Ryan Adams

Ryan Adams discusses the Fender '68 Custom Princeton Reverb amp:

“Hey I'm Ryan Adams and I'm trying out the new [Fender] 68 Custom amps. It’s shiny, it wants to be played. It reminds me of classic pinball machines. The nice blue light in there and clean lines. One of the things I like about it is that the volume is contained in this small box. I feel like I can push the kind of volume where I don't lose tone, and I don't destroy my own ears, and I can push the amplifier itself.

The sweet spot - people will say it's different ones - but it’s around 3.5 to 4.5 is where mine kinda starts to break up naturally, and you hear the tubes kinda starting to fry the egg a little bit. I love that sound. And then I can use the guitar appropriately, and I can play much quieter. I could be playing just a voicing and just use my thumb, and then dig in and you can hear the string - I love that. I need the dynamic range.

The reverb in that box, for some reason, even in these new ones it has a quality that's really hard to describe, where I can lose the signal and get a tone that has something to do with the reverb when I want, but I also can- any the guitar stabs you do, they get the perfect trail that's a tone its own self.

In my mind the Princeton does this incredible thing for me where it sounds a little bit like Johnny Marr is using Jerry Garcia’s rig. And something is wrong with him and he’s not playing as good as he should be, but I really like that. And also strangely reminds me of The Replacements guitar tones - the tones you can hear that make sense on the Tim era. And some of that could have been the production or whatever but when you really wanna put just a little bit of an overdrive on a Princeton, you don't have to use much.

I will not use any amp but a Princeton on any record ever, and have never - ever. Not since 2005. It’s just my amp.”

Ryan Adams posts a photo of his amp rig on his Twitter. He says, "My rig in HIGHbernation waiting to roll at InvictusLondon." The large amp in the back most closely matches the Fender 65 Princeton Reverb 15W 1x10 Tube Guitar Combo Amp (a Vintage Reissue amplifier).

In November 2016 Adams posted this picture on Instagram on which you can see that he uses a JC 120 in his PAX-AM-Studios.

"New ride. Unreal @bensonamps Holy moly" - Ryan Adams, Instagram (@misterryanadams)

Ryan Adams - in the early days with the Cardinals (2005-2007,) used a Fender Vibro King along with between one to three Princeton Reverbs, depending on venue size. He also used one or two Vibro King 2x12 cabs with this setup. He can be seen using this setup in any live performances from this era to include the Letterman performance of Let It Ride and the Avatar Sessions.

During this live performance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Ryan Adams is seen playing a Fender Twin Reverb Blackface amplifier. Additionally, he is observed using a Twin Reverb in the music video for "This Is It." In an interview, Ryan Adams mentioned that Twin Reverbs were used exclusively during the recording of his 2003 album Rock N Roll.