0:13

well hello friends and welcome to ask

0:16

Zack today we are going to take a deep

0:19

dive on the wide panel 1954

0:23

Princeton I'm going to give you of

0:25

course you know specs features stuff

0:28

like that we're also going to go back

0:30

back to

0:30

1946 with the release of the first

0:33

Princeton and I'm going to give you kind

0:34

of how the model changed up through 54

0:37

and then of course we'll talk about the

0:39

rest of the ' 50s and into about

0:42

1965 just to kind of encapsulate the uh

0:45

the prbs Princeton years but yeah we're

0:49

going to do a deep dive on this uh wide

0:51

panel 1954 Princeton and we'll do a

0:55

little playing through it and just so

0:56

you can hear what it sounds like and

0:58

just have a good time

1:00

first off I just want to thank you for

1:02

watching the show you know please give

1:05

us a thumbs up subscribe uh if you've

1:07

been watching for a while I appreciate

1:09

your support there's multiple ways

1:11

there's a tip jar information there's

1:13

merch like this ask Zack uh t-shirt or

1:16

you can uh support me on patreon which

1:18

there's a link in the description to

1:20

find out more about that all right let's

1:24

dive in so the Princeton model is really

1:29

really really important in the Fender

1:32

amp

1:33

lineup reason being is not just a a huge

1:36

seller through the entire you know time

1:40

that Fender has been

1:42

around it was also one of the very first

1:45

amplifiers that was offered by Fender

1:47

and their initial offerings in 1946 were

1:50

three models they were the Princeton

1:54

that had an 8in speaker and had a single

1:57

output tube and a you know had a 6vc and

2:00

a 5 Y3 and an octal preamp

2:03

tube then you had the uh the deluxe

2:07

which had two output tubes two 6 v6s and

2:12

you know again an octal preamp tube and

2:14

a 5 Y3 and a 10-in speaker and then you

2:18

had the top-of-the-line professional or

2:20

Pro that was uh it had two sixl sixs and

2:25

it had a 15-in field coil speaker and of

2:28

course all of these were the

2:30

what we call the Woody amps and I'll

2:32

show a little picture here you know

2:34

where they had the wooden cabinets that

2:37

were kind of natural finished maybe

2:39

lightly stained and they had kind of a

2:40

wooden handle that was built into the

2:43

design and had kind of this velvety kind

2:45

of vour kind of a grill cloth so that

2:50

initial Princeton was a really

2:52

interesting ant because they really were

2:54

trying to make it as kind of beginner

2:57

you know friendly and you know trying to

3:01

make it as inexpensive as possible for

3:04

the student so this original 1946

3:07

Princeton had two inputs no volume no

3:12

tone control no onoff switch yes that's

3:15

right if you wanted to turn it on you

3:17

plugged it in if you wanted to turn it

3:18

off you unplugged

3:20

it they figured it didn't need a volume

3:23

control because it was usually sold as a

3:25

set with a steel guitar a fender steel

3:27

guitar that had a volume control on on

3:29

it and the reason it had two inputs was

3:33

that it was designed to be used in

3:35

teaching Studios or you know some

3:38

teacher you know teaching at their house

3:40

or what have you and so that way you

3:43

know you and your teacher could get your

3:45

steel guitars out and you could uh slide

3:47

around and learn how to

3:49

play well the uh the the Woody amps went

3:53

away and it made way for the TV front

3:57

amps in 194 8 and in 48 they decided to

4:02

upgrade the Princeton so at this point

4:06

it gets a volume control and it gets a

4:09

tone control that has a built-in onoff

4:11

switch and this is also on this amp and

4:14

it makes this little click uh you know

4:16

basically you turn the tone control all

4:18

the way down and it makes a little click

4:19

and that turns it off and then you click

4:21

it and turn it back on and then of

4:22

course you can use the tone control as

4:25

normal continued to have two inputs and

4:28

of course the uh TV front design but

4:31

what that did was it made room at the

4:35

Bottom Rung of the Fender amp line up

4:38

for another amp so guess what this is

4:42

where the champ comes in so the champ

4:45

came in right underneath it having a

4:48

6-in speaker and and a similar circuit

4:51

but it was interesting uh it it had all

4:55

of the components kind of wired together

4:56

it didn't really have a circuit board so

4:58

it was kind of like it was it was this

5:00

direct you know solder the way the

5:02

components were kind of uh uh connected

5:05

together so that's where you get the

5:07

champ and originally was called the

5:08

Champion 600 so now you have the

5:11

champion and the Princeton and this is

5:12

the way it's going to continue for a

5:14

while so again TV front amp it it's very

5:19

similar to the uh you know it continues

5:23

to have the octal preamp tube the metal

5:25

you know preamp tube uh and then in 19

5:29

19 53 they change from the TV front

5:33

design to the wide panel Tweed and so

5:36

you get this other you know type of

5:38

Tweed material and uh of course you know

5:42

what we call wide

5:44

panel uh the amp really didn't change

5:47

much at first besides of course the

5:49

cabinet getting a little

5:51

bigger uh then about 1954 which is what

5:57

this is Fender has is finally phasing

6:01

out those metal octal preamp tubes and

6:04

so this amp because it's a 54 it has a

6:07

12x 7 and V1 so it has a 12x 7 a 6v6

6:13

power tube and then it has a 5y3

6:16

rectifier so that that kind of gets us

6:19

up to this amp specifically and uh this

6:23

one was purchased by my friend Austin

6:26

Skinner and he got it at an estate sale

6:29

so uh you know make sure and go to those

6:30

as much as possible and he picked this

6:33

up and it needed a little bit of repair

6:34

work and stuff but uh it's in uh you

6:37

know it's in pretty good shape um

6:40

obviously it's missing the handle and uh

6:43

you know these the handle the leather

6:45

handles that they put on these

6:47

originally they just tend to dry rot and

6:51

they just don't last and so to find an

6:54

original handle on a on a fender you

6:56

know from the 50s is

7:00

I mean it almost never happens and if it

7:01

did it had to be an amp that was never

7:03

picked up by the handle or it's just

7:04

been sitting somewhere for uh you know a

7:09

lifetime a couple of lifetimes at this

7:11

point uh but yeah so this is very common

7:14

and uh you know of course there's reos

7:16

out there uh Tweeds in good shape Grill

7:19

cloths in good shape um let's uh pick it

7:22

up and show the uh the Chrome

7:26

plated

7:28

chassis which is very uh corroded and

7:33

it's got a lot of pitting in it and such

7:36

but uh yeah but everything works you see

7:40

the the back of it in really good

7:42

condition uh you know the chassis itself

7:44

is really clean otherwise it's just the

7:46

top I don't know what it was exposed to

7:48

Salt Air or what but the rest of it is

7:51

is per perfectly fine of course you got

7:54

some rusty Glides on the bottom but the

7:57

Tweed looks really good even on the

7:59

bottom

8:00

and uh yeah it's just a a really really

8:03

cool little amp and these

8:06

are a very similar circuit to what the

8:10

champ becomes later on because again

8:13

they kind of keep upgrading the amps and

8:15

all of them kind of rise up and at times

8:17

they of course bring in these other

8:19

models to fit in the Gap but being that

8:23

this has an 8in

8:25

speaker uh it's you know it it's

8:27

somewhat similar to the later you know

8:30

champ where it when it got an 8 in

8:31

speaker and such but uh yeah let's

8:34

that's enough talking about this let's

8:37

uh let's kind of hear what it sounds

8:39

like so for the demo I'm of course

8:42

playing my 57 Squire that hasn't added

8:45

neck pickup

8:48

and I'm plugged in and I've got the uh

8:50

the volume on six and I've got the tone

8:54

on 3 and

8:55

1/2 and I start off kind of to clean it

8:58

up a little bit I back off the volume

9:00

control on the Esquire just a little bit

9:02

to kind of clean it up and I play like a

9:04

little kind of jury Reish kind of funky

9:06

thing and then I play uh I turn the

9:09

volume control all the way up so that

9:11

you can kind of get a little bit of grit

9:13

and you can hear the uh stereotypical

9:16

riff that probably anyone plays when

9:18

they're demoing a champ and then I go to

9:21

the neck pickup on the Esquire and I

9:24

turned the tone control all the way up

9:26

so you can kind of hear you know kind of

9:29

the the tonal range that it has and also

9:31

you know hear a little bit of that you

9:32

know kind of dirty neck pickup sound

9:34

which is a lot of fun so yeah so let's

9:37

have a gander

9:39

[Music]

9:59

the

10:04

[Music]

10:18

[Music]

10:47

all right I hope you uh enjoyed that uh

10:50

again this is it's a cool little amp now

10:54

is it a is it a one trick pony well not

10:57

exactly but it doesn't have like a ton

10:59

of sounds in it it can kind of clean up

11:01

some but obviously it doesn't have a ton

11:04

of clean headro and this amp is pretty

11:07

much original it has the original 8 in

11:09

Jensen in it which is pretty it's it's

11:11

pretty tired um but it's still you know

11:14

holding together and such but uh I've

11:17

tried to be a little bit gentle with the

11:19

amp which is why I didn't turn the amp

11:21

all the way up to 12 because I I really

11:24

don't want to be the guy that busts an

11:26

original 8 in uh Jensen o

11:30

speaker so interesting things happen

11:33

with the amp after this of course in 55

11:38

it uh later in 55 it changes to the the

11:41

narrow panel

11:43

Tweed and uh and also it uh it brings

11:48

forth a uh another amp so I'm going to

11:51

put down my old squar so I can pick this

11:54

up so Fender adds an amp to the lineup

11:58

in 55

11:59

5 um 56 which is this Harvard so this is

12:04

actually a 59 but um yeah so this amp

12:09

has uh you know two output tubes and

12:12

volume control tone control three uh

12:16

three inputs and an actual onoff switch

12:19

and it became part of the line up you

12:22

know right above the Princeton and the

12:24

Princeton actually gains the Harvard's

12:27

cabinet it gets a bigger cabinet in uh I

12:30

believe

12:31

56 and it continues to be you know a

12:34

Tweed amp single output tube volume and

12:37

tone control until uh 1960 correction

12:41

it's actually 1961 when it gets Brown

12:45

tox and then it completely

12:48

changes all of a sudden it gets of

12:51

course tolex Brown and it gets a volume

12:56

control which it already had a tone

12:57

control which it already had it gets an

12:59

actual onoff switch and it gets tremolo

13:03

and it gets a completely different

13:05

circuit and it gets a second output tube

13:08

and guess

13:10

what this Harvard disappears from the

13:13

lineup because the Princeton has

13:15

absolutely taken its place and so who

13:19

wins the university Wars well it's the

13:21

Princeton and Harvard you know goes away

13:25

there are of course a few Harvard that

13:28

are sold with with remaining Tweed

13:31

Princeton chassis and so that it's a

13:33

really rare amp I've only seen one of

13:35

them in person but in essence it's you

13:39

know the the Harvard cabinet with the

13:41

Harvard name plate but then it's got the

13:43

uh Princeton guts in it with one output

13:46

tube so it doesn't have you know it's

13:48

five six Watts instead of being

13:50

12 so then of course you know with the

13:53

blackface amps you get the blackface

13:55

Princeton and the Princeton reverb and

13:58

that gets us through uh

14:01

1965 an interesting thing about the

14:04

Princeton that you have to understand

14:06

especially when we're talking about prbs

14:09

Princeton's the Princeton was never

14:12

designed to be a gigging amp it was

14:15

always designed to be a student model or

14:18

a teaching model and that's why it had

14:22

two inputs and uh and you know the

14:25

deluxe was kind of the step up above

14:27

that but the prince and Reverb of course

14:30

was you know really nice and that it had

14:31

Reverb and tremolo and had all these

14:33

sounds but it was not considered in any

14:36

way shape or form a gigging amplifier it

14:40

only became a gigging amplifier when you

14:44

started turning them up to 10 which they

14:46

were never designed really to do that

14:49

you know Leo thought everyone wanted to

14:50

play clean and so he thought people were

14:52

going to run around 3 or five or

14:54

something like that and certainly didn't

14:56

want any type of overdrive going on but

14:59

as people started turning them up to 10

15:01

and getting them to

15:02

distort uh of course you know it was

15:05

able to get a little bit louder and

15:07

dirty and then once you have you know

15:09

the Advent of modern PA systems and you

15:12

know what we call sound reinforcement

15:14

which is where everything is miked up

15:17

and that comes about probably mid to

15:18

late 7s then all of a sudden the

15:21

Princeton was a viable gigging amplifier

15:23

and you could play a really big gig with

15:25

a Princeton or even a champ so it's

15:29

interesting how that amp you know went

15:31

from being really a beginner student

15:34

model to being now considered a gigging

15:37

amp and I use a Princeton type amp uh

15:40

all the time toh to gig with and uh I

15:44

love it so well I just uh enjoyed

15:48

getting to check this out so I need to

15:50

thank my buddy Austin also you know a

15:53

lot of the uh historical information uh

15:56

came from from this out of print book

15:59

that I love and I hope that how Leonard

16:00

will someday either allow it to be out

16:03

you know digitally or reprint or

16:06

something but it's Fender amps the first

16:07

50 years by John teagle and John sprung

16:11

this is a really great book and I again

16:14

hopefully someday they'll uh come come

16:17

back out with that all right well I hope

16:20

you've enjoyed today's episode uh again

16:23

thanks to Austin for letting me borrow

16:25

his wide panel 1954 Princeton it was a

16:28

lot of fun now I got to return it we'll

16:31

see you next time bye-bye