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zestystrat
Silver Member
USA
283 Posts |
 Posted - 06/10/2008 : 17:11:49
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Okay so nothing is going to replace my 1969 Fender Twin let's just put that out there.
That said I'm going to start doing a little more road work and while the 69FT lives in an ATA flight case (no way you take an amp like that to a club without one IMO...it might turn to dust)I was thinking about maybe having a back up or maybe another option.
I was thinking about a bandmaster (less watage, easier to find), Maz 38 reverb or an older musicman amp.
It would need to give me the same things as a twin sans the wattage.
Anyone have any thoughts? |
Edited by - zestystrat on 06/10/2008 17:13:06 |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 06/10/2008 : 17:49:56
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Hello zesty nice to see you back..... how goes things in roto heaven.... ....I have a musicman HD 130 and while i haven't got around to changing the caps in it yet....i used it non stop for nearly 20 years..IMHO a good amp if you use pedals as it is very clean....i remember comparing it to a 70's silverface twin and the fender wasn't even at the races in comparison,the only thing with the musicman is it's a seriously heavy amp to cart around and the tremolo in it isn't as sweet as a fender......i was actually offered another one for �350 soon after to run in stereo and i said no....!!.. ..needless to say i would jump on it now or if i could get my hands on them two of the 50 watt 1x12 combos they made.....i bought a s****y digitech processor instead... .....but i plan on having it back on the road soon as i miss it big time and the marshall needs a little bench time as well so i can't be without both....i'm also having some good luck using a marshall superbass II head and semi open 2x12 cab...i'm using a couple of original 25 watt greenbacks in the cab and valve converters(like THD yellowjackets) in the poweramp section running EL84's instead of the usual EL 34's bringing the output down to around 32 watts in theory but i rarely get the amp off 3 or 4 on the volume and i have no problem being heard,it also stays pretty clean at this volume with a little bit of bite to the sound....... |
Edited by - FRANZONI on 06/10/2008 17:51:17 |
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zestystrat
Silver Member
USA
283 Posts |
Posted - 06/10/2008 : 18:17:21
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I'm on the site quite a bit mostly lurking tho. If i have anything to add that hasn't been said I'll pipe in.
The musicman HD 130 is on my list of amps to look at. Since it's so heavy I'm assuming that you have an older ones that is all tube. I know that at some point in the mid 70's they had a SS circuit in there as well as a tube circuit.
I'm pretty green when it comes to that stuff. The only bench that I use I sit on. Too bad too since I have a MIJ CE-2 that needs some love.
Maybe it's the speakers, the twin is no lightweight but when one of the original Utah's went I put in Neo's and it took 10-15lbs off the thing and it still sounds great.
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Edited by - zestystrat on 06/10/2008 18:18:57 |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 06/10/2008 : 19:36:53
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| None of the musicman amps were all tube..... i do have one of the older ones with the 12ax7 phase splitter valve and some people swear they sound a bit sweeter,but the preamp section was all SS..the power amp section is all tube,i think this is how it has so much clean headroom....my twin tube overdrive pedal is my 'valve preamp' these days...the musicman also has those big 'horseshoe' backed eminence speakers...i was told that the HD in the title stands for 'heavy duty' as the speakers are reinforced if you want to use a bass guitar through it...any bass player i know who has tried my combo has been impressed with the sound....this could be a load of BS but i read on another forum that Dumble used musicman transformers in some of his amps,he got them when the musicman amp part of the company ceased production and all the bits and bobs were sold off .....musicman amps have been seen on lots of different stages with some serious players over the years...clapton,knopfler,johnny winters still uses his ones...i even read that EVH has a couple of 50 watts knocking around his studio and a lot of country players like albert lee,johnny hiland,redd volkert etc have been seen with them as well....... |
Edited by - FRANZONI on 06/10/2008 19:38:26 |
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zentropa
Gold Member
USA
837 Posts |
Posted - 06/10/2008 : 19:50:16
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zesty:
musicman had just about every combination of wattage and speakers that you can come up with and most of them sounded almost identical with the exception of volume, headroom, and speaker dynamics.
basically, you can find em in 50, 65, 75, 100, 130, 150 watts and possibly even a few more increments.
you can also find em in 1x10, 1x12, 1x15, 2x10, 2x12, 4x10.
like, a 50 1x12 or 2x10 will be significantly lighter than your twin reverb. any of those are more than adequate backups for a twin reverb imo.
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zentropa
Gold Member
USA
837 Posts |
Posted - 06/10/2008 : 19:52:34
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| another budget friendly (although less durable option) would be a red knob super 60 combo or super 112. both are 112 combos with the same head but the super 112 has a significantly larger cab and weighs more. both have the red knob screen/plate resistor burnout problem but most techs can do the bypass on em for fairly cheap. can often find these in the $250-350 range. |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 06/10/2008 : 20:13:56
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| Dr Bob has a fender 75 combo he swears by....i've heard some some of thr rivera era fenders were actually pretty good amps although i have no experience of them....i've seen a couple of them here in the small ad's for around the 550/650 euro mark....would i be right in thinking that with your style of music you need a good solid clean sound from your amp...??....thats normally what i go for as well and use the pedalboard to colour the sound.....on a side note i'm using the dynacord rotary sim in a small rack with the pod these days..i'm hoping to pick up a small power amp for them and build a couple of 1x12 cabs with some V30's i have spare,and run them in stereo either side of my main amp which will be in the middle with just the boss stuff...... |
Edited by - FRANZONI on 06/10/2008 20:15:36 |
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zentropa
Gold Member
USA
837 Posts |
Posted - 06/10/2008 : 22:17:44
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the rivera fenders are rock solid.
metal shafted pots. metal switches. point to point wiring on the tube amps.
they are tanks. lil bit dirtier than most fender amps, but still more fender than something else. i rarely if ever find these used and lately they've gone way up in price.
the fender rivera solid state amps are even pretty solid for the money (they used to be dirty cheap).
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zestystrat
Silver Member
USA
283 Posts |
Posted - 06/13/2008 : 16:31:46
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Thanks all for the great comments.
I have some work to do and I think some gtrs to seel to pay for my new amp  |
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Dr. Bob
Moderator
Australia
6593 Posts |
Posted - 06/13/2008 : 18:38:44
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quote:
Originally posted by zentropa
the rivera fenders are rock solid.
metal shafted pots. metal switches. point to point wiring on the tube amps.
they are tanks. lil bit dirtier than most fender amps, but still more fender than something else. i rarely if ever find these used and lately they've gone way up in price.
the fender rivera solid state amps are even pretty solid for the money (they used to be dirty cheap).
Hi zentropa and Guys
My Fender 75 is a Rivera designed Fender, it's the 1x12.
In case you didn't know, it has an Ultra-linear taps, on the windings of the output transformer.
Sings & plays like no other Fender I have ever used.
She still manages to surprise me, every time we go out together.
Have you ever played or come across one of these?
I would be interested to know what you think, or your comments.
I have been building the special foot switches that you need for this amp. to run the gritty overdrive channel.
I heard that the clean channel gets even cleaner, when you run it with the foot switches, which sadly didn't come with mine.
And the 15W low power mode is very sweet. but still too loud for some medium sized venues.
Regards Dr. Bob |
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zentropa
Gold Member
USA
837 Posts |
Posted - 06/13/2008 : 19:46:08
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quote:
it has an Ultra-linear taps, on the windings of the output transformer.
i'm ig'nant. i have no idea what this means but in the way you are putting it i'm assuming it's good.
i've played a couple of 75's.
they are solid. had more of a modern sound than most fender tube amps.
i've played 2 of them. one in 1997 when i was searching for a twin reverb (it was $350). another when i was searching for a good dirty amp in 2001 (it was $575). i tried haggling on the latter, but the store was kind of lame about it. at the time those amps were goin in the $250-350 range but they had it at $575 saying it SHOULD be selling for that. i didn't argue with that, but generally you can't price things that way without coming off as a ripoff. they also had G&L F-100's @$800+ when they were selling on ebay in the $200ish range.
very loud for a 1x12. very versatile. could do deluxe reverbish caliber clean and rip your face off metal.
i thought the overdrive channel left something to be desired, but it did break well w/ an overdrive pedal.
zesty:
if you aren't picky on which particular model of musicman you may be able to snag one cheap enough to not have to part with anything. with a bit of patience and flexibility on what model you'd accept, you can probably snag a combo under $400.
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Twin Replacement amp.
