1980 Music Man 212 Sixty-Amp. I recenty acquired this amp, its all original and needs a service. I 'll walk you through the amp a a little about Leo's involvement with Music Man
I have a 1974 112/65. Picked it up back in early 90s for $50 all original and perfect condition, it has the 12ax7 phase inverter and it’s easy to bias the mains. Sent the chassis with tubes to Fuch’s (MM wizard) in NJ back in 2017 to fix the failing tremelo and he went over the whole thing for me, replaced filter caps that were ready to expire (with Nichicons). Very rugged, easy on tubes, dependable and sweet sounding amps.
Very nice! These amps are an absolute bargain, especially for the 'pedal platform' players. Extremely well built and lots of clean power. IIRC, when I did mine, I found there were two different schematics for the 'same' amp. Scrutinize the phase inverter area to make sure you're on the right one. Looking forward to part 2. 👍
at 29:57 , the phase inversion is done by those 2 op amps right at the entrance of the transistors (IC8). The 2 transistors make a cascode amp with the output tubes (Q1 controls the current coming from the cathode of V1, same on the other side. The grids are connected to a fixed reference voltage (16V, D17))
I wish I knew the speaker manufacturer, great response, perfect for the amp. I ran a Celestion Vintage 30 for a short while but the OEM was far better.
I have two HD-130s heads one with the 12ax7 PI and the other without but has reverb and trem 100% original including Sylvania fat bottle 6ca7s Great amps!
Might have needed some work? These are pretty smooth and warm amps. They sit at the edge of breakup with tight lows all day but you need a pedal of you wanna go overdrive. The highs and mids are crystal clear with lots of headroom.
Tom Walker designed them and was the brains behind these amps, Leo Fender had nothing to with them except he owned majority share in the company. He said he originally designed them to last 100 years. I have a 1975 HD130-212, with the 12ax7 phase inverter. I have learnt to work on it myself replaced all the power section caps and biased by myself. Those speakers are ceramic magnets.
Probably was a special order for eminence. The alnico speakers have big square horseshoe magnets, i dont think they where up to the task and they where blowing them so went to ceramic. I have rola celestion g12-65’s in my 130. Heres a tone tip. On the 2nd channel Crank pre vol to 10, treble on 10, mid and bass on 0. Master vol to taste gives you a kind of plexi tone. You really should be using 6ca7 tubes not el34.
Thank you, that was very interesting. I am considering to buy old amps for cheap like PEAVEY MARK 3 or PEAVEY KB-300 and give them some love. This video is really encouraging
I have a 112 RD Fifty in mint condition, looks brand new, came with cover. They are a little secret as they (as of 2023) are still a bargain. I guess the solid state preamp puts people off?? And no OD pedal needed lol
They do sound great. What amps the masses make popular matters little. Also the build quality on these vintage MM’s is exemplary. What a pleasure to work on.
Amp has bad RF, but I didn't notice it when I went to try it at the seller's place. I cleaned the pots and switches with deoxit was thet a mistake, I thought that should improve that? The reverb isn't working, I havent checked the connection at the tank yet. Also it reaks of woman, any ideas for these problems?
I have a 1974 112/65. Picked it up back in early 90s for $50 all original and perfect condition, it has the 12ax7 phase inverter and it’s easy to bias the mains. Sent the chassis with tubes to Fuch’s (MM wizard) in NJ back in 2017 to fix the failing tremelo and he went over the whole thing for me, replaced filter caps that were ready to expire (with Nichicons). Very rugged, easy on tubes, dependable and sweet sounding amps.
I like them, I have 3 in my collection. I run the master all the way up and the preamp volume on about three most of the time.
Very nice! These amps are an absolute bargain, especially for the 'pedal platform' players. Extremely well built and lots of clean power.
IIRC, when I did mine, I found there were two different schematics for the 'same' amp. Scrutinize the phase inverter area to make sure you're on the right one. Looking forward to part 2. 👍
I agree 100%, excellent value. Sounds excellent with pedals. I tired a couple of dirt pedals with mine, both work extremely well with this MM amp.
at 29:57 , the phase inversion is done by those 2 op amps right at the entrance of the transistors (IC8). The 2 transistors make a cascode amp with the output tubes (Q1 controls the current coming from the cathode of V1, same on the other side. The grids are connected to a fixed reference voltage (16V, D17))
Go for it! Had the 210 RD 100, I can kick myself every day for selling it. Music Man rocks.
I wish I knew the speaker manufacturer, great response, perfect for the amp. I ran a Celestion Vintage 30 for a short while but the OEM was far better.
I have two HD-130s heads
one with the 12ax7 PI
and the other without but has reverb and trem
100% original including Sylvania
fat bottle 6ca7s
Great amps!
I had one of these back in the 80's. Really didn't get on with it. Too stiff and cold for my taste. Great video, thanks.
Might have needed some work? These are pretty smooth and warm amps. They sit at the edge of breakup with tight lows all day but you need a pedal of you wanna go overdrive. The highs and mids are crystal clear with lots of headroom.
Nice video!
Excellent video, thanks! 🤘
Glad you liked it!
Tom Walker designed them and was the brains behind these amps, Leo Fender had nothing to with them except he owned majority share in the company. He said he originally designed them to last 100 years. I have a 1975 HD130-212, with the 12ax7 phase inverter. I have learnt to work on it myself replaced all the power section caps and biased by myself. Those speakers are ceramic magnets.
Thank you. Do you happen to know if a speaker company made the speakers for MM? If so which one? Eminence is my guess.
Probably was a special order for eminence. The alnico speakers have big square horseshoe magnets, i dont think they where up to the task and they where blowing them so went to ceramic. I have rola celestion g12-65’s in my 130. Heres a tone tip. On the 2nd channel Crank pre vol to 10, treble on 10, mid and bass on 0. Master vol to taste gives you a kind of plexi tone. You really should be using 6ca7 tubes not el34.
Thank you, that was very interesting.
I am considering to buy old amps for cheap like PEAVEY MARK 3 or PEAVEY KB-300 and give them some love.
This video is really encouraging
Thx. Glad you liked it. Part 2 will be coming later.
I have a 112 RD Fifty in mint condition, looks brand new, came with cover. They are a little secret as they (as of 2023) are still a bargain. I guess the solid state preamp puts people off?? And no OD pedal needed lol
They do sound great. What amps the masses make popular matters little. Also the build quality on these vintage MM’s is exemplary. What a pleasure to work on.
I had a friend that has that model/ same problem but good news. He traded it off.
The good news is I serviced it, replaced all e-caps and set the bias and it cleaned up nicely. Takes my Cinders dirt pedal very well!
Amp has bad RF, but I didn't notice it when I went to try it at the seller's place. I cleaned the pots and switches with deoxit
was thet a mistake, I thought that should improve that? The reverb isn't working, I havent checked the connection at the tank yet. Also it reaks of woman, any ideas for these problems?
Send the chassis and tubes to Fuch’s in NJ. He’s the MM wizard and has tons of parts for them.
Where can I buy grill cloth for it?
nice hat.