Shocking discovery at practice today lol

[GuitarBilly]

I had practice today and during a break I noticed they had a little Fender Princeton 112 in the corner. By Fender Princeton I don't mean the classic tube amp, I mean this little SS amp:




So I decided to plug into it as a joke and

First off, it's loud as fuck. Really loud as fuck. It has a master volume like a tube amp where 1 is whisper quiet and 2 is stage volume.
But it also sounds really good. One of the best sounding SS I've played. I ended up playing the rest of the band practice with it. This amp has no business sounding that good lol

As a lightweight grab and go combo for jams and practices etc it's one of the best options out there. So much that I bought one from GC used now

[Mike Oxhuge]

Awesome! What is the gain like, a Mesa Mark? I love contour knobs like the old valvestates had.

[GuitarBilly]

Awesome! What is the gain like, a Mesa Mark? I love contour knobs like the old valvestates had.

It's somewhere between a Mark and a Marshall. It's has clarity like a Marshall but a bit rounder in the low end.
And yes these Contour controls are awesome. I wish companies would add them to their tube amps. It makes the amp super versatile.

[JSutter]

I was looking at those earlier this year. Fender had 3 similar 112 amps, 65w Princeton Plus, 90w Deluxe Plus, and 160w Stage SE. I ended up with something else, an Ultimate Chorus; great cleans... but the drive channel is not my thing. Your description is more what I was after.

[GuitarBilly]

Yes the Ultimate Chorus has a different drive circuit. Still pretty cool for a SS amp but apparently the ones with the Contour knob are the really good ones. I am aware of the Deluxe and Stage models but I honestly can't imagine needing anything bigger than the Princeton. The amp is easily as loud as a Hot Rod Deluxe (which is a loud combo in its own right) but it sounds better.

[Heath]

Some of the old Fender SS amps had great-sounding drive channels. My favorite was the Fender M-80 chorus head. I used one as a loaner amp for a month or so from a friend when my amp died when I was a broke college student. Once I figured out the contour and presence were the only tone controls affecting the drive channel on that amp, I got a decent sounding marshall-esqe drive sound that took boost pedals well. The chorus and reverb were nice too. Through a Marshall greenback cab, it was great.

[Telephant]

This was actually my first ever guitar amp. Not bad for SS. I remember hating the distortion on the amp but thinking the cleans were great. Course I didn’t know shit about dialing in an amp at 15.

[GuitarBilly]

yeah M80s were really cool. I had the rack version in the early 90s good sounding amp.

A lot of the 80s/90s SS amps are cool. Randall, Marshall Mosfet, GK, Pearce, Lab Series, Peavey Transtube etc... all good sounding SS amps.

I was unaware of this Fender series until yesterday though.

[Telephant]

Oh wait that's the Plus version. I had normal Princeton 112. IIRC mine did not have the power amp in / pream out. Whats that about anyways? Like an fx loop?

[rock flag and eagle]

Oh yeah, I had one of the M80 chorus heads back in 94 (a tolex one but the ugly carpeted ones) , used it in my ska punk band. Cleans and chorus sounded great, drive not so impressed but I also probably didn't know shit about dialing in good tones. After that band, I got rid of the half stack and got a Princeton Chorus combo, I think it sounded the same and I probably couldn't dial in a decent distortion tone.
I wouldn't mind picking up an M80 head again and trying it once more.

[Heath]

...A lot of the 80s/90s SS amps are cool. Randall, Marshall Mosfet, GK, Pearce, Lab Series, Peavey Transtube etc... all good sounding SS amps.

There really were some decent sounding SS amps in that era. I just recently discovered that the Pearce amps founder was the guy who designed the Lab Series amps when he worked for Moog/Gibson. Now I need to go rock some early Kings X.

[Heath]

I wouldn't mind picking up an M80 head again and trying it once more.

I have an alert on them set up in Reverb when someone posts one. The m80 with the contour and presence at about 2 o'clock and the gain at about 2-3 o'clock was a decent drive sound through greenbacks. Hitting it with a TS9, SD-1, BD-2, or a Rat set as a boost would send it over the edge into some great thrash tones.

[JSutter]

I just dug up some Fender schematics, lots of their amps are the same basic circuit. The 3 I referenced above are the same preamp. The M80 is identical except the treble is labeled presence and there is no bass pot along with 3 other components next to it.

[GuitarBilly]

So I called the studio today and asked if they wanted to sell this to me. They said "bring a buck fifty and it's yours" so I went and picked it up. $150!!! I just cancelled the GC order. I have the amp here so I will make a clip of it. Incoming.

[GuitarBilly]

Here we go:





You can't tell from the video but the amp was crazy loud in the room and I only had the volume at 1.5 It's actually hilarious how loud this little thing gets

[TurboPablo]

Damn. That is a screamer.

[GuitarBilly]

Damn. That is a screamer.

It has absolutely no business sounding like that and the volume!! Whoever designed this amp has a sick sense of humor.

[Heath]

Good freaking grief! That thing sounds great. It's punching way out of it's weight class both times and volume wise.

[GuitarBilly]

I can picture the amp designer thinking: "moms are going to buy these for their kids, so I'm going to make it take the fuck off at 1.5 on the volume"

I bet he was adopted.

[JSutter]

https://www.musicgoround.com/product/41 ... uitar-amps
$130, no reverb, g12t75

[GuitarBilly]

https://www.musicgoround.com/product/41110-S000061605/used-fender-princeton-112-plus-no-reverb-solid-state-guitar-amps
$130, no reverb, g12t75

Nice!! I wonder how it sounds through a 75. I'll make an adapter to run this amp through other cabs.

[RaceU4her]

its kind of pissing me off how good that sounds. like all the time and money we spend on gear tone searching and all thats really needed is a SS fender 1x12

[GuitarBilly]

its kind of pissing me off how good that sounds. like all the time and money we spend on gear tone searching and all thats really needed is a SS fender 1x12

That's how I felt too

This clip doesn't really do the amp full justice. In the room, this little fucker just rips your head off. It's almost comical, like an angry midget that can bench press 300lb.

I will play at least one gig with it to see how other players react to it.

[Dave]

Jesus what the hell

That's straight ridiculous for $150!

[VTM]

Impressive!