Fender '68 Custom Princeton Reverb question(s)

[makeuacaster]

First, this amp is blue! Most are black. And Fender calls it "Navy", but obviously more sky blue. Specs on this amp show it is a 12W amp, yet this one shows 15W on the chassis!! The Greenback . . . not in standard '68's. Good or bad? Curious about the origin of this amp and/or time line when made. Maybe a hint at current "used" value? Popular mods? image removed

 

[JSMac]

The electric blue, as they called it, was a limited edition color that was offered around 2018. The Greenback is an upgrade from the non limited edition ones. Since the retail price was increased they seem to be selling for up to around $700 used.

The only mods I did to my regular ‘68 PRRI was a speaker replacement and a simple mod to tame the bass and make the bass control more usable.

 

[Wally]

I see a tube chart and a smaller white&black label inside the cab. Is there a two letter date code written on that smaller label? If so, that code will date the amp. Otherwise, one starts dating the transformers by their EIA codes. There might be a date code on that Celestion.

 

[Willie Johnson]

@Wally, can you shine some light on the whole 12vs15 watts thing? I have a 65 PRRI and it has the 15 watts notation on the chassis, but I've wondered if that's supposed to reference the minimum speaker wattage. I know that the RMS wattage of an amp can vary.

 

[Wally]

@Wally, can you shine some light on the whole 12vs15 watts thing? I have a 65 PRRI and it has the 15 watts notation on the chassis, but I've wondered if that's supposed to reference the minimum speaker wattage. I know that the RMS wattage of an amp can vary.

No, I can’t. I had always thought of the Princeton/Princeton Reverb amps as 15 watt amps, but the vintage amps do not have an output rating under the speaker out Jack as do many other Fenders??? The Fender Amp field Guide shows the Bf/SF Princeton to be a 12 watt amp while the BF/SF Princeton Reverbs are shown as ‘12-15 watts’???? Their transformers are the same as are their voltages. Why the difference? I don’t know. Why did Fender not indicate the output on the back of the chassi? I don’t know.
How much difference would one hear between 12 and 15 watts? None, imho. The speaker choose would by far make more difference.
That 15 watts rating is the output….maybe RMS??? Who knows how Fender arrived at that number. The G10 Celestion shown above is probably a 25-30 watt speaker.