Princeton w/o reverb or tremolo

[kkregsg]

I appreciate all the helpful responses. I'm intending to build a head. I never use tremolo, and I have the reverb covered elsewhere, so I need some direction on how to remove those 2 elements from the schematic and still have a complete circuit. I posted a stock schematic above showing where I think it would be cut out, but am looking for more experienced guidance.

[Blackburn]

Do you want the amp to be primarily clean or dirty?

[kkregsg]

I'm looking primarily for the clean, with a bit of crunch. Heavy distortion is not my goal.

[Firestorm]

Leaving out the trem is easy. Just leave it out. To omit the reverb, you still need the reverb mix stage, but don't send the reverb in. That stage (with the 3M3/470K divider and all) is the key to making it sound right (clean with a little dirt on demand).

[kkregsg]

Just to clarify, if you look back on the 1rst page, I put a copy of the stock schem with a red circle where the trem circuit would be cut out. Is that accurate?

[JazzGuitarGimp]

I think some folks are confused by the thread title: "Princeton without Reverb or Tremolo". It's easy to assume at that point that the schematic you posted was for the Princeton Reverb, rather than the blackface Princeton.

[JazzGuitarGimp]

BTW, your schematic edit looks right. But you might want to borrow the adjustable bias circuit from the AB763 design for added flexibility.

[Firestorm]

What Jazz said. The amp you want to emulate is the Princeton Reverb. Just leave the reverb out if you don't want it.

[kkregsg]

Got it. I'll proceed on that basis. Just out of curiosity, what is the sonic advantage of the Princeton Reverb AB763 circuit versus the Princeton AA964 in your opinion?

[Firestorm]

Got it. I'll proceed on that basis. Just out of curiosity, what is the sonic advantage of the Princeton Reverb AB763 circuit versus the Princeton AA964 in your opinion?

Another gain stage (small), slight treble peak, phase is flipped. A lot of people like the gain-tone-gain channel. A lot of people don't. You decide.

[Richie]

My opinion is that the perk of the Princeton is the trem, or verb and trem with the Blackface, because the overdriven tone (to me) leaves a lot to be desired. If you're dead set on that tone, fine, I say build one exactly the way you want. If so, you'll need to modify the bias circuit a bit and not much more than that.

If you want my advice, build it with just the trem and change the cathodyne inverter to a LTP and you're set. You may or may not know this, but the bias vary trem of the Princeton and Vibrochamp are quite different from the rest of the Blackface line and sound wonderful, if you dig that sort of thing. Check out YouTube for examples. If you like this idea, I can direct you to a modified schem and you can go from there.

David

Hmmm that LTP would be making it somewhat a 6G3 Deluxe . You can look at that schem,leave out the trem. If you do one channel, you could use a full tone stack, or go with the deluxe vol tone setup. Just al kinds of ideas there.. Oh yes and add the pot for bias adjustment.

[johnnyreece]

I realize this is kinda old, but I wanted to follow up - did you build this? I've got a guy who is asking me to build him the exact same thing: He wants a lower-powered blackface, mostly for cleans, with no trem or verb. I was hoping to get some feedback...

[kkregsg]

I haven't built this one yet, so I can't give any pointers. I've been working on a different build, and low cash has the pace dragging. But it's still on my list of To Do's. Sorry.

[johnnyreece]

Hah! If I beat you to it, I'll try to give some impressions for ya.

[Firestorm]

I realize this is kinda old, but I wanted to follow up - did you build this? I've got a guy who is asking me to build him the exact same thing: He wants a lower-powered blackface, mostly for cleans, with no trem or verb. I was hoping to get some feedback...

When you say "mostly for cleans," does that mean he may want a little dirt occasionally? A non-reverb Princeton will do only cleans. For a little hair, you'll need that mix stage (even though there's nothing to mix).