Ceriatone Prinzetone - very nice!!!

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Deaj

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During the last few weeks I've had quite a few new things come, quite a few changes in gear. I won a Ceriatone Prinzetone head in a raffle, traded my Fuchs amp for a PRS SC245 Artist, bought an Egnater Tweaker combo, thraded the SC245 for a PRS Johnny Hiland model, and just received the Prinzetone. After a week with the Tweaker I'd pretty well decided that the soon to arrive Prinzetone would get sold. The Tweaker covers low watt Fender tones quite well (IMO of course), I have two amps already with the Boogie MkV combo, and I'm basically a combo guy - I don't even on an extension cab. With this in mind the arrival of the Prinzetone came and went without fanfare - no NAD post, just a post in the Emporium. I tested it upon arrival as though it were a chore, a necessity.

That doesn't seem right. I spent some time this evening playing through the Prinzetone with all of my electrics and I'm really impressed with it! I used the Mesa MkV's combo speaker/enclosure. The 'blackface' (default) setting sounds like a blackface Princeton - no surprise there. The highs exhibit all of the 'jangle' and the lows have a nice bounce feel. Fantastic clean tones with sweet overtones! It has more clean headroom than I was expecting it to have. Breakup comes on gradually and sounds great! I particularly like it set to verge of breakup with single coils - blues, motown, r&b, and gritty country tones - very nice!! The Tweed mode (defeats the tone stack) breaks up early and responds well to guitar volume changes or changes in picking dynamics. This mode can be made to sound quite aggressive as can many Fender tweed amps. Lots of great blues and classic rock tones on tap here. This was a lot of fun to play favorite ZZ Top tunes through! Back to the 'blackface' mode and on to the Tremolo - the tremolo sounds awesome!! I probably spent more time with the amp set up for a blackface clean tone just under verge of breakup with the tremolo set for a medium tempo pulse - what a sound! I particularly liked this with low output PAF's. It was a mesmerizing sound - awesome! It has a passive loop (preamp out / power amp in - insert point) which works well enough with an effects processor capable of handling a wide range of signal levels. I was able to set a Boss VF-1 multi-effects unit up for reverb & echo with good results. A buffered loop would have yielded better results but a blackface Princeton is perhaps not the place for an effects loop. It's a nice option though - one I would use.

Sadly it's a bit redundant as I can get similar tones (except for the tremolo) from the Tweaker - a combo with a buffered effects loop and a master volume (features I've come to appreciate and now look for in an amp). The Prinzetone is a blast to play through though! ...especially with the Tremolo engaged! As great as the amp sounds it's pretty easy for me to let a non master volume head go - it's just not the type of amp I use. The tremolo is going to be difficult to let go though...

Nik - fantastic job with this amp! This model should do well.
 
i spent an hour with a tweaker, a few months ago...
it was ok, but i was underwhelmed with it. it seemed...... flat. no 3 dimensions. just gain.

on the issue of combos, i've always avoided combos, because i appreciate the ability to mix and match heads and cabinets without hesitation.

also, after years on the road, i figured out the portage issues were more important than having a head in a cabinet with a speaker.
being able to carry a head, separate from the cabinet, is a great way to avoid lower back strain.

that said, you could pick up a used 1x12 and put a decent speaker in it, and have a very portable rig to use in conjunction with the mark V

in fact, i'd buy a splitter box, and run them in tandem!
 

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