12" speaker repl. for Princeton Rev?

Buck Dilly · Post by **Buck Dilly** » 16 Aug 2004 11:45 am

I am considering a weber 12 for my princeton (not for my steel). I want lots of bass and good overhead. Caliornia? Ceramic or Alnico? Any ideas? Anyone with Princetons?

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 16 Aug 2004 4:09 pm

Something to consider here is that by putting a 12" speaker in that little cabinet will actually throw off the tuning of the cabinet/speaker relationship. That cabinet is optimized for a 10" speaker. The 12" may move more air, but you may actually perceive less bass because of the mismatch.

That amp is only 12 watts so you're not going to get much clean headroom or punch out of it. The best way to get the most "loudness" out of it will be with an efficient 10" speaker like an old D110 JBL or maybe one of the alnico Weber speakers. I've got a '68 Princeton Reverb and it's sounds real full and balanced with it's 10" speaker.

Matching speaker size and cabinet size is a scientific/mathematical relationship and the increase in just speaker size can negatively effect the overall tonal balance of the whole. But to be fair, I've heard many Princetons with 12" speakers and though the bass response was wacked, the sound of a 12" is real nice for guitar, so it's a tradeoff sometimes. Boogie built its whole business on 12" loaded Princetons.

Brad Sarno

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 16 Aug 2004 4:11 pm

Good sounding 12" speakers:

Celestion Vintage 30
JBL D120
Peavey BW (if you can find them)
Peavey Scorpion (great sleeper of a speaker)
Weber Cali

Brad Sarno

Darvin Willhoite · Post by **Darvin Willhoite** » 16 Aug 2004 6:17 pm

My modified Princeton has a 12" K120. Sounds great to my ears. Before I got it, the tremolo was disabled and a second channel added. The controls for the second channel are on the back, with a switch on the volume control to switch the channels. There is also a gain control on the main channel to control overdrive. The reverb works on both channels. I don't know who did the mods, but evidently they knew what they were doing.

------------------
Darvin Willhoite
Riva Ridge Recording

Buck Dilly · Post by **Buck Dilly** » 16 Aug 2004 8:07 pm

If not a 12", which 10"?

Shaan Shirazi · Post by **Shaan Shirazi** » 17 Aug 2004 5:07 am

I have a 10" Weber California (ceramic) in my Princeton Reverb and I like it a lot. It makes for a good steel practice amp and small room gig worthy for guitar. I'm probably going to put 2 of 'em in my Vibrolux.

------------------
The Pickin' Paniolo

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 17 Aug 2004 6:00 am

Shaan's post reminded me of this previous discussion which covered some good ground.
http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum11/HTML/004485.html

One thing I might add is that there are other good options if, as you state, a steel amp is not your objective. The Cali is a relatively neutral speaker. There is a Weber series, 12{x}125 and 12{x}150, "x" meaning "fill in the blank"--"F", "A", for ceramic, alnico, and a bunch of suffixes---check out the Weber site for descriptions. These speakers may lend more crunch, compression, etc. that may or may not be what you want. <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jon Light on 17 August 2004 at 07:19 AM.]</p></FONT>

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 17 Aug 2004 10:12 am

http://tonetubby.com/speaker.htm

Jerry Clardy · Post by **Jerry Clardy** » 18 Aug 2004 4:48 am

We have an older Princeton Reverb, mid-sixties I think, that I installed an EV Force 10 in. It really woke the old amp up. Don't know if a 12 would have the same effect but I would predict it to.

Bill Leff · Post by **Bill Leff** » 18 Aug 2004 5:40 am

I have a 12" Weber Cali in a nice pine cab about the size of a Deluxe Reverb that I'm not using if you are interested.

Bill

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 18 Aug 2004 7:08 am

Yea Bobby, those Tone-Tubbies are really nice sounding. Yet another good use of hemp.

Brad Sarno

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 18 Aug 2004 7:19 am

Whatever do you mean "another"?

Jeff Hogsten · Post by **Jeff Hogsten** » 18 Aug 2004 10:29 am

Buck

I have put 12s in several princetons and they worked fine but it wasnt worth the effort there wasnt much more if any bass Brad may have meant you couldnt get much punch with the stock speaker because if you stick a jbl in there you are going to get lots of punch.they are so small and light with the stock speaker you may want to consider a extension cab and just carrying the amp around like a piggy back that way it isnt modified you keep the value you and have a great sounding amp that is light weight I have a marrs cab loaded with a jbl weight about 20 pounds total and it really kicks with the princeton I like the 15 best for guitar as well as steel, but anyway after doing mods to a lot of princetons that is what I would do but if you are wanting one of the speakers you mentioned I would follow Brads advice and just get a ten, the difference is not worth the effort and youve ruined the vintage value of a great amp Jeff