The Steel Guitar Forum

Is this a good sounding amp for the steel???

100 watts? Are you sure it is not a model 115-65 ?

These amps are known to be 65 watts and 130 watts, great amps, heavy ,loud and clean.

Recently I had a 212HD-130, this had 2x12's and 130 watts, it was too loud ! I had to run it in the low power mode (65 watts) to use it on stage, I could not get the volume knob past like 2 !

The one thing I did have to do was replace the speakers , the stock speakers were just to mid strong. If the 115-65 has a nicely voiced 15" speaker I think it would be a great amp.

I believe I saw pro player @ forum member, Randy Beavers using one of the 115-65's at a Steel show once.

These old 70's MM amps are great, I would buy the 115-65 in a NY minute, the 212HD-130 was just way too loud, I sold it.

Here is a link to the MM amps http://home.swbell.net/mellis99/mmprices.htm

Thanks Tony for the input...the Music Man is the 115 RP with the 15" ELV speaker and 100 Watts. It is in prestine condition.

I have the little 65 watt - 12 inch speaker guitar amp for years and it is a loud, killer tube amp. Thanks again Tony...check this out...

http://www.musicmanamps.com/

They make a decent-sounding steel amp, very similar to the Fender Twin Reverb series (since that was their main competition when they were designed and sold).

I have a 112 RP--I like it OK for steel. A little on the bright, although it has very deep lows. I have the EVM 12L speaker. I imagine the 115 RP would be better.

I have a MusicMan HD-212 One Fifty which is a hybrid like the rest of 'em. They have a tube power section and a solid state preamp so the only tubes you'll see in the back of 'em are four 6L6's. I love mine! It's the same size as a twin reverb and has an onboard phase shifter instead of tremolo like a twin has. It's a 150w beast that'll blow a twin right off the stage. I can get a better "Mooney" sound with this amp than any I've ever owned!........JH in Va.

Sorry 'bout the double post!

Sorry 'bout the triple post...

I'm also a fan of the Music Man 212-HD. It really is an ideal amp for playing both pedal steel and electric guitar. The power of this amp and the tone variations using the master volume make it very flexible. I bought mine new in 1981 and its still going strong.

When playing steel only in mine, I like to use both outputs in my volume pedal and run a cord to both channels of the amp, it fattens it up a bit....JH in Va. Here's a shot of it behind my steel at a gig....JH in Va.

Bill, this is info I found at:

http://pacair.com/mmamps/Misc__Info/Mod ... chart.html



They indicate that it is a 2-6L6GC amp rated at 100 watts. That is not possible as a 6L6GC maximum plate dissipation is 30 watts per tube, or 60 watts max for both in a class AB/push pull arrangement! Things were greatly overstated in those days.

Still it should be a very nice amp for you!!!

Jerry, that's GOT to be the most publicized Hardee's in the U.S!

That's true Stephen, the packed houses can attest to that, and it's a fun place to play.....

As for MusicMan amps, the Guitar Center in Virginia Beach has an old MM 2-12 amp on sale for $699. The thing is all beat to crap and they're still asking that much for it. They have it listed as a "vintage" MusicMan amp.........JH in Va.

i LOVE my musicman 2x10 combo for steel (i run it with an extension 2x12 cab also). unfortunately its too heavy to lug around.
I am considering separating the head from the combo but am not sure even then it would be light enough for me to carry. Since one can still find the heads at a reasonable price Im not so sure it would be econmically sound move to separate the combo ....i dunno.

Here a 212 Musicman for 240.00!!

http://newjersey.craigslist.org/ele/978605626.html

My first steel amp was a loaner 212HD with JBL's in a road case...it was good for guitar, and great for steel, just waaaay too heavy.

That was when I was in my early 20's, I had the 212HD with JBL's, a double 10 60's Blanton (almost as heavy as the amp!), and a mid 70's boat anchor telecaster...that's a heavy rig, no I wasn't paid by the pound...

I returned the 212HD and started using a session 400 after a few months, nothing against the amp, it has more headroom than you'll ever need, I just couldn't lug it around anymore...

Just thinking about that rig makes me love my MSA S10 Semi-classic and Nashville 112 even more...

Bill,

YES! Buy that amp. It is worth the $$ for the EV speaker. I owned one exactly like that, and I let a friend talk me out of it. He still uses it - and loves it. Those amps are clean and have a very FAT tone.

Darrell

About twenty years ago, I put a MusicMan 100 watt amp on the bench to see how much power it was getting out of two 6L6's. As I recall, to my surprise it was getting 100 watts, or very close to it. Plate voltage was very high in those amps. Around 750 volts as I recall. Had a hi/lo power switch that dropped the plate voltage to around 400 volts.
Don't know how to explain it, but the output section is unlike anything else I know of. Power tubes are driven by their cathodes, by a transistor, not their grids, and idle current is very low...Jerry

You are right about the strange way they drive the tubes and the high voltages on the plates.

Peavey did the same with the Heritage amp, but used a much stronger transistor for the cathode drive. Seen lots of failures on the transistors at the cathode, due to folks letting the tubes get to work out.


JJ/Telsa tubes are about the only thing that will handle those amps for new production tubes.

I see more and more of these amps now days as not many folks want to work on them!!!



Next time I get one in for service I will scope it out!

Very interesting!!!