NAD - 1971 Princeton Reverb (pics pg 3)

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maximee
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Re: Pending NAD - 1971 Princeton Reverb

Post by maximee » Mon Sep 19, 2016 4:57 am

Same here, I've got an old lab grade transformer here that weighs as much as the amp. Looks cool, but it's overkill.
It's not fun hauling it around, so I'll definitely change to 220V transformers as soon as I find time.

Let me know if you ever get tired of that PR.
Just last week I finally talked a good old friend into wanting one :)

They have become hard to come by here in EU. I imported mine from the US which still was better in regard to what people sell them for in Ebay Germany.
Never regretted it, they are great amps.

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Re: Pending NAD - 1971 Princeton Reverb

Post by Despot » Mon Sep 19, 2016 5:04 am

Yeah - they're not too common over here.

I think there are a few reasons for that - people who wanted a 'practice amp' generally bought Champs. There are quite a few SF Champs for sale over here as a result.

If a player was going to gig an amp they generally bought a Twin or Bassman - there are quite a few of both for sale over here as a result.

You don't get the lower wattage amps though - the middle ground stuff just wasn't stocked here so it wasn't bought here back in the '70s.

To put that in context, the first time I went to the two guitars stores in Dublin that generally have old/vintage gear it was four years ago - and it was to try to find a Princeton. In the four years since then I've been looking constantly and the PNR was the first I found!

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Re: Pending NAD - 1971 Princeton Reverb

Post by StevenO » Mon Sep 19, 2016 5:55 am

PRs are pretty scarce around here too. A heavily modded one came up for sale at a local shop recently and it was around $2300 CDN. Ridiculous, but I guess worth it...? I love the amp but I'm glad I didn't spent even half that for nine.

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Re: Pending NAD - 1971 Princeton Reverb

Post by Despot » Mon Sep 19, 2016 6:01 am

This one is 1,000 euro. I cannot understand how people could pass up on that ... I mean, you'll pay the same price for a '68 Custom Princeton Reverb, and 1,200 for a PRRI if you can find one.

Why would anyone buy a new PCB amp when they could have an amazing sounding old Princeton for less!?

I did facepalm when I saw it though ... having waited for a Princeton for four years, two come along at once! I bought my PNR for a good price, but I've probably put at least 300 euro into it in NOS valves and the speaker... the SF PR needs nothing. Like ... nothing. It's absolutely perfect. I did mention buying more valves for it, but that's as much to do with me stockpiling old valves (3 of my 4 amps are 6V6 amps, so it never hurts to have a lot of spares).

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Re: Pending NAD - 1971 Princeton Reverb

Post by StevenO » Mon Sep 19, 2016 6:05 am

As hard as it sometimes is to spend that money on the more boring stuff, any money put into these amps is worthwhile. They're worth it.

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Re: Pending NAD - 1971 Princeton Reverb

Post by maximee » Mon Sep 19, 2016 6:10 am

1000€ is a good deal. I paid about a grand and then had to import it from the US. Still worth it.

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Re: Pending NAD - 1971 Princeton Reverb

Post by Despot » Mon Sep 19, 2016 7:11 am

Amps are such a huge part of an electric guitar's sound. They're not the fundamental element, but a great sounding guitar can be made to sound merely okay through being used with the 'wrong' amp, or the wrong amp settings.

For example - I'm not a fan of Marshalls. I've tried ... I really have tried ... with Bluesbreakers and the little 18w 1974x. And the mid push sound you get from a Marshall (generally) doesn't work for me. On the other hand an amp like the Swart, which is tweed voiced and has a decent amount of mids without being too warm sounding, sounds perfect - and there's probably not a huge degree of difference between the vintage voiced Marshalls and a Swart, compared to say the Swart and something like a SF PR, but there's enough difference that one works for me and one doesn't.

What struck me most about the sound of my Jazzmaster through the PR was that it just sounded perfect. One chord in and it was ideal - it's a different sound to the Swart (and the JM sounds equally awesome through the Swart, albeit with a different voicing), but that's what's cool about it. It's nice to have options in terms of amps.

I've always swapped guitars to change sounds when playing - but I can see how people can just as easily use a second amp, or a particular set of pedals, to great effect at changing sound between songs without having to pick up a different guitar. That's something I'm learning quickly with the Klon - it fundamentally changes the clean tone of the Princeton even when it's not driving it, putting back the mids a little bit. I've often written on here about not using pedals, preferring to just plug in to the amp - I'm beginning to reconsider that approach a little bit. The Princeton NR gives me a really really good clean tone, onto which you can stack pedals for whatever you need. The PR gives a little bit more grit to the fundamentals if you want it, but the same applies (in terms of it being a good base onto which to put things).

I guess what I'm saying is that I've heard you all praise these amps for years (Nick, StevenO, Doug/Fullerplast, Sookwinder et al) - and I'm now finally getting the chance to experience it. And what's cool about it is that having established my sound with the Swart (and having come to the conclusion that I'd got the one amp that would see me sorted), I'm suddenly given a new palette or filter to work with with the Fenders. That's getting me excited about playing again.

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Re: Pending NAD - 1971 Princeton Reverb

Post by shoule79 » Tue Sep 20, 2016 8:42 am

StevenO wrote:PRs are pretty scarce around here too. A heavily modded one came up for sale at a local shop recently and it was around $2300 CDN. Ridiculous, but I guess worth it...? I love the amp but I'm glad I didn't spent even half that for nine.
Damn, that is getting up there. I remember about 15 years ago they were around $300 CDN. Down the 401 the reissues are being listed for around a grand, and they seem to be selling even though they are only a couple hundred cheaper than a brand new reissue. In the context of that price the expensive used reissues makes sense.

There are still good deals out there if you are patient. I got my SF PR from an amp tech in Hamilton last winter through a series of lucky trades over the course of 8 or 9 months. At the end of the day only have $600 into it including gas and new tubes in one of the amps traded in the chain.

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Re: Pending NAD - 1971 Princeton Reverb

Post by maximee » Tue Sep 20, 2016 8:44 am

shoule79 wrote:
StevenO wrote:PRs are pretty scarce around here too. A heavily modded one came up for sale at a local shop recently and it was around $2300 CDN. Ridiculous, but I guess worth it...? I love the amp but I'm glad I didn't spent even half that for nine.
Damn, that is getting up there. I remember about 15 years ago they were around $300 CDN. Down the 401 the reissues are being listed for around a grand, and they seem to be selling even though they are only a couple hundred cheaper than a brand new reissue. In the context of that price the expensive used reissues makes sense.

There are still good deals out there if you are patient. I got my SF PR from an amp tech in Hamilton last winter through a series of lucky trades over the course of 8 or 9 months. At the end of the day only have $600 into it including gas and new tubes in one of the amps traded in the chain.
It's a whole different story in Europe.
There have never been a whole lot of them here even in the 70s.

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Re: Pending NAD - 1971 Princeton Reverb

Post by Ursa Minor » Tue Sep 20, 2016 8:56 am

I hopped on the wagon in 2010 and managed to score one for $600 on craigslist from a broke student. The reverb was dead and required a new transformer but it was all original and after some work sounds absolutely beautiful. I was glad I jumped on that. Ever since I've watched the prices creep up and up each year.

I may have told this story before but the guy I bought it from was living in Marina City in Chicago - aka the towers on the cover of Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, aka the corncob buildings. Always thought that was a cool aside. I'm not even a big fan but picking up that amp from such an iconic building and hauling it back with me on the el train in early winter was a pretty serene moment. :)
The artist formerly known as kosmonautmayhem.

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Re: Pending NAD - 1971 Princeton Reverb

Post by shoule79 » Tue Sep 20, 2016 9:04 am

maximee wrote:It's a whole different story in Europe.
There have never been a whole lot of them here even in the 70s.
Yeah, my story is definitely an exception. When I started looking for a PR I was expecting to spend a minimum of $1500 CDN for a SF PR. I just lucked out.

Canada's probably better than Europe for availability of some good vintage stuff, but good stuff can be scarce when compared to our neighbors an hour or two south of us.

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Re: Pending NAD - 1971 Princeton Reverb

Post by Despot » Tue Sep 20, 2016 12:38 pm

Yeah - different story here in Europe. Old Fenders are relatively rare - especially the smaller combos. On the plus side we are practically falling over ourselves in Vox and Marshall amps! Orange amps are also pretty common here - they're probably as common (if not more so) than Marshall.

In the four years that I've been waiting for a Princeton Reverb to show up here, I could have had any number of blue or bronze panel 1960s AC30s (top boost or pre-TB), at least two AC10s, my pick of plexis or even a really nice Lead & Bass 25w head with a matching 1x12 cab. And those are the ones that I saw - I'm sure had I been actively looking I could have found more.

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Re: Pending NAD - 1971 Princeton Reverb

Post by cestlamort » Tue Sep 20, 2016 2:28 pm

Congrats. A SFPR is a great amp. Maybe not loud enough for some things (which is why more people didn't buy them. Gigging amps mean bigger iron back then), but just a lovely sounding amp. Like the "true" sound of your guitar, but "better." (Speaking of JM > PR, Ryan Adams just popped up on the office stereo as I was typing this).

The price has gone up significantly over the last decade. I remember seeing them around $600 pretty regularly, but hard to find one for less than $1000 these days (I lucked into one for a closer-to-good-ol-days price). (Tangentially, I also lucked into a 1979 Vibrolux Reverb, and it reminds me of PR but with much more power. Silver is the new black).


kosmonautmayhem wrote:I
I may have told this story before but the guy I bought it from was living in Marina City in Chicago - aka the towers on the cover of Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, aka the corncob buildings. Always thought that was a cool aside. I'm not even a big fan but picking up that amp from such an iconic building and hauling it back with me on the el train in early winter was a pretty serene moment.
That's great. Those buildings are amazing, and it's neat to imagine your specific amp annoying the neighbors in some iconic American architecture. (My story was way less romantic: it was shipped from GC in Florida, and I discovered a tiny mummified frog by the dusty reverb bag (shudder) ).

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Re: Pending NAD - 1971 Princeton Reverb

Post by Despot » Fri Sep 23, 2016 12:38 pm

The amp has arrived!

I'll post up some photos tomorrow when I get a chance - I've just picked it up and played for a few hours. All I will say is that it's glorious!

:)

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Re: Pending NAD - 1971 Princeton Reverb

Post by Ursa Minor » Fri Sep 23, 2016 12:41 pm

:)

Excellent! Looking forward to your thoughts as you get to know your new PR!
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