# Any opinions on Musicman amps?



## orangegoblin (Aug 8, 2010)

So, I know someone who is looking to sell his musicman amp. It was built in the 70's, 50 watt 1 x12 (2- 6L6)

Does anyone own one of these? I don't know much history on this make, but it was a fender spinoff or something... If anyone could enlighten me on what to expect/personal experience, that would be great.

I play a prs standard, and clean tones are important to me... I play queens-of-the-stone-age-ish hard rock, so I'm not sure how suitable this amp would be for my needs.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

I know they have been Johnny Winters amp for many years. 

[video=youtube;jvHzAJ3gpYg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvHzAJ3gpYg[/video]


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

But seriously, they are nice amps. The ones he uses are basically a Fender Super Reverb


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

I used to own a script logo 410 sixty-five exactly like the one on the home page here: http://www.musicmanamps.com/ . If loud and clean and/or loud and slightly hairy overdriven blues is your thing it is a freakin' fantastic amp. I only sold mine because I lent it to a bass player who promptly blew all the speakers and I couldn't afford to fix it.

That said, it bears a resemblance in terms of features to a Fender Super Reverb, but the tone is different because the preamp is solid state. Leo Fender said solid state could be done well or done badly (I'm paraphrasing here), this is solid state done well. FWIW the tremolo is world class.


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## washburned (Oct 13, 2006)

They are great amps, well designed (by LF) and well built. The distortion is all where it ought to be...in the output stage, so they need to be played at volume. There are some places which specialize in rebuilding the front ends with tubes, and depending on who does it you can get a really great amp.


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## mario (Feb 18, 2006)

I just recently scored a Musicman RD50 head which I have a feeling is the head version of the amp you are speaking about. Great sounding amp....gotta get a cab for it though. I have played a few Musicman amps and they have all sounded great for that classic "Fender clean-semi clean tone". If you are going to pass on it please PM with info about the sale. BTW....I'm a PRS guy too.


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## Mr Yerp (Feb 24, 2006)

Can't go wrong with a Musicman in my book. Great clean/semi clean as mentioned, and they take pedals very well. YMMV. Built strong like bull too.


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## ezcomes (Jul 28, 2008)

clapton played one for a few years...


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

ezcomes said:


> clapton played one for a few years...


He just sold off all his MM's. I'm surpised he had them so long. He used to play these back in the 70's when Albert Lee was in his band. Must have been sitting in a warehouse somewhere.


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## urko99 (Mar 30, 2009)

I use to own an RD-50 Blonde tolex head and played it through a 2 x 12 marshall silver jubilee bottom. I loved the combination and I regretfully sold the head. If I ever run accross another I will definetly snap it up for sure. The amp you're refering to is one tight little package and worth getting. Value should be between 400.00 to 600.00 cdn depending on condition. The distortion channel wasn't so great. but the clean has tremendoud pick attack and take pedals very well. You will not regret it IMHO.


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## bcmatt (Aug 25, 2007)

I remember reading once about how some models had the a tube Phase Inverter while others had the SS PI, and that the tube ones were preferred for a better warmer tone...
I think I would prefer all-tube to any of these, but it really depends on what you are after.


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## orangegoblin (Aug 8, 2010)

Thanks for the great advice, guys... I bought the amp, and I really like it so far

The current speaker is just some generic thing, what should I replace it with? 

I wanna use fuzz/overdrive/distortion in combination with the clean channel.

Also, any idea how much it might cost to mod it out as described earlier in this thread? I think it's a good amp that COULD be GREAT!


Thanks guys


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

An eminence legend is probably a good start. Middle of the road, so does clean and dirty well. If you want to spend the bucks, an alnico Weber Blue Dog is a kick ass choice. If you can get you hands on one of the old Reverend Alltone speaker, I had one in a Traynor YCV-40, it did clean and dirty very well.


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## Tyler Savage (Nov 16, 2009)

They're great amps if you can play them loud like someone said. They still sound 'alright' quiet, but you can get a good grindy sound out of them when cranked - not a ton of gain, but enough for a good rock sound and they eat pedals well

I think this is an RD50, but either way a musicman sounding great. I_f I remember_ correctly she uses a tube screamer now and then YouTube - ‪Lemuria "Hours" Live in Buffalo, NY‬&rlm;


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## avalancheMM (Jan 21, 2009)

One of my favorite guitar tones and players was Brian 'Too Loud' McLeod, if you search this forum, you'll read lots about Brian. Great tone - Strat into a Music Man. Congratulations!

Regards


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## orangegoblin (Aug 8, 2010)

I don't mind putting a bit of money into this amp, would the alnico Weber Blue Dog mellow the treble off a bit?


Also, any recommendations for 6l6's tubes? 

I would really like to roll off the harshness of the treble, it can be a bit ear-piercing (I've been setting the treble to 2 haha )

Right now it has a pair of GT-6L6B's Groove Tubes... 

Thanks again for all the info/advice/encouragement guys... maybe I will upload a video of how it sounds after the small upgrades!


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## bobguitar (Dec 23, 2010)

I've owned 2 Musicman amps. a 110 RD 50 and a 130HD w/EVM 15. They were both of excellent build quality and sounded great, especially for clean tones.
And yes, Johnny Winter still uses a 4-10 Musicman. I had the pleasure of opening the show for him in London in 2008 and his Musicman was right next to my amp on stage.


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## orangegoblin (Aug 8, 2010)

Do you recall which speakers/tubes you used? This is the 112 RD50 model.

Which 6l6's would mellow out the highs and tighten the bass??? Sorry I'm really quite new to all this technical stuff.


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

I don't think the Blue dog will mellow the treble. Weber might have some suggestions, email them. If you want the "Rock n Roll" sound with attenuated treble, a Silver Bell might be the one. I use one in my 2x12 and I love it for that reason.


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## Guest (Jul 7, 2011)

I had opne of the 100 watt HD's. Great amp... well built, good Fenerish tones with balls and LOUD!
Sold mine but miss it... I'd prefer a 50 watt next time round.


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## bcmatt (Aug 25, 2007)

orangegoblin said:


> Which 6l6's would mellow out the highs and tighten the bass??? Sorry I'm really quite new to all this technical stuff.


I think I have a speaker suggestion. I had a similar problem of a couple amps being excessively bright when using most speakers, (especially when trying to use with a rhodes). After trying quite a few speakers and speaker combinations, I found that the speaker best at calming the highs from any pierceyness and giving a strong bold low and and a general thick syrupy tone was the *WGS ET65*. That would be what I drop in that amp. That speaker solved a lot of problems for me when trying to record a couple amps.

I think that Alnico speakers can help sweeten the highs and take a bit of harshness out, but I don't think they will achieve it to the level you are after, or give you the strong low end that you are after.


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## mad dog (May 10, 2007)

Orange:

Sounds like the RD-50. I traded into an RD-50 head this year. Found it to be an excellent sounding amp, quite the beautiful clean sound, same deal with overdrive higher up the volume dial. Traded it towards a Guild guitar and immediately regretted it. Just today, the fellow who now owns it agreed to sell it back to me. Great news! If I had the 1x12, my first choice for speaker would be the Eminence Cannabis Rex. Used that hemp cone speaker in several amps. It is not a dark speaker, but so smooth the bright tone does not have that icepick quality. It's also a loud speaker. Another excellent choice would be the weber california paperdome ceramic.

MD


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## orangegoblin (Aug 8, 2010)

Hey everyone thanks for all the input - and sorry for reserecting this old thread.

I just put in a Cannabis Rex, as suggested by mad dog, and it sounds fantastic. It's just what I was looking for. I would definitely recommend this speaker to anyone with the RD50 who needs a little more warmth but still tons of clarity. I was slightly concerned with the wattage (50 watt speaker into 50 watt amp) but it seems fine, as apparently the hemp cone can take quite a beating! hahah! Well again thanks for all the input, guys!


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