THE ONES THAT GOT AWAY
MUSIC MAN 112 RD ONE HUNDRED AMPS
AMP NUMBER ONE
(BE SURE TO READ THE SECOND STORY…IT’S A BIT CRAZY)
It's my opinion that Music Man amps just might be the most underrated vintage buy out there. They've got all the right bloodlines, they sound fantastic, they hold up well, and they are priced right. Well, I think they're priced wrong...I think they should be selling for a lot more than they are. I have owned a few Music Man amps over the years and I've owned a few old Fenders as well, so I have a good point of reference for that sound. I'll take the Music Man at less than half the price.
The first Music Man I owned was a 410 Sixty-Five. Basically it was a Super Reverb knockoff. That thing really sang. I don't know why, but I've always liked 10" speakers teamed up with my usual Telecaster for a nice rhythm guitar sound. A few years ago I was sitting around, not having been in a band for a few years, and decided I didn't really need an amp. I have never really stopped home recording, but decided to just give it a go with a Line 6 Pod 2.0 for all my recorded electric guitars. It worked out fine, though a bit generic and my decision to own zero amps and take up less space was working out. Then a friend from an old band gave me a call and said he was getting married. He wanted to get all the former bandmates together to play at the reception. Sounded like a lot of fun, but...oh shit...I've got no amp.
I had a little time, so I started watching Craig's List and poring over eBay, looking for something that would fit my paltry $250 budget. I came across a Music Man 112 RD One Hundred that had a replacement Jensen Neo speaker. I don't know if the non-original speaker made people shy away, but somehow no one ever really bid against me and I got this for less than my budget. I was a little concerned about shipping across the country with a heavy amp, but I got lucky and no issues. I broke it out of the box and set up in the living room. Checked the tubes to make sure they hadn't come loose. Pulled out the original footswitch. Plugged 'er in.
Ssssshhhiinnnggg. Beautiful! That classic clean Fender sound was immediate and amazing.
Music Man amps from this era are pretty easy to figure out by the model name. The 112 RD One Hundred has one 12 inch speaker, reverb and distortion, and one hundred watts of power. Pretty loud and powerful for a 1-12" set-up. This little baby can keep up with just about anything. I am no expert on amps...no one is going to confuse me with Gerald Weber...but from what I understand, Music Man amps were really the first successful semi-hybrid type amps. They have a solid state preamp section and a tube power amp section. So, the guys who started Music Man, whom you may have heard of before...Leo Fender, Forest White, and Tom Walker, all historic Fender folks...really got it right. They originally called the company Tri-Sonics, but later changed the name to Music Man. The reverb was excellent, the switching between channels worked well and the distortion was fine, but I really prefer to just find a good sound and kick in a Tubescreamer for some overdriven distortion.
The reason I got rid of this amp was kind of the reverse of how I got it. After I got it, I played it a little here and there, but mostly it sat with my gear, not getting played and taking up space. I realized that I had really never used it for recording since I tend to record late at night when the kids have gone to bed, and waking them with a hundred watts of guitar ain't gonna work. So it went on Craig's list for $350 and sold fairly quickly. I think savvy players have started to come around about old Music Man amps and are keeping their eyes peeled for bargains. I know every time I see one for sale locally I want to hop in the car and go pick it up. If you like that nice old Fender sound, be sure to give a Music Man a chance. You might be surprised.
AMP NUMBER TWO
Yes, I have had this exact model amp once before and even written about it on this blog (see above). The only difference I can tell about this new one I got last night and the old one is the background color on the logo nameplate. Otherwise they appear to be exactly the same except this one does have it's original EV speaker, which, after looking at it, may explain why this amp weighs in at slightly over 1200 lbs. Okay, obviously I'm exaggerating, but not by much. It's a small 1-12" combo amp and it weighs over 70 lbs. Luckily it has casters.
Okay, but so more to the point of why I'm already writing about this amp if I just got it last night. No, I haven't sold it yet (UPDATE: SOLD), though that was the original plan. And I never rule out the possibility of almost any of my instruments taking a walk. But the story of how I got this was too funny to pass up, so here you go...
I was doing my hourly check of the music section of Craigslist here in the San Diego area and up pops an ad with the title Music Man Amp - $150. I figured either something was wrong with it or it was a misprint. I clicked on the ad and sure enough, there was a photo of the amp (blurry) and one short sentence saying it was for sale and it was in Lakeside, which is WAY far from me. But for $150 I'm willing to drive a bit. There was a phone number, so I quickly dialed the number before anyone else jumped on it. A somewhat young girl answered the phone and I asked if I was speaking to Jennifer. She said yes. I said I was calling about the amp for sale and was it still available. She said yes. I asked if it worked properly and she said yes. She really offered up no other info and sounded sort of clueless. At this point, especially since she sounded young, I asked if this was her amp. She said no, it had been her dad's and he had recently died and they were selling some of his stuff. Oh. Shit. Now I just felt bad. My instincts as a decent person were to stop and tell her to shut down her ad and relist the amp for $350-400 and make some more money off the amp. But in that split second I decided that, instead of just buying it and turning around and reselling the next day for a profit, I could really use a good amp and I would buy it for the cheap price and hang on to it. I kind of felt weird about profiting from her family's misfortune.
So, I asked for an address, assured her I would be coming to buy it that evening and to be sure to hang on to it for me. Check. All systems go. I got off work around 5:00 and had to go pick up my kids. I live in the San Diego area and, as you may know, it doesn't rain much around here. But, when it does, all chaos breaks loose. You'd think it snowed 25 inches...cars are sliding around and slamming into each other on the freeway, no one slows down to allow for the slicker roads due to the oil and water buildup, and traffic turns into an even bigger nightmare than it usually is. I headed out on this adventure figuring it would take me about an hour or so to get there. Lots of weird backroads and two-lane highways and other weirdness as I went to a part of the county I'd never been to. Lakeside is sort of known as a bit of a redneck area...yes we have rednecks here in California...maybe bigger rednecks than half of the south.
I don't know if these people I was about to encounter were rednecks or survivalists or meth dealers or what, but they didn't resemble my neighbors much.
Keep in mind, I have a 7-year old and a 5-year old in the back seat. I FINALLY find the address and pull up this long driveway up to a house on a slight hill. The garage door is open and I notice a few people milling around in the garage, very curious who the hell is pulling up in their driveway. As I open my car door and tell the kids to get out, two guys saunter out of the garage holding rifles. At this point I notice many other rifles leaned up against the wall and the work bench and the lawn mower. So I quickly holler out, "Hi, I'm Jaimie." The guy on the left says, "So." Uh, well. Hmmm. Don't shoot? The guy is sizing me up. Thank god just about this time some lady comes walking quickly out of the house and tells everyone to chill out, it's just the guy who is here to buy the amp. They put down their guns. Oddly my kids never noticed the guns because about three tiny chihuahuas came running out of the garage and my kids are deathly afraid of dogs. Any dogs. Even ones that resemble rats.
The lady invites me to come in and check out the amp. I decide to be cordial and I shake the hands of the guys in the garage. Just bein' friendly and all. Please don't ambush me when I go in. At this point I'm wondering what the hell I'm doing. It seems okay, but I also don't ever recall going to pick up any other guitar or amp and being confronted by gun-toting paranoid garage dwellers. I went inside, saw the amp, quickly surmised that it looked good and complete and I gave the nice lady her money. I picked up the 1200 lb. amp and headed to the door. I wasted no time getting it in the front seat, getting the kids buckled in, and hitting the road for the long drive home.
Once I got home, I plugged in the amp and gave it a quick test. It was sweet. These old Music Man amps are just awesome. This thing has enough power to blow out a small town. I got the kids to bed and couldn't turn the amp up past .5 or so. I plan to give it a better work out tonight. I am planning to keep it...at least for now. I'm sure at some point I will come to the conclusion, just the last time I had one of these amps, that it's just too much amp for me. But until then...guns, dogs and rock'n'roll.
UPDATE: Just thought I'd throw this in. I was just doing some research on this amp and found an old Music Man price sheet. Brand new this amp was $695.
