GEAR REVIEW
FENDER ’62 PRINCETON CHRIS STAPLETON EDITION
Doug Doppler
I’m not entirely sure what the magnetic draw to
KEY FEATURES
this amp was, but in a casual conversation with
• 12 Watts Daniel Carson after a recent Chris Tomlin show,
• 2x 6V6 Power Tubes he mentioned that this amp had also piqued
his interested. Daring to lump myself in the
• 1x 5Y3 Rectifier Tube
same gear fanatic boat as Daniel, I’ll say that
• 2x 12AX7 Preamp Tubes many if not most of us have a fond affection for
• 12” Eminence ‘CS’ Speaker Fender’s ‘Blackface’ era. Noting that the brown
• Hand-wired on Eyelet Board
Princetons precede that era once again spurs guess is the point. As far as this amp goes, it
the, “What’s the draw?” question. definitely is in the grail tone category, so with all
the preamble out of the way, let’s get to why!
release Gear fanatics are always looking for the next announcing this amp I messaged our friends grail tone piece of gear, be it a guitar, pedal, As noted in our interview with Fender’s Shane
at Fender for a review unit. Once it arrived, amp, or whatever it is that helps you nail that Nicholas, as Leo Fender continued to build
the frenzied unpacking that followed would sound in your head. Noting that membership to amps, he was striving for increased clarity and
have put even the most enthusiastic YouTube the gear fanatics club is based on having more headroom. Ultimately this culminated with the
unboxing videos to shame. All that to say, I was gear than you can actually use on a regular (post Leo) CBS-era ‘Silverface’ Twin Reverbs
as excited about getting to play this amp as basis, nailing the aforementioned sound in your which are both loud and a bit strident. Noting
I’ve been about any amp for a long time. Even head is a transitory thing. There are many grail that the word strident is not usually part of the
better, playing is believing! tone amps, and the vast majority of them sound grail tone definition, there’s a reason that those
markedly different from one another, which I amps are nearly as popular as their Blackface
The
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moment
I
saw
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May 2019
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