Music Man hd-130amp...black vs. white..whats the difference

doozerface · Post by **doozerface** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 5:05 pm

So im looking to buy one of these guitar heads and I was wondering if anyone knew if the ones with the black fronts were different from the ones with the white fronts.
thanks

MAR · Post by **MAR** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 5:17 pm

Yeah there is a difference.

One of them has a black front and and the other doesn't, it has a white front.

;ivlunsdystf · Post by **;ivlunsdystf** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 6:08 pm

The older all-tube Musicman amps generally had the number written out (eg my Sixty-Five is supposedly older than a 65) - maybe that's a better clue than color of face, I don't know -

imo, Musicman amps are WAY underpriced and a great value

I'm Painting Again · Post by **I'm Painting Again** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 6:57 pm

I own some music man amps..I love em to death..there are differences in models but I'm not sure the specifics..you can find all the info you need here though:

forum:

http://www.pacair.com/cgi-bin/discus/di ... ?pg=topics

and

http://www.musicmanamps.com/

Catoogie · Post by **Catoogie** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 8:22 pm

I've had a couple Musicman amps over the years and I've always wanted to like them but.....eh...........not so much.

The drive sounds are awful and the clean isn't anything to write home about. I think they're waaaaay overrated.

;ivlunsdystf · Post by **;ivlunsdystf** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 8:55 pm

Catoogie wrote:I've had a couple Musicman amps over the years and I've always wanted to like them but.....eh...........not so much.

The drive sounds are awful and the clean isn't anything to write home about. I think they're waaaaay overrated.

Okay, you say overrated, we say underrated - if both sides of the debate cancel each other out, then they are fairly priced/rated.

I will concede that the drive sounds are pretty cheezy, especially with low volume pickups you get an awful lot of noize for very little usable signal (that's just part of the charm)

Knights Who Say Neve · Post by **Knights Who Say Neve** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 9:25 pm

Just a clarification here- none of the musicman amps are "all-tube".

Some of them have one preamp tube (in the "driver" position), some don't. But they all have mostly solid state preamp sections.

IMO nice clean sounds, overdrive not so good, but if you get your OD from a pedal (not a tube screamer- which needs to see an initial preamp tube to really work, but something more hyped like a metal zone) they're quite usable for dirty sounds. The built-in phaser on some models is ace.

They also work as a nice keyboard amp for a Rhodes. Esp. w/ the phaser.

Meriphew · Post by **Meriphew** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 2:14 pm

Tatertot wrote:The older all-tube Musicman amps generally had the number written out (eg my Sixty-Five is supposedly older than a 65) - maybe that's a better clue than color of face, I don't know -

imo, Musicman amps are WAY underpriced and a great value

MM amps are WAY underrated IMO. I have a Sixty Five Reverb head. When I need great Fendery cleans, it's my go to amp.

KilledByAlbany · Post by **KilledByAlbany** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 2:44 pm

I love Musicman amps. You get such a distinct sound out of them, you can almost always hear them on a record and be able to place it with a good degree of certainty. Early on, Wire used almost all MM amps and cabs, as did Joe Strummer. (The MM snarl in Safe European Home.....oh man...). I know Andy Summers used them a lot as well (I'm almost certain Synchronicity II was a MM 65 combo. I'd love to be proven right on that....)

I've got a MM65 fullstack with 2 412-GS cabs, and a MM65 210 combo. Both the amps are the early versions with the 12ax7 tube pre. So nice...

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 2:49 pm

I have a 120 head (blond) with 4 6L6's and a single 12Ax7 in the preamp.

It makes a great "Twin" sound into an open-back 2x12.

That said, when I was "touring" we kept it in the van as a back-up that could be used for bass or guitar, and sounded pretty good for both, through the proper cabinet.

It's very sturdy, and still available for reasonable cost.

NU-TRA · Post by **NU-TRA** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 9:14 am

I have an RD100 Head with a matching Musicman open back 212 cab. Its sounds really angry! Th RD has a lot of gain... Considerably more than the other MM models.

xSALx · Post by **xSALx** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 6:13 pm

I will join the bandwagon. I got a 115RP. I love the phaser on it to death. I've seen very few of these amps actually, which is kinda nice to see. The gain makes some lousy distortion sometimes. Although, I've used to get a great Built to Spill type distortion. It's nice that these amps have stayed at reasonable prices throughout the years considering how useful and good they sound.

Knights Who Say Neve · Post by **Knights Who Say Neve** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 7:02 pm

They're easy to find in Southern California but the word is getting out and prices are going up, esp. as vintage fenders have gone out of reach for many.
Very loud for their wattages- without intending to I overwhelmed a marshall stack once on stage w/ an RP65 w/ 1 12" speaker and a Dean Markley Overlord pedal...

BTW I have seen them in Little Feat live footage, on the backline.

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Music Man hd-130amp...black vs. white..whats the difference

Music Man hd-130amp...black vs. white..whats the difference

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