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Hi there AM folks, especially those who jammed in the early 80’s!! 👋😁😎
I know very little about amps and didn’t even have one until now, about 7 years into my playing!
The Spark 40 practice amp I had for a while got on my nerves so I got rid of it. I mentioned it to one of my jam buddies the other day and he said, “hey I have this old tube amp I don’t use, why don’t you have it” and he presented this purple Music Man 110 RD 50 to me!Have you ever seen one like this??? My online search results only show black or cream colored boxes (er, cabs?) and all of them have black round Fender-style numbered knobs and 2 plaques or badges on the front. Here, the plaques were obviously taken off and I wonder if the knobs might have been replaced too? 🤔 I also have a black cover for this with a purple accent color so it sure seems like a purple ones must have been made at one point?
This is what I found out so far:
– Music Man Company was founded by Leo Fender (+2) in 1974 and then sold to Ernie Ball in 1984
– These 110 RD 50 Combo practice amps were made in 1982-1984
– Combo means they are vacuum tube hybrid amps with a built-in reverb and switchable two stage preamp (no idea what that means)
– A few famous users were Eric Clapton, Chet Atkins, Mark Knopfler
– Unlike in Fender amps, there is no focus on the mid tones, only treble and bass adjustments, which gives them a characteristic warm sound.To my ears it sounds really nice, especially the clean tone. My buddy told me he only used the clean tone on that. It’s not a sterile clean, it has some color to it, switchable between Normal and Bright – but Gain and Reverb are only available in the Limiter (distorted) mode, from what I understand.
I also found a Music Man Owner’s Manual for it online 🙂
I’d love to see if anyone has any experience with such amp and any tips or tricks are welcome. I read that some people replaced the stock speaker for a better sound? Anyone uses pedals with it?
🎸JoLa
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