Princeton (Silverface) Speaker Replacement talk

[Jaguar018]

Okay Princeton (amp) nerds... I know this place is swarming with you as it's the unofficial but almost official "smallish" amp of a few dozen long time OSGers.

My Princeton Silverface is starting to get that flubby bass sound when you hit just about any note on the low E string. If I dial the bass knob back to like 1 or 2 then it goes away. Now this particular amp has a stronger bass presence than many of its fellow siblings. When I tried it out next another SF Princeton in the shop the one I chose was WAY beefier. Why you ask? Because it has a Celestion gold speaker in it which seemed to have given it this extra oomph.

Question for you all: tips to diagnose issue? Replace speaker? Just another Celestion? Any other ideas?

I'm not really wed to that speaker and even the extra bit of bass flavor yet I suppose it's nice. I think I'm intrigued with the idea of a more efficient speaker as I'm pretty much a drive/distortion/fuzz with pedals only kind of player.

[Larry Mal]

I guess I'll keep an eye on this although I don't have any advice, although I actually have replaced a speaker on a Silverface Princeton, but it was so long ago I don't remember what I used or how much I liked it.

But I have a modern Princeton with a 12" speaker so I'll be wanting to see what other people suggest.

[terminalvertigo]

I put one of those 70s blue square fender sticker 10s (from a SF super reverb) in my '68 PR.. Sounds great! (and they are cheap)

[JSett]

Back about 10-15 years ago the usual favourite for a lot of people as a swap on these was an Eminnce Ragin Cajun. Louder and better low end response. I had one in my PRRI and it made it sound way way better.

[cestlamort]

I put a JBL e110 in mine. I was trying to get the same huge clean feel as the Twin with EV SRO 12 speakers I had at the time. (And the Princeton couldn’t keep up with a drummer with the old speaker.)

Mostly successful switch: The Princeton now sounds good but it’s also pretty bright. And the extra headroom isn’t getting used at home. I’m not unhappy with the choice but I’ve recently been thinking about trying something else.

[beauzooka]

I have a late 70's Fender Princeton and I put an Eminence Ramrod 10" in there. It sounds great with plenty of bass and headroom.

[andy_tchp]

My Princeton Silverface is starting to get that flubby bass sound

[...]

Question for you all: tips to diagnose issue? Replace speaker? Just another Celestion? Any other ideas?

Minimal chance the (very highly regarded, and arguably much better than anything suggested) speaker is the 'cause' unless it's been damaged.

Electrolytic caps - When were these last done?

[JSett]

My Princeton Silverface is starting to get that flubby bass sound

[...]

Question for you all: tips to diagnose issue? Replace speaker? Just another Celestion? Any other ideas?

Minimal chance the (very highly regarded, and arguably much better than anything suggested) speaker is the 'cause' unless it's been damaged.

Electrolytic caps - When were these last done?

Andy has a very good point here actually that I overlooked. If it was previously fine and is, as you say "starting to get", flubby then that might indicate an issue elsewhere if it was previously fine.

[countertext]

If it turns out it IS the speaker, I put a Warehouse “Veteran” in my SFPR. It sounds great.

[marqueemoon]

Hmm…. I don’t have a Princeton, but I put a Celestion Gold 10” in my old Vox Cambridge in large part to *tame* the wooly low end as to my ears it’s a bit leaner sounding than what was in there.

This comparison shows the difference between a Gold and the stock Jensen in a hardwired PR.

They’re very different, particularly in how they break up. I slightly prefer the Jensen just because it’s more Fendery sounding.

I agree with the other posters that if something has changed so drastically it’s likely not something a speaker swap alone would fix.

[Jaguar018]

Well I found out what the issue was.

A week ago I messed with the settings of my Boss Re-202 pedal. For anyone that doesn’t know, the original Roland Re-201 Space Echo had a preamp that was always on, and I remember it sounded decent with an amp I was using at the time.

With the new digital version it only engages when the pedal is active, but I changed the setting to be ‘always on.’ So yeah. [I have two amps on top of each other that I often switch between so I didn’t notice this right away]

I turned the pedal preamp thing off and will give it a few more days to make sure. Glad I can still be a numbskull decades into playing.

[thegreatbigsby]

If you find you still want/have to change something, get the caps checked as already mentioned.

And if you still want to try out a new speaker, I've been down that rabbit hole with my '65 PRRI. I guess I must have had - 4? different speakers in there. I always fought with too much treble and a certain stiffness in the amps response. In the end, it wasn't only the speaker that changed it all for me, but my tech recommending to try to bring the internal voltages down, which are way higher in the reissues. But I finally found a speaker I really like -here are my findings.

The Ragin Cajun is the way to go for more headroom. Crazy efficient, deep bass (not flubby though) and fierce treble response. No cone breakup, and makes the amp noticably louder.

WGS 10'' Veteran. Way less headroom, less bass response. Had a certain presence/very high treble with my amp which I couldn't dial out. Breakup sounded fizzy to me.

It now has an Eminence GA10-SC64. Really like that one. Doesn't have that shrill treble that couldn't be dialed out, maybe a tiny nose in the mids which I think suits an black-/silverpanel Fender amp. Not crazy efficient, but also no crazy early breakup - it's a keeper. As is the 12'' GA64 I have in an old Ampeg and the Alnico 10'' in a Harvard-style build.

Hope that helps.

[Dok]

Around my neck of the woods when I did this 10-15 years ago, it was the Weber 10F150, or the brighter 10F150T. I got the 10F150, 8ohms, 25 watts, with light doping. I selected this at the time because it was the clear consensus favorite, and I have absolutely no regrets. Still sounds phenomenal and is loud as hell with plenty of headroom. Nice tight bass.

https://www.tedweber.com/10f150/

[Scout]

Sounds like you found the issue, I was gonna add try new tubes as one of my Fender’s suffered from
flubby bass until I put in a new 6v6.

[HarktheUmpire]

Still no mentions of Jupiter speakers? Seems like the most obvious Princeton upgrade for me.
10LC is great, 10LA even more sound if you insist on alnico.