note

 

[PhredE]

Not sure what that is - will check out some demos! Thanks for the note

Google will uncover the details. There are lots of threads and posts here on TDPRI too. It's an 'amp-in-a-box' type pedal.
I believe they are still available through Amazon and CheaperPedals.com

Cheaper than a new speaker or a new amp.

 

[JohnnyCrash]

The '65 Princeton RI (yes, it's just tweed covered) is a great amp with P90's. I play several P90 guitars through mine - a goldtop with 50's P90's; a mahogany Tele with birdseye maple top that's just blistering;An Epi Les Paul Custom that someone - do NOT blame me for this - completely hollowed out on both sides from the peak of each upper bout to the peak of each lower bout (I got it for basically a handful of parts - and the thing is an absolute tone monster!) - it has wonderful clean tone, to a bit of grit to saturated distortion.

The key with that amp is to install the right speaker, as the stock one is VERY weak in the reissue. I suggest a Celestion creamback or the Warehouse speakers copy (I think they have a 10) - I have a Tone Tubby Red that's voiced a bit differently for enhanced mids (a 10" vesion of the Clapton 12").

And getting rid of the stock tubes is a priority. NOS (and "pulls" that have been amp tested) RCA, Sylvania, GE, Amperex, Mullard tubes from the 60's and 70's are usually excellent (NOT the new ones made by New Sensor - NOT the same tube) - it's bizarre how many players have been convinced that they need to change tubes every year or two: my 1961 blonde Showman is running on all the original tubes, and it was a touring amp for decades. The power tubes are still bias-matched to within 3ma of each other.

You've got a 12 watt amp that could sound excellent *IF* you work with your amp tech to optimize it for your style and "touch" (both left hand string pressure and right hand attack, movement and damping.

If you wanted to pair it with something voiced differently, the Vox AC15 HW1 is a 15 watt hand wired amp with the volume of most 25-40 watt amps, and has two distinct preamps - the Vox "Top Boost" preamp and one using the EF86 tube - with a pentode/triode switch for different gain levels, plus a bass voicing switch. It essentially is combining the two early Vox preamps with the one 15-watt power amp and a 12" speaker. They can be found for reasonable prices because many players don't understand them - and the hand-wired construction is more durable and easier to service that PCB amps. I had one that sold only because I had to quit gigging for health reasons and I used it mainly as a stage amp.

I just don't see where "going tweed" would really be of much use unless you really want a more raw, gritty sound. If so, you'd be looking at laying out some cash - you would not want a "tweed" amp with a dead-sounding fiberboard or cheap, butt-jointed plywood cabinet - and more info would be needed about what style(s) you play -

That AD30 with a 4x12 is overkill for most club work; it's doubtful you can turn it up enough to properly drive the speakers. The AD30, like a Vox AC30, has the volume of Fender's 40-80 watt amps. The key to good tone is the right amp/speaker setup turned up near the top of its headroom. I see mostly 15-30 watt amps in clubs unless a band is playing hardcore or metal; and rarely seeing those levels..usuqlly lower...if amps are mic'd.

A 30 watt EL84 based amp turned up to 4 isn't getting anywhere near the full response out of the amp.


Hope that helps

I gotta see a photo of that chopped Epi tone demon!

 

[Silverface]

I gotta see a photo of that chopped Epi tone demon!

Ask and you shall receive:

Each side as it was "carved out" - and one side filled, laying on top of my Fender 800 pedal steel (both are filled; I just took one picture to post here). It's inexpensive, smooth-surface, closed cell "hard foam". Trimmed it it to fit (It was 2" wide before trimming and the gaps on the Les Paul varied, but were very close to 1 1/2".

The foam is only 1" deep, so I was shocked that I could cut it just about 1/16" oversized (for a "friction fit"), stick it in each side, and after a little trimming/tweaking there were no folds or wrinkles!I haven't even glued the stuff in.....

Nobody noticed the color difference during the hour or so at the tech shop I work with - 8 or 9 experienced players came in to drop off or pick stuff up - and about half were standing next to me while I was playing it.

I wish we'd taken pictures of some of the looks when I yanked the foam out!

 

[Lakeabilene]

I would recommend you try a Suhr Badger 18 with the P90. It sounds remarkable to me with my P90 Jaguar and all other P90 pickups. Has a great tone and smooth breakup point when you push it. I just want to play all night when I use them together.

 

[57joonya]

I saw a guitar I just had to have and I took the plunge. Big spend - but I flipped some gear for it and I know I’d forever be looking for it if I didn’t get it now. So congratulations to me! I got a custom shop tele with p90s and a humbucker at the bridge.

I’m not a super experienced player but I’m an audio engineer and it’s nice to have good flavors around my room. I’m looking for a good / great amp pairing for this guitar. I did some googling and the Fender Tweeds seemed to be popular.

—————-

The amps I have:

Fender '65 Princeton Reverb 1x12" 12-watt​

(It’s the tweed looking one from sweetwater - but am I correct in thinking it’s not really a “tweed” amp)

Orange AD30 with a 4x12 with the stock Vintage 30s

—————

I was thinking about going a couple routes. I’m mostly interested I 1x12s

- get nothing, that would be a wise choice but I’d like my new axe to have a friend if the amps I have are as unsuited as the internet makes them out to be. Maybe I’m covered relatively that would be great news.

- get a true “tweed” 1x12 (something newly available and returnable and demoable

- get an orange 1x12 cab and put an alnico gold or blue in it for the AD30

Thanks for your thoughts wise and experienced sonic lords.

Idk why some of this is bold and some isn’t I tried to fix that but failed

Congrats , the guitar would probably sound good through a lot of different combos . But I would be looking for something that you can crank a bit like less than 20 watts . Maybe like a brown Princeton , or the Chris Stapleton Princeton I’ve been after . I have a goodsell super 17 with a volume/tone/gain knobs . I like it simple , nothing getting in the way of pure tonal bliss .but you should maybe try to get to a store that guitar through a few things . That’s always the best way .

 

[uriah1]

Princeton is a great base to use for that guitar. Swap speakers out for what you want.. Alnicos, fanes, cream, etc.
IF the only P90 you have is in the neck position, that is dark and jazzy anyway..add some 50s wiring to brighten it up a tad.
Have fun

 

[NoTeleBob]

I’m looking to understand what infact the tweed sound is / why p90s are famed to like them…. how that might compare to a JTM or an Ac30

Keith Richards is the best example of raw tweed sound I know of.

I don't think it's the tone for P90's but give it a run. P90's sound good through a lot of amps once you play with the EQ a bit.

 

[Skyhook]

I saw a guitar I just had to have and I took the plunge. Big spend - but I flipped some gear for it and I know I’d forever be looking for it if I didn’t get it now. So congratulations to me! I got a custom shop tele with p90s and a humbucker at the bridge.

HNGD!
Sounds great!

So... that gear you flipped... did it include your camera, since you didn't post pics of your find.. ?