What are the differences between the Lil King and Lil King S?

…and what’s this I hear about a Lil King X?

First let’s start with the Lil King…first built in 2004, at that time, there were NO Princeton Reverb Chassis available in the boutique amp supply chain, and I know this because the few big companies that were around back then did not have one yet…I am sure someone, some where probably had a few made or bent and welded one themselves, but for someone looking to produce a replica on the fledgling boutique amp market like myself, there was nothing out there. I had an old silver face PR and had a company blueprint the metal work and produce them for me. Several LONG months later it was done and by late 2004 I had the FIRST Lil King built and ready to send to David Wilson (RIP) of The Tonequest Report for review. Back then I had to build and sell these things so I could pay for the parts to build more. (I have a story about how I got the very first Lil King back…YES, I sold the first one to buy the parts for more!!) One of the great things about replicating after years of playing these old Fenders was that prototyping was not nearly as important as when you build something that is tweaked or completely NEW in design. That, as you know, is not something I do, I build replicas, “flaws” and all! I did not borrow ANY money to start Headstrong, it was literally amp to amp back then.

The Lil King is a faithful reproduction of the AA1164 Black Panel Princeton Reverb, and at that time, trust me there was NO ONE building these for the commercial market. I did not tweak anything in the circuit to change the bass response or clean it up etc. Just built this thing as close as I could to an old one. Side note, I did side by side tests of a few GOOD vintage examples that I had access to, as you know there can be a huge variance in these old amps…Some sound good or great while others are just off for a variety of reasons.

The Lil King Reverb is built around one of the GOOD vintage examples and after nearly 20 years and 700 ( I am building chassis no. 700 this week for Deke Dickerson) of the stock Lil King amps of which I have personally wired EVERY ONE, I am confident that its as close as it gets…Not saying it is better than anyone else’s take, just as close as it gets!

The idea for the Lil King-S (the S stands for “Souped up” or “Stage” ) came in 2009 after several years of building the Lil King and people asking me about beefing the amp up or tightening the bottom end. There are a few popular Princeton Reverb Mods out there as you know, but I wanted to take it further…This is one of the few times in the 20 years I have been building amps that I even considered doing this. To me one of the main reasons Princeton Reverb’s sound the way they do is the Phase Inverter (read the Blog, “why do the Princeton Reverb and Deluxe Reverb amps sound so different” for more on this) I wanted to keep that, otherwise I am building a single channel Deluxe Reverb basically. I wanted all that sag to happen like a Princeton, but much louder and cleaner on the way to that point. I boosted the PI voltages by using the untapped leg of the Filter cap can, bumped some voltages in other places, but mainly…I had a HUGE Princeton Sized Power transformer built AND a 35 watt Output transformer built with a special primary impedance so that it would handle a variety of power tubes. It was my thought that is I beefed up all of this, but kept the PI the same, the amp would land at about 25 watts with 6L6 tubes. SO the main difference in the stock Lil King (black panel Princeton reverb AA1164) and the Lil King S is the transformer set and higher voltages across the board…The effect of this has also been explained in previous Blog posts, so please check those out if you are so inclined!

Lil King S (left) and stock Lil King (right) power transformers built to my spec by Heyboer

The Lil King-X…Well that is what I call a “flex” model between the two amps. There is a significant amount of room between the Lil King and at the Lil King-S, so over the years I have talked to so many people about what they wanted out of the amp I was building for them, that the X took shape. Charlie Hunter was one of the first to have one built. He had several Lil King and Lil King S amps, but sometimes there was too big of a gap between them for certain rooms. The X can be many things…The one I just built for JD Simo, is Lil King S power transformer, Deluxe reverb output transformer, it will run 6V6 or 6L6s, for 18-22 watts. PI voltages were raised, but pre amp voltages were kept close to the stock AA1164 readings. I have done so many different versions of this to achieve what someone wants…stock LK power transformer with a Deluxe reverb output to juice it just a little, Lil King S power transformer with stock Princeton Output and 6V6s…a ton of voltage mods to clean or brighten…It is virtually endless.

I personally prefer the stock versions of both, but there have been some cool variations. Rest assured, this is not nearly as complex or vast as it seems, these are finite incremental changes, some of which are so subtle, only guys like JD and Charlie Hunter can really tell the difference…subtle changes to mids, volume, headroom, and compression…these are guys that are TRUE MASTERS of what they do and have done it for so long, they can hear these little 1-5% changes….Not to discourage anyone from exploring this, but lets not over think this thing…Call me and I can walk you through some of this…it is not something that you should obsess over, I can get you where you need to be based on the information you provide.

Lil King-S (left) and Lil King (right) Output transformers built to my specs by Heyboer

Between the Lil King, the Lil King-X and the Lil King-S, I have built almost 1000 chassis, so I have heard most if not all of it at this point…There is a reason guys call me about this circuit…And I am not one to brag, but I do think I have earned the right to consider myself a bit of an authority on the Princeton Reverb and what makes them sound so good!

I hope you enjoyed this latest 5 AM rant! Time to get to work on Lil King No.700!!

Thanks for reading!!

As always, you can call or email me ANY time with questions and feel free to comment below!

Wayne