NAD - Fender '62 Princeton Chris Stapleton Edition

[Surfysonic]

I've been on the lookout for a used hand-wired Fender '62 Princeton Chris Stapleton Edition that was decently priced for quite some time. When they do come up for sale, they usually go pretty fast. Recently, this one came up for sale on Reverb and I jumped on it. Seller shipped it via USPS Priority, so a delay was expected. Luckily, the delay time wasn't as bad as it has been and it arrived today!

The box took a nasty hit during the shipment, so I was preparing myself for some damage. Fortunately, the seller packed the amp really well and I guess the Filson Rugged Twill fabric cover provided some decent protection, too. There was only one dent in the tolex on the back top of the amp:



I've done more damage to an amp when loading up for gigs in days gone by, so I'm not bothered by this ding.

The amp fired up with no issues. From a variety of YouTube demos on this amp, I was concerned that the amp's tone was a little strident/harsh sounding. Happily, they were just bad recordings/settings, I guess. It sounds wonderful, exactly like my '64 Fender Princeton. The Tube-Biased Tremolo is lovely.

I've become a fan of Eminence. The Eminence 12” Special Design “CS” speaker sounds absolutely spot on in comparison to some of my old '60s speakers (Utah, Jensen, and JBL). This is my third amp that uses Eminence; the other two are my 90's Fender Vibro-King with the 3x10 Fender "Vintage Blue" Eminence speakers and my Fender Pawn Shop Excelsior Pro with the 1x15 Eminence Legend speaker.

Clearly, from the forthcoming photos, I'm insanely obsessed with brownface amps.









If wondering, this amp is basically replacing my '64 Fender Princeton that eventually I'll have to put back up for sale unless I can move some other gear instead.

Anyhoo, I can't recommend the hand-wired Fender '62 Princeton Chris Stapleton Edition enough if you want to dip your toes into Fender Brownface tones. It pairs wonderfully with my SurfyBear Classic Reverb Unit and pedals sound great, too. The list price for a new one is pretty close to or just under the cost of getting a vintage early '60s Princeton. That's why I kept on the lookout for a used one as they have been listed as low as $1600. I paid a little more than that but I still saved quite a bit under the cost of a new one.

[mekhem]

I generally like amps with onboard reverb - but i have to admit I am very curious about this....

[Igorilla]

Congratulations!

I am very interested in the Stapleton Princeton.
How would you compare the sound to the larger brownface amps?

I have 62 Bandmaster, 62 Bassman, and 90's RI Vibroverb and would be interested in a smaller/quieter amp with comparable tone

I have home-built 6G3- Deluxe clone that is excellent for driven sounds but needs some circuit tuning for really good clean tones.

[Surfysonic]

I generally like amps with onboard reverb - but i have to admit I am very curious about this....

I totally get the preference for onboard reverb, but they're typically on blackface tone amps - I have a couple - Princeton Reverb RI, TM Twin Reverb. I think there are a few exceptions, including the VIbro-King, which has the brownface tone with onboard reverb (that sounds just like an outboard one - great amp, but not light...). The other two that come to mind are the '90s '63 Reissue Vibroverb (used to gig with and own, sadly gone now) and the '90s "Custom" Vibrolux, which I currently have. It's a great 2x10 amp once Fromel Mod was applied to fix its production issues (hiss, muted reverb).

There are probably other non-blackface toned amps with onboard reverb that I'm not familiar with or simply forgot, heh.

I like outboard reverbs (Fender Reverb Unit, SurfyBear Classic, SurfyBear Compact) and get they're not the tone or convenience that an onboard reverb has. I never thought I'd get into Reverb pedals, but I love the variety of the several I've acquired over the years - for convenience sake, I'll prefer the pedals over onboard and outboard sometimes. I posted a topic on Reverb a while back in the Effects section - viewtopic.php?f=11&t=120681 for anyone interested.

[Surfysonic]

Congratulations!

I am very interested in the Stapleton Princeton.
How would you compare the sound to the larger brownface amps?

I have 62 Bandmaster, 62 Bassman, and 90's RI Vibroverb and would be interested in a smaller/quieter amp with comparable tone

I have home-built 6G3- Deluxe clone that is excellent for driven sounds but needs some circuit tuning for really good clean tones.

Thanks very much! I'll say this - my '64 Princeton and the '62 Bassman (that I recently sold to OSG buddy DeathJag) tonally sounded the same to me (as in, glorious!). The added benefit is the Princeton's tremolo. The '62 Princeton Chris Stapleton Edition tonally sounds like my '64 Princeton. For my home use (and not to deafen our pups), I don't usually go any higher than 3 on the Volume control. Of course, when they're outside, the wife is out running errands, and I can remember to close my office door, I do go louder for the breakup tones.

[Igorilla]

Congratulations!

I am very interested in the Stapleton Princeton.
How would you compare the sound to the larger brownface amps?

I have 62 Bandmaster, 62 Bassman, and 90's RI Vibroverb and would be interested in a smaller/quieter amp with comparable tone

I have home-built 6G3- Deluxe clone that is excellent for driven sounds but needs some circuit tuning for really good clean tones.

Thanks very much! I'll say this - my '64 Princeton and the '62 Bassman (that I recently sold to OSG buddy DeathJag) tonally sounded the same to me (as in, glorious!). The added benefit is the Princeton's tremolo. The '62 Princeton Chris Stapleton Edition tonally sounds like my '64 Princeton. For my home use (and not to deafen our pups), I don't usually go any higher than 3 on the Volume control. Of course, when they're outside, the wife is out running errands, and I can remember to close my office door, I do go louder for the breakup tones.

Thanks for the quick reply!

It seems very likely now that the next amp is a used Stapleton Princeton.

On this side of the pond, the original 6G2 Princeton are extremely rare.

[Veitchy]

Amazing collection there. Those Vibrolux Reverbs will always be a dream amp for me.

I'm actually surprised at how big that Stapleton Princeton cab is. It looks almost tweed deluxe sized. Maybe not as deep?

[i love sharin foo]

Those Stapleton Princetons seem really nice. I have an old '62 6G2 that I really love. I run mine at about 8 on the volume dial most of the time. It's really responsive to input signal strength... depending on the guitar and how hard I am playing, it can be pretty clean or dirty without touching the amp. I really like that about it. The tremolo is indeed wonderful! Just make sure you turn the depth off when biasing it

[Surfysonic]

Amazing collection there. Those Vibrolux Reverbs will always be a dream amp for me.

I'm actually surprised at how big that Stapleton Princeton cab is. It looks almost tweed deluxe sized. Maybe not as deep?

Thanks very much! Full disclosure, it's the '90s "Custom" Vibrolux that normally sits in the black tolex/silver grill cloth cab. The original cab is quite thin from front to back. I swapped out the white cupcake knobs (stored away) for brown ones. I have the cab securely stored away if I ever decide to remove it from the current brown tolex/wheat grill cloth cab from Mojotone. I'll probably do that once I take the plunge and get a Vibroverb Kit to build from Mojotone. I first need to start on a beginner amp (maybe the tweed Princeton 5F2-A Style ) before tackling that one.

I just now took measurements to make sure - the '62 Princeton Chris Stapleton Edition cab's measurements are identical with my '64 Princeton cab. As well, the '62 Princeton Chris Stapleton Edition weighs in at 33.25 lbs. (15.08 kg), which also feels about the same weight as my '64 Princeton.

Those Stapleton Princetons seem really nice. I have an old '62 6G2 that I really love. I run mine at about 8 on the volume dial most of the time. It's really responsive to input signal strength... depending on the guitar and how hard I am playing, it can be pretty clean or dirty without touching the amp. I really like that about it. The tremolo is indeed wonderful! Just make sure you turn the depth off when biasing it

Nice! Does it have the stock or replacement 10" speaker or has it been modified with the 12" speaker? The previous owner of my '64 Princeton had a new baffle put in for the 12" Utah speaker housed in the amp.

[i love sharin foo]

Nice! Does it have the stock or replacement 10" speaker or has it been modified with the 12" speaker? The previous owner of my '64 Princeton had a new baffle put in for the 12" Utah speaker housed in the amp.

It has a replacement speaker. I’m not even sure what it is exactly. It is still 10” though. Other than that it’s all stock. It had a few odd changes around the cap can and a few other things when I received it. But I recapped it and put everything back to stock. It even came with an original copy of the parts layout which to be as old as the amp itself.

[Surfysonic]

Nice! Does it have the stock or replacement 10" speaker or has it been modified with the 12" speaker? The previous owner of my '64 Princeton had a new baffle put in for the 12" Utah speaker housed in the amp.

It has a replacement speaker. I’m not even sure what it is exactly. It is still 10” though. Other than that it’s all stock. It had a few odd changes around the cap can and a few other things when I received it. But I recapped it and put everything back to stock. It even came with an original copy of the parts layout which to be as old as the amp itself.

Cool! Several things were done by the previous owner(s) to the '64 Princeton along with my just getting new tubes and capacitor replaced by getting it serviced recently. My Princeton Reverb Ltd Edition Reissue has a 10" Jensen that I have no plans swapping out or trying to modify with a 12" speaker.

[Maggieo]

Man, those are nice.

[Unicorn Warrior]

If I could buy a new Fender amp, it would be this one. In fact, I nearly went this route before settling on my Matchless Spitfire. Maybe I’ll grab one eventually.

Happy new amp day!

[Surfysonic]

Thanks, Maggieo & Unicorn Warrior! If you can find one used, it's an amazing deal for a non-vintage vintagey amp!

[Meriphew]

That amp looks great. I think Fender has been knocking out out of the park with their high end hand wired amps. I've got one of their Edge Deluxe amps and it's pretty amazing.