The Steel Guitar Forum

I took my ol early 70's JBL twin in to the theater a few weeks ago to play thru,I had not used it since the early 90's it is so heavy.I had been gigging a nashville 112 for a few years.I was impressed how good it sounded with my Justice with a 17.5 truetone single coil.I was talking with our bass player and he told me he had a musicman amp he wanted to bring in and let me try out.I think its a 1984 RP 100 with built in phase shifter and a 15 EV speaker.I fell in love with this amp and bought it on the spot.It does have tubes.Just wondering if anyone ever used one?I had never seen one before this one.

I have the smaller version with a 12. I love the amp for guitar but for steel it sounds to high and shrill for my tastes. I would love to hear the 15 version though. I love the phasor, great for Waylon like sounds. Nice find!

Greg, I had one of those amps, and I have had several Music Man amps. You have a "keeper" with the EV speaker. I like it even better than the JBL in that amp.

"Hey Greg, here's a shot of my old MusicMan HD-212 One Fifty. It also has a built in phase shifter that you can get a pretty decent organ sound with. Mine has a pair of 12" EV speakers and weighs a ton but it's worth it. As far as being too "high or shrill" that's what the controls on the amp are for. I've been able to get all the bottom I want out of mine and it works great for either steel or lead guitar.....JH in Va.

mines to shrill even with the controls imagine that different experiences from person to person, especially the amps are different. My comments where to see if I should look into getting a different model/speaker that works well with steel.

Hey Jerry thats a clean looking musicman you got there.I havent had a problem with a shrill tone,but mine does have a 15inch EV.I've got a couple JBL's I thought about trying one but I dont think it would be worth the effort.My twin has the old D130 JBL's and it doesnt sound as fat in the upper end of the steel as this musicman.I had a 1970's vibrosonic with a 15inch cerwin vega and I could not get a good tone with it,I'm sure it had to be the speaker.I wish I would have put a Jbl in it and tried it,but I sold it to a friend.

Hi Greg,

I've been using a Music Man 115 RP for steel for a couple years. It's a great sounding and reliable amp, works great for standard guitar as well. The bright and deep switches all a lot of versatility. Wish it weighed a bit less, but the casters do help...

All the best,

Julian

Greg,you need to know how that new purple guitar sounds out front with a band. We play every Tuesday night from 7:00 to 9:30 in Nixa--call me for directions. Usually around 100 people show up for the dance. Full country band with fiddle,steel guitar, and probably the best 6 string guitar player in the Branson/Springfield area. Greg, bring the purple guitar and I will pay your way in to the dance. You can listen to the purple guitar in action. Your buddy.

I have been using a couple Music Man amps since 1980. My main amp is a 100 watt RD, with a 12 inch EVM speaker. The other is a 50 watt, 12 inch JBL. Great amps as you have stated.

Robert

I have one with a 12" EV. It is a keeper.

I have a musicman 65 112. I have a 115 cabinet connected to the amp. With this and the deep switch my P/P sounds great.

Most of these amps are what's called a "hybrid" in that they have a tube power section and a solid state pre-amp section. Mine has four 6L6 power tubes in it and no 12AX7's or any other small tubes. I have several amps but I can get the best "Mooney" tone with the MusicMan. I usually put the pedal steel in the 1st channel with a Boss ME-50 effects board and then the lead guitar in the main channel. Works great and you can EQ each instrument as you like it..........JH in Va.