Music Man HD-130

This amp has two channels for bass and guitar. The guitar channel has reverb, tremelo, and a bright switch. Both channels have a deep switch for increased bass. 130w tube power/tube driver/ss preamp.

I play a Starfire short-scale hollowbody bass through this. This is my first bass amp as I am a converted guitar player. This thing is a real sleeper for bass. It doesn't sound like an ampeg but everyone uses those anyways. I wanted something different but wanted some tube grit and warmth on my bass. It responded better to pick and palm muting than finger playing but still very nice. This is plenty loud. I run into an 8 ohm cab and this is plenty, I have played a few gigs with it and I usually run the master at about 7-8 and the preamp at 5 to 6 to avoid ss clipping. There is just enough dirt to make my bass sound mean. I have yet to change tubes and see if it needs to be recapped or whatever.

This amp will last forever as far as I am concerned. I have never heard of any reliability issues with them.

I feel very fortunate to have this amp along with my starfire bass. If you find the bass amps today unsatisfying go and buy one or a tube ampeg or bassman head. Tubes make everything better as far as I am concerned. I am sick to death of hearing bass players with active pickups and five strings slapping the piss out of their basses through solid state pieces of junk. I guess I find the old 60's and 70's bass players to have a lot more style.

MY HD130 is the simpler, older one. It has two channels, a normal channel with volume, treble, middle, bass, and a bright switch. The bass channel has the same features, and there's also a master volume and a deep switch. It has a solid state preamp, with a 12ax7 phase inverter, and 4 EL34's for the output. It has a high/low power switch as well, which actually makes a noticeable difference in volume.

I'm rating it low on features because compared to most modern stuff, it's very limited. But, what it does, it does great.

This amp sounds amazing. It's loud as all hell, and has a great range of tones. You can get some very sparkling cleans out of it, even at high volumes, and if you crank the preamp you can get some VERY convincing tones that are just short of metal. It has a heck of a lot of balls, and some very sweet bass response, especially for palm muting. If you want to play really heavy stuff, you'd probably need an overdrive pedal to kick it over the edge, but there's no shortage of gain.

It cleans up great with the volume knob on the guitar too, so you can get some great breakup and ranges of distortion. I've heard all-tube amps that sound significantly worse than this, and I haven't heard many solid state amps that sound better. Is it the ultimate paragon of perfect tone? Probably not, but does it sound good? ***k yeah!

This amp is pushing 30 years old, and besides some new tubes, it's mint. The chrome corners have tarnished a bit, the front panel has a weird scuffing, and it could probably use a bit of windex on the tolex, but it's dead mint besides that. Sitting next to my '67 bandmaster, it looks great.

The only weirdness I've had with the amp is that when I first got it, it sounded TERRIBLE when you turned the master volume down; the lower the MV, the worse it got. As a result, it was basically useless as a practice amp or even for anything besides an arena. I tried different tubes with no luck. Then, I decided to put a 12AT7 into the phase inverter instead of a 12AX7 (which i had tried several of) and that solved the problem entirely. Now it sounds amazing both loud and soft, and I can squeeze a ton of gain out of the preamp without going deaf.

The bolt and nut method of holding the chassis inside the head is kinda poorly thought out; it requires some reaching inside to deal with the nuts; most other amps I've worked with have had the nuts attached to teh chassis with clips so they wouldn't move. It could be worse though, and in the grand scheme of things, it's really not a problem.

Ernie Ball owns them now and I doubt they'd be willing to offer much support. They do have the schematics on their website, but they're VERY poor quality; a lot of the words and letters and numbers are pretty blurred together. They are usable, but it's not pretty. Plus there's no board layouts, so figuring out how everything is wired up inside does take some effort, but it's still pretty reasonable.

Overall, this is a darn good amp. I think the newer ones have more features, but this one is simple, sweet, and killer. It has massive volume, with a wide range of tones from sweet, to nice and bluesy breakup, to a very satisfyingly ballsy overdrive/distortion. I haven't tried it with bass yet, but I'm guessing it would work okay. 130 watts is a bit low for bass, it might be tough to get clean sound out while maintaining volume, but for guitar it's brutal.

Musicman amps are not very well known, and they're a steal if you can find one.

I picked up an HD130 Reverb head and matching music man 4x12 cabinet with original alnico speakers in it for 400 bucks about 5 years ago. After doing some research I learned that they switched to solid state preamps halfway through 77. Since this head has the 12ax7 tube preamp, I'm assuming that it is from 74-76. It has two channels, each with two inputs. The left side channel has the basics: a master and a volume knob, with bass, mid, and treble eq's. The second channel has all the first does, but also has all of your tremolo, reverb, as well as deep and bright tone switches. On the back panel there is a standby switch, a ground, impedance toggle, foot switch input, and two outputs for splitting your cabs up (though the output is mono). With 130 watts, it can really blow your doors off, giving it an edge over most 100 watt heads. It has all the features you could ever want out of a mid 70's amp.

This is a Leo Fender amp so its gotta be good. it has all the clarity and brightness of a fender twin but with more of a meaty backbone than a classic fender. It also has the possibility of overdrive that was lacking in previous fender models. i almost always play my strat with a dimarzio paf pro humbucker on the bridge and the factory "delta tone" single coils in the middle and neck. the distortion is fuzzy and warm when cranked up full tilt, but at lower settings the classic clean tone will give way to slightly breaking sustain. The distortion is great for keeping the tone of the original note in tact but giving it enough growl to give the guitar plenty of character. My musical interests are all over the place and this amp holds up no matter what I'm playing. For me personally, it provided the tone in real life that i had always heard in my head when i thought of how i wanted to sound.

it is a tank. when i got mine it looked like someone had gigged it every day for its then 25 year life, but the box is sturdy and thick, and all the original hardware, tolex and pots and knobs are in tact. the cabinet, unfortunately, looked like it had been in a flood at some point on the very bottom inch or so, but still geld together well. cosmetics aside these were awesomely built products. i'm yet in my 5 years of ownership ever had to have it repaired.

music man was bought by ernie ball, and is for all support purposes dead.

i love this amp. i will tell anybody to get one if you have the chance. i lucked out with my pricing. i learned from guitarists i met after buying the amp that is was in super high demand and going for 800-1000 usd for the head alone. i will never sell this, and would love to come across a 2x12 combo to buy one too.

This post is mainly for people who are curious about playing bass through this head, because that???s how I use it. I feel as though it is highly underrated for an electric bass. If you are reading this you already know what this amp has for features. Treble and bass channels, two inputs per channel. Pretty basic but all you need. The one flaw is that the "stand by" switch on mine is located on the back, hard to reach at shows...

For practice and shows at smaller clubs I run my HD-130 through an Ampeg 4/10hlf cab. I plug my 78 Jazz bass directly into the bass channel through input one and get a great bass tone if I keep the pre and post at around equal levels (usually around 6). More then enough volume to cut through the mix at a medium size live venue (with a decent cab of course). I think the key is keeping the treble to about half and the bass boost on. I don???t gig much at bigger venues but I have run this head through an 8/10 and received an equally impressive tone. Over all a great rock???n roll bass sound with well rounded low ends. Really adapts to players who use a pick or fingers (or both!). The most important thing for the sound quality is to run this head through a cab that can handle the low end notes, especially if you???ll be playing at loud volumes.

I have had this head for several US tours and never a problem. I know some people who have fender bassmans that have issues with grounding, but I have never experienced these issues with my music master! Spilled beer on it, dropped it, and it always works! Blown some fuses but nothing major!

Never delt with them

Mainly this post is just to let some bass players out there know what a great bass head this amp can be. I bought mine about six years ago when I was playing in punk bands and it is still kicking. Now it powers everything from guitars, to our 60???s Farfisa keyboard and the same old 78 jazz bass. It has grown with me and still sounds great. I have received several comments on this head from bass players and would HIGHLY recommend it as an affordable alternative (and even better in most cases) then a fender bassman. I have loaned it out to friends for several recoding sessions and even a few tours and the music master has always delivered. If you can find one for a good price grab it! It???ll only appreciate in value! This is a highly underrated bass head! Any questions feel free to e-mail me.

Two channels. They sound mostly the same except the "bass" channel is a bit smoother. First channel controls: Volume, bass, treble, mid, Bright/Normal. Second channel controls: Volume, bass, treble, mid, Bright/Normal, Deep/Normal. Master volume. Standby switch on the back. Ground switch. Impedance switch (4/8). Two inputs per channel. Speaker output and "external" speaker output (was this the same amp for the combo?). All the features I'll ever need!

So far, this amp sounds fantastic. I just got it today and I already know that I'll be using it for a long long time. The highs are crystal clear, the lows booming, the mids crunchy as all hell, and it just sounds amazing. My favorite setting so far is master on 8, volume on first channel at around 3-4. It really sings, and just starts to get a bit of overdrive. I'm playing through a Marshall 1960A 300 watt cab (man, I should put some Greenbacks in there).

These things are built like rocks. I have faith that this will outlast me.

I'll never have to deal with them!

YES. I'M DRUNK. THIS AMP SOUNDS AWESOME!

MusicMan HD-130. this is a bad ass amp its loud and old which makes it an outstanding amp. not exactly sure of the year between 77 and 80 not possitive. lots of head room the bright and normal switch is a nice touch between a classic rock tone and a more deeper fat tone. even though it doesnt have more then one channel an AB switch would work for the guitar and bass sides (seperate sides) theres a deep and normal switch too add more bottom end near the master volume.

i use single coil and humbuckers. I play pop punk mostly but i also play classic rock, country, punk, and more. with the right pedal(s) set up in front of this amp you could make it sound amazing! plenty and plenty of head room! i dont turn the master up past 5 nor do i turn the channel volume up past 5 either! any louder and i hurts to play

so far its been amazing i will re tube it soon but other than that its a workhorse of an amp.

a used music man from the 70's theres no need. from what ive read from other post's theres no need for it

ive been playing for about 3 years now ive owned 2 other line 6 amps spider and spiderII amps they're good if you need a practice amp or something to mess around with but this amp definetly kicks there asses. i absoultly love this amp if it were stolen or lost or just stoped working i would definetly find another one its not probably go with a mesa or marshall. i definetly wish it had a switch between the bass side and guitar side but its all well. other than that its an excellent amp from punk to country you could do it all.

This Music Man HD-130 has the 12ax7 inverter tube so it is one of the more desired earlier one's(they started using a solid state converter around 1978 I believe). This model as well as the whole Music Man line debuted in 1974, and I think mine is from 74' or 75'. These amps are hybrids, they have a tube power amp section(4 el-34's, I'll talk more on this later)and a solid state preamp. The preamp tube it has is used as an inverter but still sounds better than the later transistor inverters I hear.This amp has reverb and tremelo which both sounds fantastic. I have not played out with this amp but will cause this amp has really won me over compared to my Marshall,which is a great amp(JCM 800 2205 1985)

I am a strat man.I got a sriped down Tokai 56' reissue that is overall the best strat I have encountered including all fender's except a few from the 50's that I fiddled with at the show. they even were not better.The tremelo block is 90 percent why I believe. Eric Johnson is wise to this just like the Japanese guitar builder's were who in the early to mid 80's built exact copies of 50's fender strats not only cosmetically but soundwise as well.I also have lots of parts lying around like extra Tokai parts(pick-ups,tremelo,s etc)as well as Fender necks and bodies so I am putting togather the ultimate mongrel guitar.I like the free experimentality and funkiness of Hendrix and Eddie Hazel along with the melodies and exoticness of Michael Schenker, Uli Roth,and Yngwie Malmsteen.George Lynch and E.V.H are also MF's along with Gary Moore.I try to extract as much from those guy's as possible without blatantly ripping them off. My natural ability is funk and sorta "exotic blues". The Music Man to me is the missing puzzle of tone that I have been searching for. I always in my head was searching for a sound that had Marshall and Fender qualities. This does. It has a normal/bright and normal/deep switches which can dial up some huge tone ! There is a master volume that can distort the sound as well. It has a very good hendrixy early distortion sound sorta like a cross between an old MXR distortion + and an old germanium transistor fuzz face.It doesnt "crunch" but Hendrix didnt either.I am a huge Eddie Hazel fan who if you dont know was a member of Funkadelic. He used Fender Dual Showman amps around the Maggot Brain era(70'-73')along with a fuzz box and wha wha. But by the time of "Standing on the verge of gettin' it on" he was using the Music Man HD-130's. "Good to your earhole" is another example. The "Jams from the Heart" CD which was a studio jam with Eddie Hazel,Buddy Miles, And cordell "boogie" Mosson has a jam of "Comin' round the Mountain on it that is also awesome. Eddie's solo album "Game, Dames and Guitar Thangs" also has him in good form using these amps. Eddie typically had the amp distorting to the max using his volume to clean things up(These amps clean up beautifully)along with a phase 90 and echoplex.This amp uses el-34 tubes that are rare in american amps. the tubes are hit with very high plate voltages which gives alot of clean headroom but also kill tubes quicker, Back in the seventies tubes were much better than today so I guess the engineer's of this amp didnt consider that in it's design.I'm glad that they didnt. The best tube to use for this amp apart from Nos are JJ E34L's. They will hold up.Another sound that this amp can conjure up quite easily is the Hendrix "Band of Gypsies" sound. That sound to me alway's sort of had a Marshall/Big Fender sort of sound. I know he had 6550 power amp tubes put in his marshall's which sorta gave his sound a little cleaner "Big Fendery" kind of sound. He may have also been running through some Fender 10 and/or 15 inch cabs along with his Marshall 4 by 12's.Anyway I can nail that sound very easily. With the reverb on this amp turned up a little I can also nail "Rainy Day" on Electric Ladyland. You know trading off with the sax on that shuffle. I run the amp perfectly clean and use a couple of boxes(ds-1 ultra,tube screamer-soon to be the coveted Cusack Screamer-Voodoo Lab vibe,tokai analog delay, crybaby, ibanez flanger, old blue DOD envelope filter, and a MXR phase 90. My pedals will still probably change from time to time but my amp won't.Up until know I alway's used my old voodoo lab overdrive. this amp needs a tighter punch so the ds-1 ultra works better .

I would gig without a back up. The amp takes to playing long periods of time at moderate practice volumes(where I live I can play Loud).The transformers are in good shape cosmetically but most importantly the amp sounds real good which means that the transformers are working properly. I can get replacement transformers from mojo tone here in N.C that I hear good reviews about if something should happen.

As far as I know the company is out of buissiness.There are some very informative websites though.

I've been playing for 23 yrs. I own Marshall, Fender, and Peavey amps. Tokai,Fender,Gibson and Charvel/Jackson guitars.I will buy any other M.M amp I can get my hands on and would advise anyone reading this to do the same. I love my HD-130 because to my ears it sounds like every thing that I love about Good Marshall's(Loud,Forcefull,Warm burnished tone) and every thing that I love about Fender's(Very clean,interesting, hypnotic sounds).In other words at loud volumes it stays cleaner, and brighter than a marshall but sounds warmer,and fuller as well as distorts better than a Fender.Also when the deep switch is engaged you can get some very good early Tont Iommi sounds.This amp has every thing that I could want. I can now get at some of Hendrix's and Hazel's awesome sounds as well as nurture my ever growing idea's. Thanks for listening.

Its a HD-130 with 2x10 inch speakers.
It's very loud and very clean. The reverb is awsome and the built in tremelo is sensational. with a little bit of overdrive its very easy to get that Hendrix (band of gypsies) sound. Like a uni-vibe...beautiful....It sounds even better through a 4x12 cab.

I use a 73 Strat and a Gibson 335.
With the strat I use a 80's TS9 (808 mod) and a Dunlop JH crybaby.
With the 335 I use a Bixonic Expandora (just seems to work better with humbuckers)
You can get the whole gammut of rock sounds, except for the ultra modern, extremly compressed metal, thats ok with me - Im not looking for that sound.
When I bought this It sounded very muddy and I though it was the speakers or tube.... I replaced the tubes and it sounded better but still not what i was looking for....I took it to an amp tech in Switzerland and he replaced a few components that were not working well...ic's resistors...and now its sound amazing, super clean, bright and nice warm overdrive...still needs a good OD pedal though.
It's crunchier than a fender twin but cleaner than a Marshall...
Its a very good amp - I'll take it to the grave with me.

Very solid and very heavy, apart from the small components i had replaced it hasnt missed a beat. I giged pretty heavily with it for more than 3 years and no problems at all, only my back cause its so heavy...

never tried, Leo Fender is pushing up daises so I'm not really sure...its easy to get shematics on the web for this thing so all is good

Its a classic, they are hard to find these days, I wish I had the 2x12 model, but Ive never managed to find one.

I have recently purchased an RH212 130W head with Fender cabinet (2 x 12" speakers.) I have been looking for a Fender designed bass amp & this unit foots the bill very well. Two channel input (lead & bass guitar). Has effects loop which will be nice as I also play a bit of lead. The combination solid state input & valve output makes this a versatile package. Head was in mint condition but speaker cabinet needed recovering with new grill.Is Fender built as has typical finger joints around edges and cabinet solid as a rock. Have fitted Australian made Lorantz UB1 Bass speakers which creates nice clean sound. I play in Shadows tribute band & this amp provides that 60's sound.Stacks of power and have found sounds nicer at lower output setting when bass played through it.Have Echoes From the Past Zoom Box which is pre-programmed with original Shadows sounds, really nice. Also have Roland 301 and original Copycat Tape Echo.

Use 1970 Fender Precision bass and 40th Anniversary Strat, both in mint condition.The amp suits the style & sound of music played by our band, Shadamatz. Has typical valve hiss which can be intrusive when gain is high, probably can be fixed by replacing output valves with lower noise versions.The sound is clean at all levels.

This amp is typical of Leo's designs & manufacture, built like a brick ----house and just as reliable.

Local support is available in Australia from a variety of speciality repairers, in fact I purchased this unit from such a company.

I started playing bass in 1960, I own a variety of guitars and amps, total of 8 guitars including 40 year old 12 string from Italy. Three amps including mint condition 1960 Goldentone 40W lead amp.
I have noticed that in recent years that many guitar amp manufacturers as re-releasing valve amps or amps that emulate valve amps. There is no substitute for the original in my opinion.

This is a vintage 70s all tube head. it has 2 channels with seperate eq's for both. it has a guitar and a bass side, but they both work fine for guitar. it has a hi and a low power switch, but i've read that it's not good to use soooo, i don't use it, it has a standby switch which is helpful. The guitar and bass channel have a toggle that allows you to choose Bright or Normanl and the bass also has a deep switch, which gives you more lows. it has the option of a 8 or a 4 ohm cab which can be nice i guess, and another jack for an extension cab so if you wanted a full stack it would work. there is no effects loop, but frankly it doesn't need one. it's 130 watts, and it's freakin loud. i'm in a 5 piece rock band and i don't have the master volume up over 3. it's great for practice because i know i can wail on it, and i do. i have an AB switch so i can switch from the bass and guitar channel. i use the bass channel for my cleans and my guitar channel for my distorted. i push the gain to 10 and it howls, and if i want more low end i just switch the channels and make the bass side the distortion. i give it a 7 on features because it doesn't have that many, like no reverb or tremelo, no effects loop, and some of the options i just don't need, like half power but hey, it's vintage.

I play an Epiphone Black Beauty with 57 classics. i put my signal through a ProCo Rat2 (for quieter distortion), and an electroharmonix holy grail reverb. I play Classic to modern Rock and this amp sounds perfect. The distortion is luscious, sounds a lot like the rat, just a little less nasal. it's got EL4's if it makes any difference, well i know it makes a difference but i got it used so i don't know what it originally had in there. There is a little hiss but, it's a tube amp and it's kinda loud. You really can get any sound you want with it, if you want you're cleans to break up you can do it, if you don't want them to just lower your gain and boost your master volume...all in all it's not gonna hurt. my only beef with it is that i know i won't be able to play it live because of how loud it is, but it's ideal for practice...might be too noisey for a studio but i won't know till i try.

well it's lasted 30 some odd years...i don't think i'm gonna have to worry about it breaking anytime soon as long as i take care of it. i wouldn't gig with it in a club so, i wouldn't need a back up...this is just gonna be my full band practice amp. i give it an 8 because i bought it used and the store was repairing it, so it can be broken...this is actually the second one i tried to get that needed to be repaired. but who knows what the people before me had done to it.

I'd like to see you try to get support on this. bring it to a pro, they'll know what to do.

i've been playing guitar for 3 and a half years, i know it doesn't sound like much but i know my shit. this thing can sing. if it was stolen i'd look for another one, if i couldn't find one i'd get a twin reverb or an ac30. i did research for months when i was trying to get a new amp and this one was the best for the money. i put it through a Fender GE412 cab and it pumps. if you need a loud practice amp, or if you do large enough shows this amp is for you. if you want to do small clubs and have a smaller band, get something smaller because you won't be able to hear the full sweetness of this amp.