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Post subject: In Market for first tube amp Princeton Reverb or Night Train
Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 11:17 pm
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Hey guys, so I'm in the market for my first tube amp. I'm looking at the Princeton Reverb 65 or the Night Train NT15HG2.

I know the Princeton Reverb has a true spring reverb where the night train has a digital reverb that probably does not sound as good.

In the long run, what do you guys think is the better choice in terms of sound, versatility, style.

I like to produce music and do all sorts of stuff. I like that a vintage, classic, john mayer, old school sound but versatility into heavier alternative stuff would be nice as well, Weezer, Black Keys, Cage the Elephant etc.

here is an example of a song I produced https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHnTphjxLts

any ideas?
open to other amps as well


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Post subject: Re: In Market for first tube amp Princeton Reverb or Night T
Posted: Thu May 29, 2014 2:37 am
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What's your budget? Personally I think the Deluxe sounds better than the Princeton, if you can stretch to that. The Blues Deluxe or Hot Rod series are other options.

The Night Train is a different proposition in terms of tone, it is a quite different amp from the Princeton. But they are also both perfectly good amps, it's all down to what sounds good to you. My (or anyone else's) opinion is irrelevant to you in that regard.

The only way to decide is to try both amps yourself. Second-best if you can't do that is to listen to demos by others. I've never seen a direct comparison of the two amps on your list, but youtube is full of useful demos of (eg) Deluxe vs AC15, which will give you an overall feel of the difference between the "Fender sound" and the "VOX sound."

FWIW, my opinion would be choose Fender for creamy/crunchy blues and VOX for jangly pop. I have no doubt others would say the exact opposite.


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Post subject: Re: In Market for first tube amp Princeton Reverb or Night T
Posted: Thu May 29, 2014 7:57 am
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I haven't had any experience playing those two amps, but you also asked about other amps.

I'd suggest Fender Supersonic 22. In the same ballpark as far as price goes, has the spring reverb and has a clean channel where you can choose between vibrolux and bassman models and has a burn channel where you can get either bluesy gainish sound, or creamy overdrive, or even a bit more heavy stuff. A very versatile amp.
I have Supersonic 60 and I could not be more satisfied with it :)

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Post subject: Re: In Market for first tube amp Princeton Reverb or Night T
Posted: Thu May 29, 2014 10:46 am
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I am not familiar with the Night Train.

I love the Princeton.

The Night Train doesn't appear to come in a combo. That would be deal breaker for me. It could be that the Princeton not being available in a head only configuration might be a deal breaker for others. :P

I'm not sure how much difference you'd hear with EL84 vs 6V6 if the speaker configuration were similar.

The head only configuration of the Night Train will give you more flexibility with speakers. But you'll pay for that flexibility with more bulk to move around.

Maybe you can find used gear at a decent price and get them both. Then you can plug the Princeton speakers into the Night Train to keep from buying a speaker cabinet.

Cheers,

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Post subject: Re: In Market for first tube amp Princeton Reverb or Night T
Posted: Thu May 29, 2014 11:20 am
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There is a combo version of the Night Train......

http://www.amazon.com/Vox-Night-Train-N ... B00F0MB0QG

The head-only version does not feature built-in reverb.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: In Market for first tube amp Princeton Reverb or Night T
Posted: Thu May 29, 2014 1:20 pm
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The Night Train's a great amp. Very different from a Princeton. As always, try them both out and let your ears decide. I tried to like the SS 22 but couldn't get it to sound great past about four on the volume dial. Below that it sounded good although a bit more noisy than it should be IMO.

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Post subject: Re: In Market for first tube amp Princeton Reverb or Night T
Posted: Thu May 29, 2014 1:30 pm
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63supro wrote:
Very different from a Princeton.


+1

Different tone stack and output stage (EL84's vs the PR's 6V6GTA's) plus a larger and arguably better speaker (Greenback G12M vs a 10-inch Jensen import) are the major contributory factors. The NT is definitely worthy of a test-drive.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: In Market for first tube amp Princeton Reverb or Night T
Posted: Thu May 29, 2014 1:36 pm
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If I weren't planning to build another amp this fall, I would add a Night Train to the herd for sure just for something different. I'm really hooked on Tweed based circuits though. :lol:

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Post subject: Re: In Market for first tube amp Princeton Reverb or Night T
Posted: Thu May 29, 2014 3:57 pm
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For versatility I would suggest something like Ampegs gvt series of amps, they're discontinued but still available from certain vendors.
http://youtu.be/WMfubI3QwCw
http://youtu.be/8piJqciXAMg

As for sound, the Princeton is a great amp but would require the use of pedals to achieve the versatility and style you're after. The Vox is more versatile than the Princeton but you may struggle to get those classic Fender sounds out of those EL84's, I really enjoyed the high gain settings of the Nighttrain. The ampeg listed above is probably more versatile than either and can get pretty close to what your expectations might be.

I'm sure there are many other amps out there which can achieve what your looking for, it's just that I've only experienced and tried the ones listed above.

Hope this helps.

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Post subject: Re: In Market for first tube amp Princeton Reverb or Night T
Posted: Thu May 29, 2014 7:56 pm
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Ampeg's another fine choice. You get a lot of clean out of them too.

I'd look at Jet City too. It won't give you a Fender sound as it too is EL84 driven but it's a great sounding well built amp. My Egnater Rebel 20 runs both EL84 and 6V6 power tubes with a tube mix control. I really like the Rebel. I've had it over 3 years with no issues and it has tons of tonal possibilities. Try a bunch of different amps and try to be as subjective as possible.

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Post subject: Re: In Market for first tube amp Princeton Reverb or Night T
Posted: Fri May 30, 2014 10:31 am
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Retroverbial wrote:
There is a combo version of the Night Train......

http://www.amazon.com/Vox-Night-Train-N ... B00F0MB0QG

The head-only version does not feature built-in reverb.

Arjay

Dammit Arjay! You negated practically all my comments.

:x

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Post subject: Re: In Market for first tube amp Princeton Reverb or Night T
Posted: Fri May 30, 2014 11:05 am
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I'm just trying to be helpful.

:wink:

Arjay

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