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VINTAGE SOUND - VINTAGE 20
Vintage Sound Vintage 20 Head & 1x12 Cab in Wine Taurus
Vintage Sound Amps
VINTAGE SOUND - VINTAGE 20
Vintage Sound Vintage 20 Head & 1x12 Cab in Wine Taurus Vintage Sound Vintage 20 Head & 1x12 Cab in Wine Taurus
- DESCRIPTION
The Vintage Sound Vintage 20 is a slightly stepped up version of the Vintage 15. Like the Vintage 15, it's essentially an all hand-wired, all USA made, super-modified Fender Princeton Reverb. It's based on the "blackface" Fender Princeton Reverb (AA1164) used from 1964-1967, but with several major and significant upgrades (read more below).
The Vintage 20 has a considerable amount of warm, clean headroom, and noticeably more than a typical blackface Princeton Reverb. It will easily hold it's own again any Deluxe Reverb out there. Players from all genres LOVE this amp - from Blues, to Country, to Rock!
Tell Us About the Upgrades!
1) The reverb circuit is vastly upgraded. The stock reverb on a Princeton was a small 9" pan spring reverb. The Vintage 20 uses a large 17" spring reverb pan that's the same size as the one used in the Twin Reverb! The reverb circuit also includes a very nifty reverb dwell control on the rear of the chassis for varying the decay time.
2) A "MIDDLE" tone control has been added that Princeton Reverb amps didn't have. This addition does nothing to hurt the integrity of the circuit or tone. The original Fender circuit actually had a "fixed mid" that was set permanently at 6.8k. Vintage Sound removed this resistor from the circuit and replaced it with a much more versatile 10k pot. You now have the ability to adjust this frequency range without compromising the original tone. If you want it to sound precisely like a blackface Princeton Reverb, just turn the port to around one o'clock on the dial and you're there. You want to scoop the mids a touch, pull back. Warm the tone a bit, turn up.
3) The addition of a Standby Switch. The original Princeton Reverb didn't have one. This one does.
4) The output transformer has been upgraded and beefed up to give you 20 watts (instead of 12 in a stock Princeton Reverb) so it has a good bit more clean headroom on tap than a vintage PR. This also allows you to change out the power tubes to 6L6's for a different tone and response. Overall, we recommend staying with 6V6 tubes, but the 6L6 tubes will deliver slightly more bass, but will be a bit more stiff in response. Stiffness isn't a bad thing if that's what you are going after, but the majority of people will prefer the slightly softer response of the 6V6 tubes. Naturally, your mileage may vary.
5) External Bias Points have been added so as to more easily bias the amp when you swap out tubes. This was previously an upcharge, but starting in 2017 these are now included on the Vintage 20. Nice!
As well, all Vintage Sound amps are point-to-point hand-wired using top quality filter caps and electrolytics, carbon comp resistors, Orange Drop tone caps, solid core push back wire, and custom transformers that are hand wound in the USA.
Vintage 20 Specifications:
Wattage: 20 watts (or about 16 with a 5Y3 rectifier)
Preamp Tubes: 3 x 12AX7, 1 X 12AT7
Power Tubes: 2 x 6V6 (optional 6L6's can be used)
Rectifier: 1 x 5AR4 (optional 5Y3 can be used for slower, more saggy response)
Front Controls: Volume, Treble, Middle, Bass, Reverb, Speed, & Intensity.
Rear Controls: Dwell (for controlling the reverb decay time)
Effects: Large Pan, Tube Driven Spring Reverb, Tube Vibrato
Speaker: WGS G12C/S - 1 x 12" (read more about this speaker below)
Inputs: 2 Inputs
Auxiliary Input: RCA Footswitch Jack
Extension Speaker Jack: External Speaker Jack
Circuit Construction: All Point-to-Point, Hand-wired
Cabinet Construction: Dove-tail jointed solid pine w/Baltic Birch Plywood baffle and back panels
Pilot Light: Blue Jewel
Head Dimensions: 9 1/2" High x 19 7/8" Wide x 8 5/8" Deep (26 lbs)
Cab Dimensions: 18.5" High x 24" Wide x 10 1/2" Deep (30 lbs)
The Vintage 20 has a considerable amount of warm, clean headroom, and noticeably more than a typical blackface Princeton Reverb. It will easily hold it's own again any Deluxe Reverb out there. Players from all genres LOVE this amp - from Blues, to Country, to Rock!
Tell Us About the Upgrades!
1) The reverb circuit is vastly upgraded. The stock reverb on a Princeton was a small 9" pan spring reverb. The Vintage 20 uses a large 17" spring reverb pan that's the same size as the one used in the Twin Reverb! The reverb circuit also includes a very nifty reverb dwell control on the rear of the chassis for varying the decay time.
2) A "MIDDLE" tone control has been added that Princeton Reverb amps didn't have. This addition does nothing to hurt the integrity of the circuit or tone. The original Fender circuit actually had a "fixed mid" that was set permanently at 6.8k. Vintage Sound removed this resistor from the circuit and replaced it with a much more versatile 10k pot. You now have the ability to adjust this frequency range without compromising the original tone. If you want it to sound precisely like a blackface Princeton Reverb, just turn the port to around one o'clock on the dial and you're there. You want to scoop the mids a touch, pull back. Warm the tone a bit, turn up.
3) The addition of a Standby Switch. The original Princeton Reverb didn't have one. This one does.
4) The output transformer has been upgraded and beefed up to give you 20 watts (instead of 12 in a stock Princeton Reverb) so it has a good bit more clean headroom on tap than a vintage PR. This also allows you to change out the power tubes to 6L6's for a different tone and response. Overall, we recommend staying with 6V6 tubes, but the 6L6 tubes will deliver slightly more bass, but will be a bit more stiff in response. Stiffness isn't a bad thing if that's what you are going after, but the majority of people will prefer the slightly softer response of the 6V6 tubes. Naturally, your mileage may vary.
5) External Bias Points have been added so as to more easily bias the amp when you swap out tubes. This was previously an upcharge, but starting in 2017 these are now included on the Vintage 20. Nice!
As well, all Vintage Sound amps are point-to-point hand-wired using top quality filter caps and electrolytics, carbon comp resistors, Orange Drop tone caps, solid core push back wire, and custom transformers that are hand wound in the USA.
Vintage 20 Specifications:
Wattage: 20 watts (or about 16 with a 5Y3 rectifier)
Preamp Tubes: 3 x 12AX7, 1 X 12AT7
Power Tubes: 2 x 6V6 (optional 6L6's can be used)
Rectifier: 1 x 5AR4 (optional 5Y3 can be used for slower, more saggy response)
Front Controls: Volume, Treble, Middle, Bass, Reverb, Speed, & Intensity.
Rear Controls: Dwell (for controlling the reverb decay time)
Effects: Large Pan, Tube Driven Spring Reverb, Tube Vibrato
Speaker: WGS G12C/S - 1 x 12" (read more about this speaker below)
Inputs: 2 Inputs
Auxiliary Input: RCA Footswitch Jack
Extension Speaker Jack: External Speaker Jack
Circuit Construction: All Point-to-Point, Hand-wired
Cabinet Construction: Dove-tail jointed solid pine w/Baltic Birch Plywood baffle and back panels
Pilot Light: Blue Jewel
Head Dimensions: 9 1/2" High x 19 7/8" Wide x 8 5/8" Deep (26 lbs)
Cab Dimensions: 18.5" High x 24" Wide x 10 1/2" Deep (30 lbs)
