Music Man Amps

I have been playing/gigging with a Music Man HD130 and I really love it. Compact and versatile. Really got the bug to get a Mesa Boogie, though!!! Super Reverb was my old number 1. Got weary of carrying that big thang all the time.

I've got an RD110-50 watt that I bought new back in '81-'82; hybrid SS pre, 2x 6L6 mains, footswtichable reverb and OD. A lot of people bag the OD channel, but I found it was pretty decent if the gain was kept no higher than 6-8 and the master was at least half way up. Loud little sucker especially with a 1x12 EVM open back extension cab, and the clean side is flawless.

It's still in storage back in the US, and I was thinking of shipping it down here. Since I got my Mini Rec, though, I'm not so keen anymore considering that the Mini, although not as powerful, is a superior amp, and considering that, I can't justify the shipping costs of getting it from Cali to NZ.

I've owned 2 RD-50, one a 1-10 the other a 1-12. Well made, compact, big sound. Chet Atkins used an RD-50 112 for a decade or more touring. Clean tone was stellar, reverb was pretty OK, distortion tone was usable but not versatile.

Interesting aspect of RD-50 was that the PI was solid state, the 12ax7 was actually a preamp tube and only used one triode. Weird but it worked pretty well. Cheap amp to retube!

I also owned a big head and 1-15 bass cab, was a good sounding rig but I didn't need it at the time. Would love to have it now.

An important part of the Leo Fender legacy.

SixVeeSix said:

I also owned a big head and 1-15 bass cab...

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I picked up one of those 1x15 bass cabs, "free to good home", a few months back. Project is on the back-burner for now, but I'm going to do some cosmetic surgery on it, stick an Eminence Legend 1518 in there, and run it with my Mini Rec in parallel with the 1x12 Mini Rec cab.

A friend of mine had a probably late-70s 2x12 Music Man combo that was just mind-alteringly loud and clean, and this coming from a guy who owned an Ampeg V4. He was using it as a pedal platform and could hang with the JCM800 I was using at the time :shock:

It seemed far louder than a SS power section of that era should have been, and I wish I could recall what model it was. Any idea what that amp was?

CoG said:

A friend of mine had a probably late-70s 2x12 Music Man combo that was just mind-alteringly loud and clean, and this coming from a guy who owned an Ampeg V4. He was using it as a pedal platform and could hang with the JCM800 I was using at the time :shock:

It seemed far louder than a SS power section of that era should have been, and I wish I could recall what model it was. Any idea what that amp was?

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The power section of the Music Man amps was tube with a solid state rectifier. I know one model ran 4 - 6CA7 and was rated well over 100 watts. Most MM amps have a single preamp tube, except it's not. Phase inverter.

A VERY few early ones had tubes in the preamp but were still hybrid.

So, solid state preamp and tube output section. Great for organic sounding LOUD clean tones.

Ah, okay, that makes sense. It was definitely 4x6CA7s kinda loud. I don't think I ever heard the actual tone of the amp because he ran so many pedals, but it sure worked good for that.

And I now have a Mark IV!!!!! Love both amps! gonna be tough to choose between for gigs!!!

and so my MusicMan blew up on a gig last week. Fuse blew, replaced it, turned on lower power, no sound, then smoke. Not sure what happened??

mysterblues said:

and so my MusicMan blew up on a gig last week. Fuse blew, replaced it, turned on lower power, no sound, then smoke. Not sure what happened??

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I'm guessing one of the electrolytic capacitor blew. A fairly routine repair by an amp technician if that's the problem.

Yes, the HD-130R is great for pedals, stomp boxes. The preamp is FET, so not much preamp drive without stomp boxes.

I had one. It was one the most durable amps I had. I like the "Deep" switch. It gave depth. Miles of "headroom" cleans.

I actually get pretty good drive out of it, and use pedals also. What seems to have happened is I burned out the screen grid resistor. Taking it to a guru tech in a few days. Hope it's fixable!!!!!!!!!

mysterblues said:

I actually get pretty good drive out of it, and use pedals also. What seems to have happened is I burned out the screen grid resistor. Taking it to a guru tech in a few days. Hope it's fixable!!!!!!!!!

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Replacing a gird resistor, (should be) a routine repair by your amp technician. :wink:

Beware, amp technician don't have standard labor prices. They may charge as much as $75 an hour (or more) or bench price and the minimum one hour. So they fix a problem in 15 minutes, they may charge you for an hour of work.

I brought it to one amp technician and he charged me $65 which I though was expensive labor (this was in the late 80s) but he cleaned out my amp and did detailing around the front panel. Second time I brought my amp in he said "I remember you." He fixed my amp within 15 minutes and just charged me $25.

So technicians vary with prices vary. If they work out of their house, it usually less than if they have their shop in the big city.

We have a fantastic technician here in Rochester, NY. John Nau of Nau Engineering. Very fair on price and labor. Everyone in the area knows about him if he/she owns an amp. He also makes his own Nau amps, and has made some amazing mods to all kinds of tube amps. Except the cheap made in China crap , :wink: