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Topic: Musicmaster Bass amp for lap steel? |
Joseph Lazo
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 5 Jul 2024 2:07 pm |
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| Looking at a 70s era Musicmaster Bass amp online. 10" speaker in a Princeton sized cabinet. Any fans of this amp for lap steel and guitar use? It has the 6V6 tubes, not the more sought after set (that I can't remember offhand). |
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 5 Jul 2024 2:33 pm
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I am a huge fan of my Silverface MMB amp for lap steel...
...I replaced the original wimpy CTS "Fender Special Design" 12" speaker with a late '60s Vox Bulldog (Celestion?) 12" speaker. A crappy bass amp, but nice for guitar, great for harp and lap steel.
Be aware that these amps were nothing like a Princeton. Princetons (and Princeton Reverbs) had a 10" speaker. Musicmaster Bass Amps always had a 12" speaker. The early ones were powered by a pair of 6BQ5 (EL84) power tubes; the later ones used 6V6s.
Since the MMB shares the same chassis width as the Champ and the Vibrochamp, a popular mod has been to cram a Champ or VC chassis into a MMB cabinet with a 12" speaker upgrade. A dimed Champ into the right 12" speaker sounds divine with most guitars (and lap steels), in my opinion. |
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Joseph Lazo
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 5 Jul 2024 3:27 pm
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Jack, what you think?
"I got this as a chassis and built a custom cabinet for it. The cabinet is covered with rough brown tolex with Oxblood and Stripe grill cloth. The amp has been completely serviced and sounds great. All Electrolytic caps have been changed, the capacitor in the input has been removed with a jumper taking its place, and the tone stack has been modified to a tweed Harvard type.
A pair of Russian 6V6s and a Sovtek 12AX7 have been installed.
The cabinet is a Princeton size one that has been narrowed to fit the MMB chassis.
An Eminence 10-inch Ragin Cajun, a very efficient and toneful speaker is in it.
The chassis straps haven’t arrived yet, but they will be installed as soon as they get here." |
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Mark Perrodin
From:
Tucson Arizona, USA
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Posted 5 Jul 2024 4:47 pm musicmasters
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| musicmasters are great. i have owned mine for 44 years. got it new when i was a kid. i also have info on the amp in the new cabinet that you have pictured. that was put together by winfield thomas, the maker of winfield amps. he makes his own amps, does amp repairs and restorations. he has built me a blackface bandmaster combo and built me a 1x15 combo cabinet for my silverface super reverb. he just made a head cabinet for my musicmaster. he is a great guy and does good work. |
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Mark Perrodin
From:
Tucson Arizona, USA
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Posted 5 Jul 2024 4:59 pm mmb
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jack is right about how he described the characteristics of the mmb. i love mine and i know several people that own and love theirs.
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 5 Jul 2024 6:29 pm
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| Joseph Lazo wrote: |
| Jack, what you think? |
1) Looks like a MMB chassis in a custom Champ cabinet (the exact opposite of the switcheroo described above). Ask the seller if they also have a Champ/Vibro Champ in a MMB cabinet!
2) Based on the photo and the description, it could potentially be awesome.
3) You will never really know until you play it.
4) In any event, a Musicmaster Bass Amp is simple, bulletproof, easily serviced (especially in comparison to more modern amps), uses easily-sourced components, and will last lifetimes. One of the select few that CBS Musical Instruments got right. |
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Joseph Lazo
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 5 Jul 2024 7:31 pm
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| Jack, the cabinet height is taller than a Champ cabinet. I got a thumbs up on it from someone else here who recognized the amp and had high marks for the builder. It's just the kind of bare bones, easily serviced, great sounding amp I want, so I'm buying it. |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 5 Jul 2024 8:24 pm
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IMO, hard to go wrong with one of these for guitar, slide guitar, or nonpedal steel. I have one too - mine is in the original cabinet but I replaced the crappy original speaker with a Celestion Vintage 30. I think putting one of these in a blackface/silverface Princeton-sized cabinet is a great idea. Honestly, I've thought of doing just that. One of the issues with the original cabinet is that it is basically totally open-back. There is a lower back panel which has little impact, no upper back panel, and the speaker frame is, essentially, totally exposed. So a Princeton cab is gonna be a more classic Fender open-back configuration.
A couple of notes on these:
1. There are two versions. One has a pair of 6V6 power tubes; the other, earlier, version has a pair of 6AQ5 power tubes. They do sound quite different. Mine is the 6V6 version, and I assume yours was originally 6V6 also - it would be a fair amount of work to convert because the power tube sockets and tube operating characteristics are different. I personally prefer the 6V6 version, which I find has more headroom before breakup. But both versions will break up nicely when pushed. Pretty easy to mod to a tweed Deluxe or similar type of tonestack.
2. Note that the phase inverter uses a center-tapped audio transformer. This is probably one of the reasons these amps sound so unique.
IMO, the tweed Harvard circuit is a great amp to emulate - one of my favorites. It's basically a tweed Vibrolux without the trem. Steve Cropper's tweed Harvard is one of the most recorded amps in music history - he used it on tons of stuff with his 50s Tele. But even with the same tonestack, this is not gonna exactly be a tweed Harvard or Deluxe. The tonestack is important, but not the only relevant issue.
These things have been sleepers for years. They've moved up in price over the last several years. I'm seeing them for around $500-600 most of the time these days. But that is, IMO, still a bargain if it's properly serviced and set up. |
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Joseph Lazo
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 5 Jul 2024 8:44 pm
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Dave, here's a shot of the back:
I also like the idea of a partially enclosed back a la Princeton...and the smaller size. It's also an all-pine cabinet, not MDF, so big plus there. |
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