Music Man 65 Watt Head with Reverb/Tremolo

this is from 1977 or 1978 (does not have the 12AX7 inverter). Set up kind of like a Twin. Pots are very responsive , channel 1 has just : Vol, Bass and Treb, best used for clean tones. Channel 2 is where the money is at (at for rock tones). Has a master volume so you can get some great (and different) tones. Like I said, very responsive tone controls.

The great thing about this head is that it runs EL34's. Think of a Deluxe Reverb running EL34's, when you crank the volume to 9 or 10 and use the Master as the volume knob, it sounds like a very Marshally Fender. Great vintage rock tones, think Clapton's work in the late 70's or Aerosmith. I use an old Ibanez TS9 and/or a Lovepedal Eternity in front of it works very well with pedals, just a bit boost (for hard rock, which I play) and this thing sounds as good or better than my vintage Hiwatt 50, JMP 100,my 60's Fenders and Roccaforte (which is my main gigging amp). I have read that the earlier ones (with the tube inverter) were the ones to get, but I really, really like this one. I bought it because it was cheap and I've always wanted a Music Man, but I had enough amps for a lifetime. But, This one was too cheap to pass up. I have got great compliments on my tone the few gigs that I have played with this. Most importantly, it sounds great with a Strat or Les Paul ,which is very important.

The person that owned it before me was in a touring rock band that traveled the country regularly and he had no problems with it after 10 years. When I got it it the cabinet needed some cleaning up and new a new grill cloth. Inside looked like new, it had the original great quality Mallory caps that I replaced new Sprauge caps. I have used it for a few rehearsals and a few gigs, easy and reliable. I will record with it next month. Built like a tank and very well engineered.

Never had to deal with them, and will never for this amp. There is a lot of info and fan web sites dealing with Music Man amps.

I have to give this a 10. This is one the most well made amps I have ever seen (and I have bought,sold,repaired and modified amps since the mid 80's and have owned most brands out there). Unfortunately I am really late to the Music Man game because I always went after the majors and boutique. I just never payed much attention to them or one never crossed my path at anytime. I still have a fair collection of vintage and newer amps, and I find myself taking this one out to gigs more than my $2K boutique amp! Prices have seem to have gone up on these amps. I am basing this review on what I paid for this amp, its an excellent buy @ $200.00, but don't know if it would be a great buy at $1,000.00. But this does confirm that you don't have to listen to the "Vintage" snobs about where great tone comes from.

amp was made in the late 70s, with reverb and tremelo obviously... the reverb is decent, not the best, but im not that picky with reverb so it works just fine for me... has nice features for an amp its age... it has 2 channels, but as stated before, the one clean channel doesnt have bright or deep switches, so the only purpose of it being there is if you have an A/B switching box, and then you can make it a switching 2 channel amp, as it is not switchable otherwise... mine didnt have the pedal, which i suppose toggles the reverb n trem... it'd be better if it had true channel switching, 3 band EQ is pretty decent, no complaints with it... i have only used it for recording so far, but it seems loud enough to play at a lot of venues, as soundgarden was able to for those early years with the MM65... more power wouldnt hurt, but thats why they have the 130 watt version... also in case you didnt know, it uses 2 El34 power tubs and a 12AX7 phase inverter...

i tried it with my friend's fender jaguar and the clean was amazing... as the jaguar doesnt use any humbuckers, the distortion was not that heavy... but with a humbucker in the bridge position it gets pretty heavy distortion... the clean on this amp is amazing... for it not being an "all tube" amp, it will blow away alot of all tube amps in clean department like peavey vtm's and 5150's... but obviously those have better distortion... you can always buy a pedal, but the distortion on it covers most of my styles... and if you want to get lighter distortion a lot, this is a very good amp for that... i rate it a 9 becuase the distortion could be better... but it excels in the areas where it counts... becuase its not like you can buy a "clean" pedal....

havent had it very long, but i havent had any problems with it... i bought a music man 65 chassis similar to this one before, and it was blown... i returned it before i bothered to find out what the problem was... i'd gig without a backup... but keep some tubes or a fuse just in case.

you know the story...

im mainly a drummer, but i've been playing guitar for almost 2 years, and out of the 5 or so amps ive owned before this one is blatantly the best... i at first was using a borrowed crate 2x12 which obviously sucked balls... then i used a peavey mace VT 2x12... but the clean was lacking (as well as the distortion) which is why i sold it... it prolly just needed new caps/resistors/tubes and such... if it were lost or stolen, it'd be worth it to get it again definetly, but me being curious all the time i'd probably get something else... i just wish it had channel switching and i wish i had the pedal.. also an effects loop would be cool... but c'mon... 70's man... i gotta give it a break, which is why overall its an awesome amp... buy it!...

This model was made early in Music Man's existence, and I can find no actual model name on it. It has bright and deep switches, and 2 channels, although the clean one is basically useless. A passive 3 band eq permits some tonal shaping, along with bright and deep switches.

I use Electra and Danelectro guitars through this unit, plugged into a Vox 2X12 cabinet loaded with EVs. The sound with single coils is shimmery and smooth, with a lot of bite. With humbuckers it gets very warm and buttery. No channel switching, so I use a pedalboard with Boss DS2 and SD1 pedals. The reverb is totally washed out, and only useful for adding a little air in very dead rooms. The tremolo is much better, and produces a very creditable "Crimson and Clover" quaver. It's best feature is a half-power switch, which allows one to dial in very solid chunk at moderate volumes.

I have yet to experience a total failure in 5 years of daily usage. It is subject to the standard tube disease, though; one day it sounds like glass confetti, but when the humidity changes, it more resembles stomach grumblings.

Company is now owned by Ernie Ball, which does not support older products. Not a great problem; Leo made it very easy to work on, and used many standardized parts, so repair prices are not unreasonable.

I have been quite happy with this amp. It really does but one main sound on it's own, but that is a good sound, and with judicious pedal usage I have found it fairly versatile. With all the dials at 7 (or thereabouts), it raunches out just fine!