Vintage Sound Vintage 5, Surf Green

The Vintage Sound Vintage 5 is a new design we've really been looking forward to. It essentially starts out as 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). BUT, the output transformer has been modified to reduce the output wattage down to 5 watts.  As well, the preamp has been voiced a bit differently to react with the lower wattage in a more desirable way.

So other than the output wattage, how does this amp differ from a vintage mid sixties Princeton Reverb?

1)  The most obvious difference is the 12" speaker instead of the stock 10" speaker.

2)  The reverb circuit is vastly upgraded from the stock 9" pan spring reverb to 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 reverb dwell control on the rear of the chassis for varying the decay time.

3)  A "MIDDLE" tone control has been added. This addition does absolutely nothing to hurt the integrity of the circuit or tone. The original Fender circuit had a fixed mid tone was set permanently at 6.8k. We removed this resistor replacing it with a much more versatile 10k pot. You now have the ability to adjust this frequency range without compromising the original tone.

4)  The original Princeton Reverb didn't have a Standby Switch. This one does.

5)  External Bias Points have been added so as to more easily bias the amp when you swap out tubes.  

So, as you can see, the Vintage 5 has lots of upgrades to the original Princeton Reverb circuit. 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 5 Specs:

Wattage: 5 watts
Preamp Tubes: 3 x 12AX7, 1 X 12AT7
Power Tubes: 2 x 6V6
Rectifier: 1 x 5Y3
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 Veteran 30 - 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 Amp Jewel
Combo Dimensions: 17" High x 19 7/8" Wide x 9 1/2" Deep (30 lbs)

Why are we using the 12" WGS Veteran 30 speaker?

First, we'll address the size... You would be VERY hard pressed to find someone who prefers a 10" speaker in a Princeton Reverb over a 12". If Fender could go back, you could just about bet the farm they would have used a 12" speaker. It provides everything the 10 gives you, but with more mid and bottom end. We have never known anyone who went back to a 10" after modding their Fender Princeton Reverb.

This speaker also works great with lower wattage amps in allowing a bit more clean headroom. When driven hard, the breakup you'll get with the Vintage Sound 5 will be all tube saturated overdrive and not distortion from the speaker.