If it's bedroom level blackface Fender you are after, the Princeton Reverb is pretty much the only choice. If you've got external reverb, you could go even lower volume with a Champ/Vibro Champ.

I'm a big fan of Quilter amps, they do a reasonable job of sounding like a Fender tube amp, and they sound good at any volume.

EDIT: except the reverb is not very surf friendly, so you'll want to get a surfybear or other pedal.

EDIT2: If you happen to have a Mac computer, Garageband comes very close to getting the surf tone. Click on my link for my latest project in my signature, the whole album was recorded in the 'box' except drums.

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF

Last edited: Apr 11, 2023 09:17:35

Same here, Danny and rfcii...I started playing in the 60s, and never would have dreamed that I would switch from good Fender tube amps. But, in my very active surf-rock band, I have been playing through a Quilter MicroPro Mach 2 for four or five years now, and am perfectly happy with it's loud, clean headroom and tone. Oh, and it's seven-pound weight. So, my Fender Bassman head is now my backup to my Quilter.

I am fortunate to have owned both vintage and re-issue versions of all the Fender amps you are asking about...from Vibro Champs to Showman, and nearly everything in between.

The amps you mention all use similar circuits and are in essentially the same "tonal family" as you say. The main differences being output power and speaker size/configurations.

Lots of excellent suggestions above, but here's a twist...
I was wanting a cheap, portable, lightweight, practice amp to leave at my girlfriend's place.

I bought a Fender Mustang LT25 and I was blown away by how good it sounds....very impressive!!! It was weeks before I ever took it to her house because I was having so much fun playing through it at home.

It has dozens of presets (most, I never use)...but preset #1 is classic, glassy, Fender Clean, and it sounds fantastic!! All the presets are adjustable so you can tweak them to your liking and then save them. It has a great Vintage Tremolo preset too. Also a nice built-in tuner. All at a fraction of the cost of the other amps mentioned.

Plenty of power for bedroom playing and it can even hold it's own at a jam session. I highly recommend checking this one out.

Good luck,
Ben

Viva SG101

synchro wrote:

Somewhat in line with Ben’s comment, the Blackface Fender amps came along about the time that Surf was winding down. They were bright amps with a degree of midrange scoop. Some, such as the Deluxe Reverb had a bright capacitor which allowed some of the higher overtones to bypass the volume control. Larger amps of the series had a switch for this capacitor.

While these were not down the centerline of the amps used for many early Surf recordings, they are good amps and, IMHO, can do a good job as Surf amps. There are differences, such as the Super Reverb, which has a bit more midrange, than some of the others, but all of these are decent amps.

I have a number of amps, and find that each has its own charms, and its own set of strengths. Around the house, I use a 5 watt Winfield Typhoon, which has a tone circuit similar to an early Vox amp, and sounds great for Surf. I’ve actually used this at fairly large gigs, mic’d through the PA, and it sounded perfect.

One common mistake is to buy too large of an amp. Indeed, they sound great when you try them out in a store, but for home use, it’s really overkill. While I like a clean sound, I prefer to run my amps at a volume where they are at least breaking a sweat. Even that little 5 watt Typhoon has plenty of volume to spare for home use.

True) I have 1 watt head and and rarely push it past noon (and I live in a house and can play loud). And it’s still pretty clean till 11-12.

Waikiki Makaki surf-rock band from Ukraine

https://linktr.ee/waikikimakaki

Lost Diver

https://lostdiver.bandcamp.com
https://soundcloud.com/vitaly-yakushin

Slikbeer wrote:

Everybody: thanks.

So, the Princeton is too loud for home use, but not loud enough for in a band....
So, basically.... useless!

It’s ok for rehearsals even with a loud drummer. For gigs you mostly need to mic it.

Waikiki Makaki surf-rock band from Ukraine

https://linktr.ee/waikikimakaki

Lost Diver

https://lostdiver.bandcamp.com
https://soundcloud.com/vitaly-yakushin

As long as you're talking about blackface/silverface Fender - if you're truly not even thinking about playing with people and want this strictly for bedroom use, then the Champ or Vibro Champ, or something along those lines, is a very reasonable choice, IMO. There are lots of excellent repros.

Slikbeer wrote:

Everybody: thanks.

So, the Princeton is too loud for home use, but not loud enough for in a band....
So, basically.... useless!

Absolutely not. I have used a 74 silverface Princeton Reverb for recording, rehearsals, and gigs (and hopefully these get going again post-pandemic) quite a bit. In fact, there are places where I can't use anything larger because the club management and sound guy will bitch that the volume coming off the stage is too loud, and they're right. These are smaller venues, and they want to be able to have better control of the mix.

Of course, you can't expect to use a Princeton Reverb in a large (or outdoor) venue or in a really loud band without good sound reinforcement. But I am finding, more and more, the rule that clubs have a decent sound system and want to see smaller amps. But my Princeton will get over our loud drummer with no problem. That amp has been tweaked - no mods, but it has really good NOS tubes and a 10" JBL in it. It sounds good turned down or up. And the trem is the classic bias-modulation tremolo, like on the earlier Fenders.

Of all these blackface/silverface amps (Princeton R, DR, VR, SR, Pro R, TR), the Princeton Reverb may be my favorite, tonally. Still, if I was forced down to just one desert island amp, it would be a Deluxe Reverb. It'll cut pretty much any gig for me, even pedal steel if it's mic'd up properly. Of course, mine have JBL D120Fs in them.

Another thing is that the silverface Champ/Princeton/Deluxe Reverb were really never changed in any significant way from their blackface counterparts. Their bigger brethren were. But until you get to the later 70s ultralinear versions of the Pro/Super/Twin/Dual-Showman/etc. Reverb amps, it's not hard to put the bigger amps back to blackface specs.

I'll also say that I have a very strong preference for the original hand-wired Fenders. When you consider that the reissue Princeton/Deluxe/Twin Reverbs run US $1400-2100, there is, IMO, absolutely no reason not to just suck it up and get a nice original silverface Princeton or Deluxe Reverb. Hell, if one is patient, it is possible get a nice blackface Twin Reverb for around the same as a reissue. I got one a few years back for $1500. And 70s vintage Princeton/Deluxe/Vibrolux/Super are not that crazy either.

And as long as we're talking about it - for surf, you can get a brown amp for not so much more money if you focus on 'player grade' and don't expect everything perfect. Except for the brown Vibroverb, they don't have built-in reverb. But with the plethora of excellent reverb pedals or pan pedals like the Surfybear, that is no issue. In fact, preferable for surf guitar, IMO. Finding this kind of stuff in player-grade for not so much money requires patience, but they can be had. Generally larger amps like the Concert come up like this more often. I play my larger Fenders at home, but they are not really 'bedroom-volume' amps.

And there are tons of non-Fender reproductions of their classic amps, or amps in that ballpark. I think it's worth it to do the homework and then patiently search for the right amp.

Quilter was mentioned. They are the best solid-state amp I've ever played, bar none, pretty much across the range of sizes. I use a 4 pound, 200-Watt Tone Block 201 with a lightweight speaker cab with a 12" neodymium speaker for pedal steel. With a good external reverb unit, it makes a good surf guitar amp. The 101 series at 50 Watts is also good. I personally would not worry about whether or not a Quilter has reverb - an external spring reverb or a good digital reverb pedal like the Catalinbread Topanga is far preferable, IMO.

The Delverados - surf, punk, trash, twang - Facebook
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I had a '66 Princeton REverb that had been hotrodded at some point, and had a 12", and a 15" speaker at one point. So it was closer in a lot of ways to a Deluxe. I used it as a couch amp, which might be like a bedroom amp? Anyway, it was loud. I could turn it down, and it sounded good, but not as good as turned up.

My current couch amp is a Superchamp xdII head into a 12" cabinet. It's probably about the same loudness. I should have kept the Princeton.

"You can't tell where you're going if you don't know where you've been"

I noted the Princeton Reverb at first since the question was about blackface Fenders. But I will second synchro's recommendation for the brownface Princeton - I recently built one with pretty much the stock 6g2 circuit and a few mods, and it sounds quite good at low levels, and really excels when paired with a Surfybear. It does not have a lot of headroom, and so is not as suited for gigging if you want a loud clean sound.

Hi,
All the Fender amps are in the same tonal family. For home you need a Princeton or a Champ. I like the sound, but I find their prices ridiculous and I refuse to be taken for a cash machine.
So what I did is this and I'm quite satisfied with the result. I bought a Monoprice amp (Harley Benton amp at Thomann) and a Surfy Bear reverb. Quite the sound! And an honest price.
Cheers