I was very lucky back in the day to pick up a lot of stuff cheap, before vintage stuff went through the roof. One thing I failed to buy, however, was a blackface Fender Princeton Reverb.
I guess when I was a young buck, the Princeton Reverb seemed too small to fool with, so I bought big amps that would compete with drummers. As time went on, though, the merits of the sweet-sounding little Princeton Reverb couldn’t be denied—big tone out of a little amp, the smallest amp Fender made with reverb and vibrato. I did a gig with Joel Paterson last summer in Chicago where he played one, and I couldn’t get his words out of my head: “The most versatile amp ever!” But yeah, by that point, old Princeton Reverbs had doubled in price again, even from just a few years ago.
I did a performance and lecture in Lubbock, Texas, in the fall. The guy who brought me out there, Roger Landes, had a Headstrong amp. I had never heard of them, but he told me that they were really high-quality clones of vintage Fender amps. I couldn’t deny the fact that Roger’s Headstrong kicked ass.
I started following Headstrong amps on Instagram and was knocked out by the quality and tone. I contacted Wayne at Headstrong to see if he’d make me a “Li’l King Reverb,” his clone of a blackface Princeton Reverb with a 12″ speaker instead of the original 10″ speaker.
I got the amp yesterday, and yeah, it kicks ass! Serious swampy tones dripping out of this sucker. I dug out four of my favorite slabs of wood—my ’54 Tele, the ’61 parts-Strat named “Big Jerry,”” my ’66 ES-335, and the Hallmark Deke 2, and put it through the paces. It’s kind of perfect for recording, or smaller gigs—gets that great James Burton spanky Tele tone with the volume around 2 or 2 1/2, gets into Keith Richards territory around 4 or 5, great Buddy Holly/Bobby Fuller tone with the Strat, the best kind of Freddie King/Lonnie Mack tone with the ES-335, and bright twangy Bakersfield sounds with the Hallmark. I had to admit—this was an amp I had needed for a long time, even if I was really slow coming around to the Princeton Reverb party. (That’s the Hallmark DD2 I’m using in the video, BTW.)
Thanks to Wayne at Headstrong Amps! Follow them on FB and Instagram! Great products!
