In The Closet For Fifty Six Years

1966 Fender Princeton AA964

An absolutely mint '66 "black-face" black tolex "Princeton AA 964". This wonderful little amp will give you that perfect mid-sixties "clean" tone that everyone wants… It weighs just 28 lbs, boasts 12 watts and has one 'Jensen' ten-inch speaker stamped in white on the rim "220618  023010  C8306" (Jensen May 1966).The five tubes are 1 x Telefunken GZ34 (rectifier); 2 x 6V6GT (output); 1 x 12AX7 & 1 x 7025. The transformers are stamped "022913 / 606-6-18" (May 1966) and "022772 / 606-6-14" (April 1966).  Black Tolex body, with silver sparkle Grill cloth. The cabinet measures 16 x 16 x 9 inches. A mint example - a true time capsule. Serial number "A 09118". Complete with the original instruction manual, warranty, and schematic diagram. Some of the original capacitors and resistors have been expertly replaced. It sounds amazing…

Larry Meiners writes a column for Premier Guitar and is the author of the Gibson Flying “V” and Gibson Shipment Totals books as well as the audio CD book for instrument collectors, Live! At The Guitar Show.

Second in popularity only to the Deluxe, the 12 watt Princeton was an affordable step up from the Champ and Vibro Champ amps. In 1968, CBS engineers began to alter the coveted "blackface" circuits of the larger amps, but the Princeton remained untouched until late 1970. Interestingly, all Fender amps with tremolo are marked "Vibrato" on the control panel. This is a misnomer since the effect produced by the amp is tremolo (volume modulation) and not true vibrato (pitch modulation). Unlike it's "blackface" siblings, the Princeton did not use the LDR type tremolo which grounded signal to produce tremolo. Instead, the Princeton used power tube bias modulated tremolo which produces a more pleasing effect.