Do yourself a favor. (I did!) look at the Headstrong lil’king or if you want the option of gobs of clean head room the lil’king S . Great amps. Hand wired Princeton reverb. The S has a 12 inch speaker and will give you about 30 watts. Great bass response. I did an outdoor show. And it just killed. For the gigs I usually do I had more clean headroom than I need. So I had it re biased to run on 6v6’s which reduces output to around 20 watts. Perfect I pair it with a tweed deluxe clone that puts out about 18 watts and run a tps style wet dry set up. But a lot of the time just use it by itself. All you need grab and go!
Tube Amp Advice for Small Blues/Jazz Gigs
- Thread starter paperman
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gazzie
Tele-Meister
I play rockabilly, rock'n'roll, and rhythm and blues in my band. So all pretty clean, or a bit of "edge of break up". Gretsch, filtertrons or dynasonics through Fender Blues Junior. Occasionally I might use a Tele. I used to use a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe but it was too heavy for my poor old back, and very loud, sometimes hard to get a low enough volume for some gigs. The Blues Junior sounds great, and so far I haven't mic'd it once for rehearsals or gigs. Also use a Nocturne Mystery Brain pedal for some grit, boost, and slapback. I turn the Blues Junior's master volume up full and then volume at usually 2 or 3 at the most, competes with a drummer with no problem whatsoever.
MARICOPAA
TDPRI Member
Try an all tube amp by a 60's-70's company in Socal called Audio Guild. They are sold under the moniker Titano, Lyric, Panaramic, Grand Prix, Universal, Bonham and the infamous Versatile.
Do some research and try and play one...superb tone...many unique features including using 7591 Power Tubes (same as old Macintosh and Fisher high-end hifi unit....pitch shift vibrato as well (Don Bonham who invented the pitch shift vibrato for Magnate was intrinsic to Audio Guild (not anything to do with 'GUILD')....he was Audio Guild's design engineer!)
Musekatcher
Poster Extraordinaire
I know boutique means not-a-fender. But, maybe a restored blackface DR, VL, or even a silverface? A couple others I watch for, are the Concert IIs single 12", and a Fender 30, single 12". Both look blackface, hardwired, and lower production numbers due to the CBS sale.
Slim Jim 61
TDPRI Member
Couldn't agree more. I have some very nice guitars and amps which I use in various combinations, but the most compliments I've had on my tone by far have come when using my 335 through my Carr Rambler.
SnidelyWhiplash
Poster Extraordinaire
The CS isn't a PR. It's based on the 6G2 Brown Princeton. Totally different circuit.
dough
Tele-Meister
A slightly different angle: Have you considered the Marshall ST20? Basically a Bluesbreaker feel, but 20 watts with option of running at 5 watts. Tonally, it sits between Fender, Vox, and Marshall. I own the ST20, a '64 PRRI, and a '65 DRRI, and find myself spending a more time with the Marshall than anything else these days.
Just a consideration. Oh, and it's gorgeous.
Just a consideration. Oh, and it's gorgeous.
If you're looking for tubes and plenty of headroom, you might look at some of the nice dual channel Airline amps from the 60's and 70's. Mine has a normal channel and a tremolo channel with foot switch and dual inputs on both channels. 12" Jensen blue frame speaker was standard on a lot of these. Open back so you get good sound dispersion and super cheap compared to the usual vintage and boutique offerings. The Supro's are okay too but look for the older amps. They usually have a solid pine cabinet whereas the later ones have particle board.
Again, lots of headroom meaning it's really hard to overdrive these things. They were made to play clean. I don't thing any of them ran with a master volume but with the headroom they offer, it doesn't really matter.
Again, lots of headroom meaning it's really hard to overdrive these things. They were made to play clean. I don't thing any of them ran with a master volume but with the headroom they offer, it doesn't really matter.
I think you're headed in the right direction with the Fender '57 Deluxe or the Fender '64 Princeton. Mine's a '65 but it's been handwired by Alessandro. They will rewire a handful of certain models of current PCB amps.
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Grandfunkfan
Friend of Leo's
3 reasons to avoid the Princeton. Some how the little 10 inch speaker sounds flubby especially with humbuckers. No mid adjustment. Clean humbuckers need mids. No master volume. To get the amp engaged you're going to need volume. This amp doesn't sound good without some volume and it's loud for being a low wattage amp
That's something that is repeated on the internet, however it is not something based on actual Princeton users. For some reason a lot of forumites lean towards 12" speakers. 12"s are great on some amps. Princetons however sound the best and most detailed with a 10". Works just fine with all my Gibsons with humbuckers. I don't miss the mid control. I can get my tone by dialing in the bass and treble knobs. 12"s just muddy up a Princeton. The Eminence GA10-SC64 sounds amazing in a Princeton.
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Mike Simpson
Doctor of Teleocity
As others have suggested a silverface Princeton Reverb is the near perfect amp at least for me. I put a 12” cannabis Rex in it and use a klon boost before the amp. I played many hundreds of gigs with it, never not loud enough with drums and bass, never flubby or weak in any eq range. Works great with any pickups, vol 3, treble 7-8, bass 3-4, plenty of clean. Anyone that says a PR don’t cut it needs an amp rech.
Grandfunkfan
Friend of Leo's
My opinion is based on trying everything I could think of to make it work. I couldn't send back fast enough.
We all have diffrent likes and dislikes. The Princeton sound isn't for every body.
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If you loved the champ with a tele, but you think it just get's a little too dirty with a 335 it seems like a princeton or a deluxe is probably what you want.
I personally usually think onboard reverb is "okey" but kind of hissy and distracting really, I've never really taken to "surfy" sounds so.. that's just me, and I've never actually used tremolo except just for fooling around.
Maybe just get a slightly bigger Fender. I'd try to find something vintage and blackpanel or brown or blonde, and eschew the reverb if it was me, and spend the coin to get it serviced and just go from there.
A vintage blonde Tremolux with a 2x10 cabinet would be the bee's knees, but It might be too much most of the time.
I'd want a 12'' but a 10'' might be cool too.
@ndcaster's pedalboard rig with a good speaker, like he's using, sounds like an awesome approach too. I've been working with a Fryette Powerstation/pedal board based rig, with marshall 4x12s though, and it's about as flexible and usable as it gets. I'm finding that great flexibility takes a bit of tweaking.
Honestly though, if you can't live with a "not broken" DRRI or PRRI '65 or 68 or hand wired or tonemaster for that matter (really it's hard to get a bad sound out of any of them) or just about any tube Princeton or Deluxe based rig, well...either you are way more discriminating than me, you need to tell your drummer to chill out, or it's time to get back in the woodshed.
Azhardaznailz
Tele-Meister
There are many options. But I‘d recommend checking out the PRS DG15 or the Sonzera Combo…….great cleans and nice Larry Carlton-ish vibes with the Overdrive. Mind you, I have a little Princeton which I use with my Eventide H9 in front, with patches I wrote for different sounds which I control with the IPhone.
Whoa Tele
Friend of Leo's
If moneys no object I’ll submit the Louis Electric Columbia
guitarmikey
Tele-Afflicted
Pro Junior IV all the way, does the job for me.
Indeed, adding a reverb pedal...
Indeed, adding a reverb pedal...
Chicken Curry
Tele-Meister
What about a Blues Deluxe?
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