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| Amp Owners Clubs Here you'll find owners club threads for many different custom amps and special model amps from larger manufacturers, too. |
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#1 (permalink) |
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Tele-Afflicted
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Music Master Bass Amp Mafia
I got turned on to these by Robbie D of the TDPRI and catnine over on the FDP. Hearing two cool cats singing the praises of such a funky stepchild of a Fender amp got my attention. When I learned how relatively affordable they were/are I really got interested. 12 inches of tube tone for cheap? I'm in.
I have gone through a few of these over the years but recently settled on this early 6AQ5 one: Bone stock except for the tubes - three RCA's - and, at the moment, a Weber Sig Alnico. Truth be told, for at home play the stock speaker in this thing sounded great for my low-fi hacking. I may end up going back to it. I have also decided to leave the tone circuit alone on this one - although I will install an in-line fuse soon to protect the trannys. Step up and show me yours! |
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#2 (permalink) |
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TDPRI Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: East TN
Age: 49
Posts: 37
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Nice one, Vicious. Poor man's Deluxe....I love mine.
This one's got the 6v6's. Changed the input to a more standard "Fender" arrangement, i.e. 68K and 1Meg resistors and shorted that .047uF cap out of circuit. Sounded really good with a RI Jensen P12Q but wound up with the C12N due to the fact I noodle with a bass on it occasionally. The alnico couldn't take it, the N does fine. I've since added a 1/4" socket/plug connection for the speaker. Made it easier to hook to diferent speaker cabs and such. Dan |
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#5 (permalink) |
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Tele-Afflicted
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Boise, USA
Posts: 1,315
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Had one - but good such a good offer on it (well over then-current value) I had to sell! Highly recommended little amp.
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Want my guitar to sound like BBQ tastes! Check out the band at www.brightredtie.com |
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#11 (permalink) | |
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Tele-Holic
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Quote:
It's modded to use different tubes (EL34/84?) since the ones they normally would use were hard to find here when the mod was excecuted (in the early nineties). They probably still are. I have no idea what the mod exactly is, I just know what tubes to stick in there.
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If you remove the noisy stuff inside the piano it makes a great house for a dog. |
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#14 (permalink) |
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Tele-Afflicted
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Here's mine. Yeah, I'm in the happy camp with MMB's. They are little tone monsters. I picked up an old '65 Jensen P12R for this one and it really stepped it up. This thing will really grind with a P-90. I found this amp at an old obscure flea market about a year ago for $40.
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I'm Makin Progress |
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#15 (permalink) | |
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Tele-Holic
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Quote:
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If you remove the noisy stuff inside the piano it makes a great house for a dog. |
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#17 (permalink) |
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Tele-Meister
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Sheffield, UK
Posts: 151
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Heres mine
![]() ![]() ![]() The pictures are a bit limited I'm afraid. Sounds good with all my guitars. Its all stock except for the tubes. 12AT7 for home use 12AY7 for louder situations
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If it aint broke.....break it anyway!!!! |
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#19 (permalink) |
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Tele-Meister
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Sheffield, UK
Posts: 151
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Thanks Sid. I love this little amp. On the lookout for another 1. I know some ppl will say that the 12at7 is a power tube and shouldnt be used for the pre but, it just sounds the best out of the 12ay5, 5751 Ive tried in there.
A question to those in the know- Are those square CTS speakers Alnico or ceramic? Just a little curious Ian
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If it aint broke.....break it anyway!!!! |
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#20 (permalink) | |
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Tele-Afflicted
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Quote:
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#21 (permalink) |
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Tele-Meister
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Sheffield, UK
Posts: 151
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Thanks for the info Sid. The speaker sounds great for lower level breakup.I put an Eminence legend 125 in there for starters but found that, while that speaker could get good cleans, it wasn't really what this amp was about. Put the stock speaker back in and, the magic breakup returned. I have other amps to give me the clean headroom. This is just a plain old bedroom/recording rocker in the small tweed vain. Thats the way it should stay
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If it aint broke.....break it anyway!!!! |
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#22 (permalink) |
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TDPRI Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 80
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Duuuudes. I just SO got my socks blown off by a 6v6 MMB I just bought tonight for $200. Stock condition, lots of rust and ragged out grillcloth, but holy smokes, my 5e3 is going to have to step up its act now!
It's still got the 2 prong cord and has some grounding hum (though my house is old and has wiring issues). This one's going to stay with me for a while... Edit: the cord is 3 wires but the ground prong was either broken off or ???? Last edited by dever; January 2nd, 2010 at 04:04 AM.. |
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#23 (permalink) | |
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Tele-Afflicted
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Quote:
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#24 (permalink) |
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TDPRI Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 80
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Got back around to cleaning up the amp, inside and out, and doing the Richard Hassebrock mods:
http://members.dslextreme.com/users/...MBassCCmod.pdf http://members.dslextreme.com/users/...ol-Tonemod.pdf The tone/vol mod definitely provided a more guitar friendly tone, but I found the sweep of the tone pot doesn't provide much change. Easy and worth doing nonetheless. I don't know how much the coupling cap mod made, but it was simple to execute and easy to reverse if needed. I took a bunch of pics I'll post later today. I left the stock speaker in, but when I put an old p12n into my 5e3, I'll use that current speaker (a Bedrock) into the MMB to see what sort of tones I get out of it then. I picked up a 6aq5 version off ebay, on its way in the mail. Will be interesting to a/b these. One thing's for sure, the 6aq5 tubes are much more plentiful and a bunch cheaper than nos 6v6's. |
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#27 (permalink) |
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Tele-Meister
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Austin,Texas
Age: 51
Posts: 263
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So, how do you determine the year of manufacture of one of these? Just got one. I notice some have separate on/off switches, some don't.
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Proud owner of Dee Murray's Steinberger! "He's the best Ronn Roberts-style bass player in Austin!" -Aaron White http://www.myspace.com/shapedsound http://www.eggmen.com |
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#28 (permalink) |
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Tele-Afflicted
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psychetelec: - nice amp!
One indicator of date of manufacture of your amp is the codes on the transformers - that date will tell you the date the transformer was made - the amp was assembled some months (sometimes even a year!) after the transformer was made. You can also date it by the serial number stamped into the exterior of the rear of the chassis. Check this link for understanding transformer dating info: http://www.svvintageamps.com/dating.php Here is some serial number information: http://www.ggjaguar.com/fendamp5.htm |
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#29 (permalink) |
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Tele-Meister
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Austin,Texas
Age: 51
Posts: 263
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Thanks Sid.
Found "A9 + 5-digits - 1979". It's in great shape, bought it from a friend who'd bought the Musicmaster Bass/Amp package for his son who then decided he didn't wanna play bass. $150.
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Proud owner of Dee Murray's Steinberger! "He's the best Ronn Roberts-style bass player in Austin!" -Aaron White http://www.myspace.com/shapedsound http://www.eggmen.com |
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#33 (permalink) |
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Tele-Meister
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Austin,Texas
Age: 51
Posts: 263
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So, I tried bi-amping these two, with the Vox handling the low-end and the Fender the high-end, sounds fantastic. We have another orchestra show coming up in a couple weeks, where I have to have my stage volume low, I'm gonna use this rig.
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Proud owner of Dee Murray's Steinberger! "He's the best Ronn Roberts-style bass player in Austin!" -Aaron White http://www.myspace.com/shapedsound http://www.eggmen.com Last edited by psychetelec; February 2nd, 2010 at 03:00 PM.. |
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#34 (permalink) |
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Tele-Afflicted
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OK Sid better stand up and be counted!
Have had this honey since early 2009. Got it at GC of all places.The GC in our town seldom, (never?) has any good, cheap, Silver Face Fender tube amps, until one day, yes...one of the experts there made a comment about the amp needing tubes and made a face when telling me this. I wriggled the tubes and discovered they were very loose, one almost falling out on it's own. He did not know I had been looking for just this amp.(mmmwhahaha) I asked them to eat the tax and they said "OK". $230 out the door. After tightening the tube sockets up nice and snug the amp sang nicely. Thanks TDPRI and Billm for the tips. It's a nicely kept '74 model. Stock but for the speaker. What's not to like? Cheap tubes, and plentiful on the net. Great sound too. Can break up without bleedin' ears too...haha. Oh and here's a '68 Vibro Champ for extra consideration...and yes the thought crossed my mind, VC to MMBcabinet Forgot to add: The speaker in the MMB is a C12K and the Vibro has a P10R. The Vibro came with the baffle board previously modded for a ten inch speaker. I took the 8 ohm speaker out of the Vibro Champ and put that in the SCXD, which sounds glorious with that speaker. Serendipitous. There are not a lot of choices for 4 Ohm, 10 inch, speakers for guitar amps. "Vintage Speaker" had the best price. Now if I could find an 4 ohm, 12 inch, speaker I might be tempted to at least temporarily switch chassis here. Great thread Sid!
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Life is a minestrone topped off with parmesan cheese. Death is a cold lasagna suspended in deep freeze. Last edited by SimpleOne; February 3rd, 2010 at 01:11 AM.. |
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#35 (permalink) | |
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Tele-Afflicted
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Quote:
Would that be the "Harvard Mod?"
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Life is a minestrone topped off with parmesan cheese. Death is a cold lasagna suspended in deep freeze. |
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#37 (permalink) |
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Tele-Afflicted
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Finally got around to installing an in-line fuse in my MMB:
![]() Unsoldered the black power line coming in - it was soldered to the fixture holding the big red cap - and unsoldered the black (very dark purple?) line going to the switch from the same tab the black power line was solder to. Spliced the fuse holder in between the two unsoldered ends. Thus - power - into fuse - out to switch. |
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#38 (permalink) |
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Tele-Holic
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Havertown, PA. U.S.A.
Posts: 834
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Speaking of Loose tubes.
I have not used my MMB in a bout a year and a half because the tubes fell out of it.. DOH! hOW DO YOU TIGHTEN THE TUBE SOCKETS ANYWAY?
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http://www.myspace.com/frankbrigandi http://www.myspace.com/rotosonic If less is more, then I am going to give it my all, and do nothing. |
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#39 (permalink) | |
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Tele-Afflicted
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Quote:
http://billmaudio.com/wp/?page_id=171 Remember to "discharge" the amp. Not difficult but you MUST have a Digital Multi Meter to check for residual voltage, to make sure the capacitors are all drained of their, sometimes, deadly high voltages. Don't know how? Start a new thread and you will get some help.
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Life is a minestrone topped off with parmesan cheese. Death is a cold lasagna suspended in deep freeze. |
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#40 (permalink) |
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Tele-Meister
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Sheffield, UK
Posts: 151
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Update. Just put a Jensen Mod 12-50 in this amp. Put it in to save the stock speaker. Even though its not fully broken in yet, I have to say WOW!!! These speakers are a great deal and sound real nice. I was thinking about the Mod 12-35 but, went for this as the price is the same and the specs seem very close to the C12q. Antone tried the 12-35?
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If it aint broke.....break it anyway!!!! |
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| Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
| NGD - Music Master Bass Amp - very early model. | Sidney Vicious | Amp Central Station | 7 | October 28th, 2009 05:05 PM |
| Bass project (Music Master) | NewGuy410 | The BASS Place | 12 | June 21st, 2009 03:32 AM |
| Music Master Guitar! | Sidney Vicious | Bad Dog Cafe | 1 | May 23rd, 2008 12:08 PM |
| music master amp. | giginthesky | Amp Central Station | 3 | February 29th, 2008 10:25 PM |
| Music Master Bass Amp | ehren | Amp Central Station | 7 | June 24th, 2004 03:31 PM |
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