Fender hype.

[Grandfunkfan]

I bought a Fender 68 custom
Princeton last week after reading review after review if what a great amp it is, especially for clean tones. Got it home and played it for a few days and I liked it, but it didn't have a ton of head room and I wasn't sure about the 10 inch speaker. Anyway, after a few days of dialing in my new toy, I plugged into my Peavey Delta blues just to change things up and I couldn't believe how much better it sounded than the Princeton. I never bothered to do a side by side comparison up to that point because I figured it was apples and oranges. Besides the head room and the drive channel, you get with the Peavey the clean tones were much better. Richer, more colorful, and way more nuanced. Wasn't expecting the two amps to compete with each other, just wanted one for strictly cleans and the other for everything else. Just goes to show you what marketing can do. I can't remember the last time I read a bad review on ANYTHING Fender sells. I guess with so many of us buying their gear online now the big boys have figured out how to manipulate retailers and online reviews to hype their products. It's not just Fender. I played the Epiphone inspired by stuff too and it didn't live up to the hype either. Just saying...

 

[Rufustelestrats]

Sorry to hear about your personal situation. I have had nothing but good sounds from the Fender amps I have. Granted on occasion I have purchased and then returned an amp I felt was less than what I had hoped for. I had a 68 custom deluxe and 68 vibroluxe and was less than impressed in both cases, so as they say horses for courses.

 

[hamerfan]

Put both amps back to back and plug the Peavey speaker into the Fender amp. This should clear things up.

 

[985plowboy]

I understand where you are coming from.
But yeah, it’s apples and oranges.

DB is 30 watts of EL-84 through either 2/10” or 1/15”.
The Princeton ain’t, but it does what it does and what it does is considered a “classic” tone.

Keep it if you like it, hurry up and return it if you don’t.
Perhaps a Deluxe Reverb and your OD pedal of choice would better fulfill your expectations.

Or there is no shame rocking that DB.

 

[985plowboy]

Put both amps back to back and plug the Peavey speaker into the Fender amp. This should clear things up.

Check amp output impedance before you do that.
I’m not the expert on these things but the DB is 16ohm.
The PR isn’t.
There is a rule on what is safe and what may harm the amp but I don’t know it.

 

[AndrewG]

The Delta Blues is a great amp; I was loaned one for a gig once and was mightily impressed. I also owned a Classic 50 2x12 and gigged that for a couple of years, but it became too big and cumbersome to drag around so was sold. I'd like Peavey to reissue the Classic 20 combo. With the current trend toward smaller, less powerful amps, Peavey could be missing a trick.

 

[budglo]

So you prefer the tone of your Delta Blues to a 68 Princeton without a broken in speaker ? Why is this Fenders fault? I have had quite a few Fender amps over the years and they have all been great . Maybe it’s just that you prefer the Peavey over the one Fender amp you’ve had . Nothing wrong with that , but to troll Fender because you prefer something else is a bit over the top, no? Of course aside from being a different tone stack , tube platform , speaker size , the peavey is going to have a lot more headroom . I would never expect much headroom out of a Princeton, especially a 68 custom which was designed with less than the prri. Oddly enough , the amp I owned for the least amount of time was the peavey classic 30 .

 

[CCK1]

So you prefer the tone of your Delta Blues to a 68 Princeton without a broken in speaker ? Why is this Fenders fault? I have had quite a few Fender amps over the years and they have all been great . Maybe it’s just that you prefer the Peavey over the one Fender amp you’ve had . Nothing wrong with that , but to troll Fender because you prefer something else is a bit over the top, no? Of course aside from being a different tone stack , tube platform , speaker size , the peavey is going to have a lot more headroom . I would never expect much headroom out of a Princeton, especially a 68 custom which was designed with less than the prri. Oddly enough , the amp I owned for the least amount of time was the peavey classic 30 .

I agree @budglo, just because they're radically different amplifiers does not mean the Fender is "bad". It just means the OP likes the sound of the Peavey better. No shame in that.

 

[DannyBigShots]

Did you buy the '68 Princeton expecting clean headroom?

 

[Wound_Up]

I bought a Fender 68 custom
Princeton last week after reading review after review if what a great amp it is, especially for clean tones. Got it home and played it for a few days and I liked it, but it didn't have a ton of head room and I wasn't sure about the 10 inch speaker. Anyway, after a few days of dialing in my new toy, I plugged into my Peavey Delta blues just to change things up and I couldn't believe how much better it sounded than the Princeton. I never bothered to do a side by side comparison up to that point because I figured it was apples and oranges. Besides the head room and the drive channel, you get with the Peavey the clean tones were much better. Richer, more colorful, and way more nuanced. Wasn't expecting the two amps to compete with each other, just wanted one for strictly cleans and the other for everything else. Just goes to show you what marketing can do. I can't remember the last time I read a bad review on ANYTHING Fender sells. I guess with so many of us buying their gear online now the big boys have figured out how to manipulate retailers and online reviews to hype their products. It's not just Fender. I played the Epiphone inspired by stuff too and it didn't live up to the hype either. Just saying...

Really? A conspiracy about online reviews? Come on. Plenty of people don't like how they sound. That's why they buy Orange, Marshall, Vox, etc... or other Fender designs. Just because you see less bad reviews doesn't mean there's some conspiracy to keep customers from seeing them to build up false hype.

For what? Why would Fender need to do that exactly? They sold more guitars in the last 2 years than any 2 years in their ENTIRE history. I'm sure they've sold a ton more amps, too.

Fender doesn't need to conspire to hide bad reviews to build "fake hype" over their products. They aren't some kid that just opened up his own guitar mfg business and is trying to get people to buy his stuff. This is FENDER. They can and do sell based on their reputation alone. They don't need fake hype.

 

[Si G X]

I bought a Fender 68 custom
Princeton last week after reading review after review if what a great amp it is, especially for clean tones. Got it home and played it for a few days and I liked it, but it didn't have a ton of head room and I wasn't sure about the 10 inch speaker. Anyway, after a few days of dialing in my new toy, I plugged into my Peavey Delta blues just to change things up and I couldn't believe how much better it sounded than the Princeton. I never bothered to do a side by side comparison up to that point because I figured it was apples and oranges. Besides the head room and the drive channel, you get with the Peavey the clean tones were much better. Richer, more colorful, and way more nuanced. Wasn't expecting the two amps to compete with each other, just wanted one for strictly cleans and the other for everything else. Just goes to show you what marketing can do. I can't remember the last time I read a bad review on ANYTHING Fender sells. I guess with so many of us buying their gear online now the big boys have figured out how to manipulate retailers and online reviews to hype their products. It's not just Fender. I played the Epiphone inspired by stuff too and it didn't live up to the hype either. Just saying...

Nothing is ever going to live up to the hype, that's why it's called hype- 'Exaggerated or extravagant claims made especially in advertising or promotional material' .... and most 'reviews' are simply advertisements or promotions. It's always been that way. They are in the business of selling you things.

Get some healthy cynicism in your life, you aren't a child, you know how this stuff works.

They are £1000 over here, which I think is a mad price for a 1x10 combo but if it's exactly what you want then you'll pay it I guess... if not there's plenty of other options. A good clean tone isn't hard to find, it's the easiest.

 

[Southpaw Tele]

This was click bait and it was posted in the incorrect sub forum.

 

[codamedia]

I plugged into my Peavey Delta blues just to change things up and I couldn't believe how much better it sounded than the Princeton. I never bothered to do a side by side comparison up to that point because I figured it was apples and oranges.

You are right... it is apples and oranges.

However, I think what you just experienced was how great the Peavey Classic series really is, despite the bad press it can sometimes get. The Princeton is a classic.... it's a wonderful amp, but the Peavey Classic series (which includes the Delta Blues) are also great amps.

This was click bait and it was posted in the incorrect sub forum.

Click bait without links... how does that work?
Seriously... the guy just shared his experience, which is what we do around here.

 

[OldPup]

I don't understand all the hatin' in response to OP. I'm a huge Fender fan. I have 5 Fender tube amps, 2 more builds of Fender Tweed amps, and 2 of their guitars. So I'm not here to pile on Fender. It's not a conspiracy that reviews are heavily weighted toward the positive. It's called money bias, marketing, and PR and no doubt a substantial portion of Fender's budget. Find a bad review of any gear in Guitar World, for example. If you think that is a coincidence, I got some land in Florida for sale. Many other major publication are similar. There was also a lengthy post on this forum recently gushing over the 68 CPR.

For those of us who visit and post to this site multiple times daily, we've seen plenty of gripes about this particular amp. However, when I bought my 68 CPR I didn't know there was any difference between it at the 65 PRRI apart from the cosmetic aspect and maybe some esoteric je ne sais quoi circuitry juju. Now I know, because that amp is unexpectedly weird and I was able to come here and say what was on my mind and ask questions. People were generally civil in their responses.

@Grandfunkfan, it's great you rediscovered what works for you. If you didn't do research on the 68 CPR using terms like 'muddy' or 'bassy' or 'headroom' or 'speaker swap' (and who would!!), then you only read things about its tasty break up at low volumes or finding the edge of dirt at bedroom levels. Run searches with the terms I just mentioned and you'll see thread after thread about people wondering how to mod the amp so it sounds like a 65 PRRI or a blackface Fender. The 68 CPR is a dirt pedal in amp form. Some people love it. I was not one of them.

+1 to the suggestion above to place the amps back to back and plug each's speaker into the other and see how that changes tone. I never did that with my 68 CPR and I wish I had. Another suggestion is the 68 Custom Deluxe Reverb. Do the research, but if I'm not mistaken that amp has a cleaner clean channel (not sure if it's the NORMAL or VIBRATO channel input) and the other channel is something akin to the 68 CPR.

 

[mad dog]

I've not tried the Custom PR, but did pick up a used '65 RI PR. Came to me with an upgrade JF Naylor Special Design ceramic. This one sounds better to me than any other PR I've heard, including a vintage one. And it is a 10" speaker. I never wanted a 12" in this small of an amp.

 

[Tim S]

I bought a Fender 68 custom
Princeton last week after reading review after review if what a great amp it is, especially for clean tones. Got it home and played it for a few days and I liked it, but it didn't have a ton of head room and I wasn't sure about the 10 inch speaker. Anyway, after a few days of dialing in my new toy, I plugged into my Peavey Delta blues just to change things up and I couldn't believe how much better it sounded than the Princeton. I never bothered to do a side by side comparison up to that point because I figured it was apples and oranges. Besides the head room and the drive channel, you get with the Peavey the clean tones were much better. Richer, more colorful, and way more nuanced. Wasn't expecting the two amps to compete with each other, just wanted one for strictly cleans and the other for everything else. Just goes to show you what marketing can do. I can't remember the last time I read a bad review on ANYTHING Fender sells. I guess with so many of us buying their gear online now the big boys have figured out how to manipulate retailers and online reviews to hype their products. It's not just Fender. I played the Epiphone inspired by stuff too and it didn't live up to the hype either. Just saying...

Thanks for your post. The honesty made my day.

On the bright side, it’s nice to be reminded why you originally bought “old faithful” (no matter what it is) in the first place. (Even when it out-shines the latest purchase)

 

[Dostradamas]

Try the fender through the peavy 15 and see if that makes it all better.

I am sold on 15's
No more tens or twelves for me

 

[Silverface]

Anyway, after a few days of dialing in my new toy,

A few days was about 7-57 days short of breaking in the speaker depending on your normal -playing volume!

You can't possibly judge the tone or headroom of ANY new amp unless it's a boutique model that is sold specifically with a broken-in speaker.

I have a couple small cabinets in my shop that I use for all new speakers; they are installed, the cabinets covered with several old furniture blankets, a Hotone SS micro amp hooked up to the speaker (s), and an old iPod plugged into the amp v- and run in a loop of Prog Rock, Jazz and Classical music to cover the full frequency spectrum. It's a cheap version of my old isolation cabinet, which I gave to a friend.

New speakers are run 24 hours a day for about 7-10 days. If you just play thru the amp you'll need a solid month of 2 hours a day with many speakers, especially ones that handle higher power (and new Jensens, which are overly "gooped" and need longer to break in).

"A few days" tells you nothing about how the amp OR speaker will sound when broken in.
And many new amps are biased cold as manufacturers don't want you blowing power tubes and asking for warranty work. Proper biasing may lower the headroom, but will do wonders for the tone - AFTER the speaker is broken in!

 

[burntfrijoles]

Everyone is different. I have a PRRI SE w 12” Speaker. It’s the best amp I’ve ever owned and I’ve owned a few: Victoria, Boogie, Peavey, Morgan, Tone King etc
When I first got I thought it might be a mistake but after couple of weeks I knew it was a winner. The Morgan and Tone King came after the PRRI. After the honeymoon was over with each I came back to the PRRI.

 

[sloppychops]

Well, I have to disagree with OP. Not only does my 68 Custom Princeton sound great, but since I've owned it my playing has improved, my breath smells better, and I've lost 5 lbs. It's a miracle amp, I tell 'ya.