Fender Princeton Amp AA964 1966, Black

The Princeton Amp is a great no-frills model that delivers exceptional tone at a fraction of the cost of its Reverb counterpart. With one less gain stage due to the absence of reverb recovery, this model offers increased headroom and may even push out a bit more power, depending on the individual amp. The Non-Reverb Princeton has long been a favorite of Mike Campbell from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, known for its pure, clean tone and natural compression when cranked. The original power transformer has been swapped for a 1969 model, which still lines up perfectly voltage-wise. 

Internally, the power cord and electrolytic caps have been changed, along with a couple of power resistors. On the preamp side, a small handful of resistors have been replaced with modern carbon film equivalents, and the tremolo has been serviced as well—see circuit pictures for details. Four of the five pots have been swapped for modern equivalents, so the user can expect slightly different level settings compared to other ’60s Fenders. Thankfully, it has stayed original where it counts, retaining all of the stock Blue Molded Ajax coupling caps and maintaining its signature Blackface sound!