Man, I would SO enjoy changing out vintage tubes and speakers. One of my favorite things to do.

Changing out speakers in an amp is like trying out different Overdrive pedals, its a rabbit hole that you may never get to the end of :)

So many tiny details seem to contribute to the specific sounds we're able to wrangle out of our instruments, amplifiers, and other pieces of equipment. Sometimes I feel like my equipment sounds different everyday. Or perhaps it's the relationship between me, my playing and my equipment that changes -- not the actual equipment itself. Whatever the case may be, the constant quest for different sounds never seems to end. I like to think of it more like a "condition" than a sickness. Who am I kidding... it's a sickness... Oh, BTW, my picks came in the mail! Thanks so much!

Thanks for hitting on the fact that Groove Tubes is just a reseller. Lots of people likely don't realize this.

Zac, I just purchased the Princeton CS based on your review. Sounds great and easy to carry. Thanks for the excellent review.

This is the exact content I like to hear from someone in the know like Z.

I always find that low/no negative feedback amps love Greenbacks. You get that lovely woody honk on the bass notes and the cone cry when pushed is to die for.

Love this amp, and yes it's a sickness... I am on my third speaker swap, landed on a Jensen P10R-F with a baffle adapter installed as well. I think this one will stick. Great tone and I like 10" better. Less low end rumble for playing at home. It's also has very low efficiency, 92.5db vs the 101db stock speaker. That's like going from 100w to 12w. Again, great for low volume playing. I also had to put a diode across two lugs on the tremolo intensity pot as it was quite noisy. Works the same but the (throbbing) noise is gone.

That Princeton has always been one of my favorite amps ever since I played one in a pawnshop in the 1990's. This one sounds just like the original.

I bought mine 1964 Tuxedo 6g2 with non-original speaker and swapped it for a Celestion alnico gold 12" in it and it sounds magic :)

Zac It's great to hear your thoughts on this amp. I picked one up on Craigslist 6 months ago and have been in love with it every since!

My favorite intro yet, great playing Zac!

On my `62 Brown Princeton I used a Mullard GZ-34 and a pair of GE 6L6's. As for a speaker I love the old Celestion G-12 Alnico, But I ended up with a Cerwin-Vega ER-123(made in 1972) This amp kicks some major but and is pretty even all the way.

Sounds great. As always your tasteful playing and that beautiful Esquire certainly didn’t hurt either!

T-shirt was very well chosen on this one.

Fun !!! My last little project was building an attenuator for my amp . I just wanted to be able to turn the amp up passed 1 to get the power tubes working ...... It was cheap and my neighbor loves it ..... Ha !

I love the sound of a Telecaster through a brown Princeton. I have a Roadhouse 12 (Princeton clone with 12” speaker). It also has a switch to turn off the negative feedback, which really punches it up at volumes 3 or below. Makes it perfect for recording too. Thanks for your videos!

That intro! Great guitar playing and wonderful sound on that tele and amp, I really liked that.

The Weber 12F125 or 12F125S are my favorite 12 for Brownface amps(Besides an original Oxford/Jensen). I have a good selection of speakers and tubes I swap around in my amps too. It’s fun!

I've recently purchased a Scumback H75. Very pleased with it!

Zac, this is basically a single channel tweed deluxe with a fixed bias output section and the volume pot wired correctly. I would consider changing it from the fixed bias to the old style cathode biased power tube section. The gain is all up in the first section of the first pre-amp tube. >>>>>>.I modify the AA964 straight Princeton's by using the chassis hole for the foot switch which turns off & on the trem......and just leaving the trem controls on the front panel to turn the trem on.....which then free's up the chassis hole for a toggle switch without altering the chassis of a vintage amp. I use the toggle switch to switch the tone stack of the AA964 in and out of the circuit as its a high loss style tone stack typical of the blackface era amps. SO with the added toggle switch the amp can be stock and factory with the tone stack in, and then switched to a much higher gain you'd have if it was the "G" series amp or a tweed......all be it without a tone pot for the sound/tone adjustment. You get the pure tone of the circuitry and tubes and speaker....as this is a very simple circuit for an amplifier....bare bones for a AB push/pull amp. What I do with Princeton Reverb amps is to rewire the tube sockets of the pre-amp tubes because they wired the trem circuit by splitting the phase inverter tube instead of having the tube socket dedicated only to the phase inverter. SO it makes the pre-amp tube swapping not as effective unless that you rewire the phase inverter socket to be dedicated fully to the phase inverter. Which means I put the 1/2 of the socket circuitry on to the socket I just moved circuitry from......shifting the trem circuitry to a different tube. This is very effective in a "G" series or a straight Princeton AA964 as it puts the V1 all pre-amp and the V2 all phase inverter.......which lets you dial in more accurately and conventionally....meaning you can focus on the gain on the V1. The signal flow on paper has the full function of the phase inverter NOT split between 2 tubes even though its using 2 tube sections......so like a conventional amp it should be a dedicated phase inverter tube. Generally, other than a 12ax7, you'd step down in gain to a 5751 to a 12at7 to a 12ay7....to find your preliminary gain structure based on your guitar signal strength driving the amp.....be it humbuckers or single coils.

I usually change out the wimpy Princeton output transformer and swap in a Deluxe Reverb output transformer......BUT what would be interesting on this amp would be the attenuation they did on the Eric Clapton Tremolux tweed they did........being this is a one volume control and it needs cranked into the zone.......not factoring in the aspect of LOUDNESS.......but that circuitry would be very applicable to this amp if it needs tamed down

It's a really nice sounding amp. It really suits that Tele!

Yes changing the rectifier tube and its resultant plate voltages is a quick scenario. BUT it depends on what power tubes you have in the amp. BUT if you converted to a cathode biased power tube section.....you'd be toying with the saggy aspects of the rectifier and how it applies to the power tubes. The REAL effect of dropping the power rail voltage is not so much on the power tubes but on the first pre-amp tube. I'd settle on a set of power tubes first and cathode biased and determine the sag........then go and adjust the power rail power resistor feeding the V1 node and drop the plate voltages appropriately........lower voltage is more tone but less gain.......higher voltages get more gain and more brightness and somewhere it goes brittle bright. SO its dialing in the pre-amp voltages. I've been happy with JJ 6V6's as heavy duty tubes.......real NOS 6V6's have a cream to them......and the newer re-issue 6V6's are ok but I have had issues in the past with them with good batches and bad batches......they need burned in well

It's truly a sickness, the amp is great as is when you buy it, but I'm going to change everything about it that effects the sound of the amp, but I'd love to play through it just as it came from the factory! LOL Only a true guitar nerd would say that Zac, A+ man.

The mods certainly give you a great tone from the neck pickup.

Fender small combos are Size specific . For a reason . You use the amp that fits the job. Change is NOT always a good thing often its just a mistake.

Man, we are talking same language in the same business. Love your chanel.

I now tried the GA-SC64 , great speaker, but I kept the CS speaker. I found them very similar, but the CS was a bit louder and just as nice.

I put a Cannabis Rex in my '62 Deluxe. The Oxford sounded great but got farty past 5 and the Rex is a bit more efficient so you get a bit more clean.

I have just changed the preamp tubes which lead to a significant drop of this bold midrange. I have never experienced such a dramatic change in sound by changing the tubes. I use some nos Valvo tubes. Sounds great now with much more „air“. So funny that we both achieved quite a similar sound with totally different tweaks. :)

Hey neighbor! very cool. That's a great sounding amp and you sound great through it.

I have a blackface 65 - add a push/pull volume and wire the in position stock. Wire the “pulled out” position so it shuts off the negative feedback and boosts mids by changing the value of the resistor at the bottom of the tone stack. Yeehaa!

The JJ 6v6s can handle higher plate voltages hence the combi w the type of rectifier. To make this a gigging amp they put in a high spl speaker pos an Eminence. Maybe over the top. There is a lower powered version of that. Both WGS speakers do not hit the spot imo. I suggest an Eminence GAsc64.

green backs man...i've bought two old england 71 made..lovely cabinet now...point is too that u play tele..humbuckers are around twoo

Played a 65 Princeton once. I thought man this thing sings! Turns out he pulled one of the tubes out. I thought no wonder they’re used for recording.

I love the gb128. Perfect pair with my Lil King S

Chrism the original speaker and tubes sound better. My CS Princeton has a 3 position negative feedback switch for Tweed, Brown and Blackface tones. I believe mine is the best mod for this amp! thanks for the video!

I think a cool video would be on Waylon. He’s a great guitar player that’s over looked and even Jerry Reed as a tele player. Everyone’s heard him on Smokey and the bandit soundtrack but didn’t know it was him and the album he did called Smokey and the bandit is great! There’s also a video of him playing with Glen Campbell using a tele and the sound he gets is killer. They are doing the song guitar man. I also think you should consider looking at the Paul Franklin Eminence I’m considering trying it in my AC15. It’s odd but i think it might be cool

It sounds very old school:) When it comes to tubes, there was lots of rebranding even among US companies. I'm not a working pro so it's pretty easy for me to have lots of classic tubes to try out. Really you only need 12ax7 and 6v6, and those can be found in lots of old record players, tv sets, hifi gear. I see old stuff at the curb, I jump out and check, sometimes there are good ones that I recognize.

Interesting info on the Groove Tubes! Never had good luck with the Groove tubes myself, they don't seem to last as long as others.

may want to try a 12ay7 in v1. i've done that with my 66 deluxe reverb and i can turn it up more before it breaks up. seems to give it more headroom . glad you can take advantage of an expensive amp. great video. thanks,

Fun video! I recommend the WGS Blackhawk Alnico 50W speaker. I put in my amp and it took it from okay.. to amazing! I don't hear very many people talking about them.

I don't have the Stapleton Browm but my Princeton has a Jensen PQ12 on it. Very warm but still has great Fender cleans and character. I think it would work well paired with a Tele.

Made me smile ear to ear

I have that amp, I have had it since it came out. It does sound stout and amazing - I do want to mod it however, as I am tired of it weighing 275 lbs. Thanks for this video!

I think it sounds more to my liking with your tweeks and mods but I think you should try more speakers and make another video for us. HaHa! I think a Weber 12F125 would be perfect for that amp. Just don't get the S version for smooth cone....too tweedy or something. A lot of guys also like the Allisandro speaker Eminence makes but I think that Weber F125 might be the ticket they make an alnico version of it too but not sure about that one seems like you are going for more of the ceramic thing but not sure. I had an alnico Weber 12A125 in a tweed deluxe and loved it for that amp. Jupiter speakers are nice too maybe they have a ceramic 1.25" voice coil speaker like the 12F125? Magnet would also be bigger than the one on the WGS G12Q you tried. Thanks again! Keep em coming.

Zac, me and I am sure a lot of others have a Blues Jr amp. It is a version III and my 1st tube amp that I still have and love it. Can you do a show on your way of setting up/modding one of these amps to the way you would use it??

You know Zak….I’m like you, I mod! Part of the guitar insanity. You really gave a great inside view of this amp. Is this speaker available to the public, or is there one similar? I want to build a Brown Princeton, but have the boldness of the CS version, oh did I mention, WITH reverb! You have shed light on how Fender got every bit of volume out of this amp. I built a 5E3 with Deluxe transformers and GZ34 rectifier tube and oh my God, what a monster! Do think switching to a long tail pair phase inverter would change or destroy the Brown Face tone? This version may be louder than a stock Brown, but I find I need more than 12 watts on stage. OK why not use a Deluxe Reverb? Not the same animal, you know what I mean. I don’t have the $ to buy a CS Princeton, but I already have the parts for a lot less $. I love building one of kind amps focused on what the amp will do for the guitar player, kind of match the amp to the player instead of the player having to change their way of playing to put up with amp. I’m funny like that. A Brown Princeton with 20 watts and reverb would be great addition to one’s amp arsenal! Love from NW Colorado. Thanxz

love gb128s-have them in Bassmans,pro,5e3.

I agree, it's a sickness! You didn't need to do anything to that Chris Stapleton amp!

The speaker you ended up with sounds very mid forward, but still has nice highs. I think it’s an improvement. It would be a great giggin amp now.

Gotta love those licks and tone!

I sent a 65 Princeton that was truly butchered by someone to George Alessandero and he did an amazing job. I asked him to set the break up point at 8 and he did. Great amp.. If you have time to answer sometime, what power tubes and preamp tubes are in your Deluxe? Great episode. Jim.

You have some of the best tone on You Tube !!

Nice video! I’m really digging this amp! I’m a big fan of Greenbacks in Tweeds. I’ve got one in my Franklyn Amps 5E3 Deluxe, along with vintage RCA tubes. I’m thinking of doing some tweaking on my Franklyn 5F1 Champ with a new speaker. I had Derryck build the Champ with a cabinet big enough to handle an upgrade to a 10”, which the larger cab alone has an impact on the sound of the amp. He made and provided me with an extra baffle for a 10”. Now the Oxford 8EV that’s in it sounds nice, but I am curious what another speaker would do. I’m thinking of trying a Webber 4 ohm 10” alnico and seeing what that sounds like. You’re right, it is a sickness! Check out Kenny Vaughan playing some Tweed Franklyn Amps on KZfaq.

If this was my amp I'd want to go for 12AX7 tube with more gain like a Sovtek long plate. Also I had a 5E3 clone that I did the speaker roulette on, and I settled on a lower wattage Jensen P12R alnico speaker. I could run the volume wide open (which you want to do with a 5E3 amp) without blowing myself out of the room. If this was the original 10" design I wouldn't hesitate to put in a Warehouse Veteran 10.

Nice. I miss my DS Blues Jr.

WGS ET65 is my favorite for 6V6 and EL84 amps

You CAN plug a pair of 6L6 power tubes in place of the 6V6 tubes. *CAUTION* This will *NOT* work the "other" way. The 6L6 type can safely handle the plate voltage usually applied to 6V6 types; even when using a slightly higher voltage from a 5AR4 rectifier. But attempting to sub a pair of 6V6 in a normally 6L6-powered amp will result in instant death for the 6V6 tubes, since the typical plate voltage used by a 6L6-based amp is going to be much too high (unless it is *explicitly* designed to accept both tube types). That caveat aside, I have frequently plugged a 6L6 into my tweed Princeton, in place of the stock 6V6. The result is a little more power, and a slightly brighter tone. I imagine sticking a push-pull 6L6 pair into the brown Princeton would yield a more noticeable increase in power than the single-ended Princeton. Of course, with the plate voltage being modest, you certainly won't be getting the 40W+ one normally expects from a pair of 6L6s. But I think the difference should be audible. What I can't, and won't, predict is the impact of a power-tube change on the bias tremolo. Power tubes always need to have their bias adjusted for optimal performance. Whether what the tremolo circuit applies to the grids of 6L6s makes them behave the same as 6V6 types is well above my pay grade.

Seems like a great amp - I’d love to see a spring reverb on it but that’s the way it is. Thanx for another enjoyable video.

Sounds GREAT!!

You are having too much fun! Interesting,curious how things go…

man that was some tasty playing to open...im jelouse lol

Folks say the JJ 6V6 is the tube to use if you want to lower the output of a 6L6 amp

Zac,.... try a Jensen P12R .... it's what I use in my Brown and Black Princeton builds.... I doubt you'd change it out lol... Blessings, Mark

I’ve been a miner for a tone of gold

Wonder what it would sound like with a Vintage 30 speaker? I have found that speaker seems to improve almost any amp out there. Not all amps though.

Another great vid. Very informative. Any chance we can see all these tests?

Hey Zack love your channel. Have you ever done anything along the lines of a history of the Tele in England?. Mick Green was highly influential and played a major roll in Pete Townshend and Wilco Johnson's development as players!!!. I guess Big Jim Sullivan handled most of the studio Tele work as well. Two unheralded Tele masters!!

Another great video! Thanks!

I read Western Electric was going or had the intention of starting up the tube business for EL34 and maybe some other tubes. They might be more expensive but will they last longer. ?.

Hi Zac, love your videos, always interesting. I own this amp and found the mid-range a bit too forward compared to my Bassman. So I hooked in a Tone Job EQ pedal, that made a huge difference to the sound. I don't like using pedals but that was the only way I could get a tone that I wanted with this amp.

I believe the 'G' suffix on an octal tube is for 'glass' (not Germany) 🤔

Wow Zac! You are right, it is a sickness and you have definitely tested positive for it! Love the lead in tune you were picking. What was that for certain?

I take it that the G12Q is effectively the same as the mid-1960s Jensen C12Q I have, just a different manufacturer. Many speakers will change sonic characteristics, depending on volume levels, as you found with the G12Q. The first "good" amp I ever owned was an early 1970s 2x12 Peavey Classic. Hated the speakers. You'd set the tone controls one way for band practice, and then when you hit the stage and turned the volume up a bit, they would sound entirely different. Frustrating, but also a reality. All speakers will have a "linear range" where their measured frequency response and resonances come into play, diverging from that when the power fed to them is either below, or exceeds, some value. A *great* speaker will be more consistent from a much lower wattage input to something closer to its maximum power handling. Lesser speakers may need more power going to them to make them sound the way they are supposed to sound. Another thing which you didn't touch on, and would have necessitated too much is the actual cab properties. A speaker will "love" an amp to the extent that it complements the qualities of the amp AND the cabinet design. Fender amps, with a few exceptions, are generally open back cabs.

5 tubes and a single 12? Same as my Laney Cub clone from Monoprice. I doubt it's running EL84s and 12AX7's, though lol

It's interesting that your amp came with a 5AR4 and 6v6s power tubes. Mine came with a 5y3 and 6v6gt's.

Hey Zac you're badass! Hoping you might have some advice... For brighter tone, what speaker would you recommend putting in a Champ build converted to push a 12" speaker? I'm not really a purist going for the original Champ tone. I currently have a Celestion G12-35XC in it and it's muddy as hell. Thanks man!

I remember a time when the word "robust" was reserved exclusively for spaghetti sauce...oh the good o'l days, where have you gone...

Hello Zac. Thank you for all your work. I have my own channel but more around fishing. I have played guitar and worked my way though college. So, I'm not unfamiliar, so much and I think I'm not very snobbish? You seem to not be either, and I appreciate the honesty you purvey here on your channel. I have many guitars and was wondering if you had access to Sweetwater's delux reverb and what you thought? Not many will ever be a big artist, so what about 99 percent of us that live for the tone? Tele/Strat/LP? Still a Delux? Thank you for your response. Kevin

Ever try a Weber Feromax. It made my BF Princeton sing.

i know it's asickness : ) , i have it in spades myself , always tweaking gear i buy : )

Zac. If I remember correctly. You ended up putting the Celestion Blue back in the Cris Stapleton Princeton and did you ever get it back from your friend

Great fun. 👍🏻

Hey Zac/everybody. I just picked one of these up and I’m loving it, but wondering if to maximize usability if it’d be a good move to try an eq pedal instead of going down the speaker rabbit hole. I’m just looking to have a little more control so it can better work with some of my different guitars. If anyone’s got eq pedal recs, I’m all ears. Great amp for sure !

LOVE this :)

Do you prefer a 12" or 10" in the brown Princetons? I have an original '62 that the seller gave me an extra baffle fit for a 12" speaker, but I haven't taken out the original 10" speaker and baffle yet just cause they sound so good in there already. Although I will probably look to retire the original speaker soon.

anyhow another great vid

i haven’t seen a p12r swap in this amp yet. would it blow it?

Thanks for another great episode Zac. What did you set the bias at for the Tung-Sols?

It sounds very good, Zac...a bit more organic sounding than factory stock, did you re-bias the replacement 6V6 power tubes?

I was thinking of putting a Celestion blue in mine, could you share more thoughts on what you liked and didn't like? thanks!

I actually really like a greenback in a lot of fender amps. Usually a G12H. Didn’t you have a G12H30 in your deluxe reverb for a while? I have a 55hz heritage G12H30 in my 67 deluxe reverb and an eminence SC64 in my 66 deluxe reverb. The sc64 sounds great in a lot of fender amps as well

Zac, if it's fun and inspiring (?) you have nailed it ...but did you ever thimk of trying a 12AY7 in v1? Thanx and cheers

Always inspiring. I would really like to know how you get this fat/singing bridge tone? And brw, you can go all in and get a Morgan PR12 😀😀 (try Eminence JS1250)

I tried to go to your web site but the internet couldn't find "Zac Dart Calm".

Do you need to do any re-biasing when changing out the rectifier or power tubes?

HA! Tweaking the tweaks! The sickness is real... :-D

I like both, but yes, the original as is sounds better.