Music Man RD-110 Fifty

My current 110RD fifty is either 1980 or 1981. I bought it used in 1989. Without repeating everybody else's comments it is a 2 channel hybrid amp with separate Eq for each channel. I has no effects loop or headphone jack but has a line-out for a mixing desk or for recording. The best thing about is that it is easy to dial in a good sound, with very few controls. The separate Eq on each channel makes it easy to get both channels right unlike RD65s and RD100s where you have to make a compromise between the clean and distortion channel tone. It would be nice to have a "Mid" and "Presence" tone controls. It is loud enough for small - medium gigs.
I use it with a Boss pedal board for any other effects I need.

I mainly use a maple-board Strat and a maple-board Tele. Both with Seymour-Duncan stacked humbuckers. The clean channel gives a nice glassy Fender 6L6 sound but with a little more darkness. The lead channel with the 12AX7 gives a great range of vintage distortion sounds. You can make it feedback and this is nicely controlled. As mentioned before, it's not a heavy metal amp, but when I you use a Boss DS1 pedal with it, I can get all the distortion I need. The speakers you use are critical. I originally had a Blond RD50 with an EV speaker and it had a nice tight sound. This one came with an after-market Celestion which made it sound loose. I've now replaced it with correct MM C10GHD speaker with an EVM 10M in a extension cabinet and it sounds tight and well balanced. The reverb is a bit limited - not as good as a Twin Reverb.

When I got this one, it had obviously been abused. My tech spent a lot of time tracing a channel switching fault - it would over-heat and change to the lead channel. Later the output transformer blew. I had to swap out some transistors but that was easy. It has worked perfectly for the last 15 years or so. My original Blond RD50 was tough - I had it stacked on top of a Bass amp and when the bassist hit a low "E" it fell about 4 feet onto the ground and was undamaged apart from a small dent in a corner plate. That amp is still working perfectly 25 years later.

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I've been playing for 40 years. After using my first RD50 25 years ago, I've used Music man amps exclusively. I've had a Peavey VTX Classic, a Fender Champ 12 and a transistor red knob Fender 65 all of which I've sold. If it were stolen or lost, I would buy another one and would track down the thief! I love the light weight, the sound and the ease of use. I wish it had a better reverb. A "Swampy" tremolo would be cool, but that would make the amp bigger. Speaker replacement is a problem as the space in the cabinet is very tight. Both the MM and the EV speakers are obsolete- but can be reconed. It would be great if there was enough space to fit a EVM 10M in the combo. It appears that the Blond EV-equipped 110RD fifty's had a special speaker that fitted in the cabinet. It looks like a EV Force 10 but the MM literature says it's an EVM.

One input switched to 2 channels - clean and dirty. It says 'Limiter' on the switch and 'Distortion' ('D' in 'RD') on the foot pedal (with Reverb). Both channels have Vol, Bass and Treble. Clean channel has additional 'Bright/Normal' switch which does exactly what you'd think. Dirty channel as additional 'Gain' knob. Reverb (R in RD) is classic spring and high quality. You can unplug the reverb unit which in enclosed in a padded cover.

On the back you can unplug the speaker, plug in an extension speaker and run a line out. (I plug an OHM soak into the ext, unplug the speaker and run the line out silent for night time recording at home. Tip: Works beautifully as a pure valve preamp (Vol 3/Treb 5/Bass 5).

NOTE: this is a solid state preamp (like all the MMs I know of) which use the 12AX7 for the dirty channel only. It is not valve preamp - have a look at the schematics online if you don't believe me. I think the SS preamp is the reason MMs are undervalued - which is fine by me.

I'd rate higher if it had the luscious MM tremolo instead of the distortion (like the 65s and the HDs).

I play a '79 Mustang and 2003 US Tele (SCNs) for Alt Folk, Alt Rock, Pop Rock, Post-Punk, Punk, Blues, R & B and 60-70s covers. The amp is very clean and punches through the loudest band. I plug an old enclosed cab with a 10" and 12" to push more air and the tone and volume are epic. (I'd swap this for a 112 in a second.)

The SCNs show what a perfectly clean little amp this is. When I first used the Tele I stomped my overdrive pedal and thought something was broken because it was silent! I was used to my Mustang buzzing away and thought some of it must be the amp - no! With the Noiseless pick ups all you can hear is the tubes tinkling as they warm up.

If you want to be able to play any sound start with an amp like this and let your pedals mess with the natural tone of your guitar. Why you'd have an amp that distorts at volume I do not know.

I'd rate it 10 with the cabinet.

I bought it new in '82 and I used to kick it on stage to make the reverb rattle - I know it's a sin but it sounded great in the song. 27 years later and never serviced. I changed valves as an experiment - a waste of money.

Indestructible! This is real craftsmanship.

Say what? Ernie who? There's plenty of old guys around who know how to service this but unless I was selling it I wouldn't worry. Just keep it in a nice dry location.

I have played it since the early 80s and it makes me look only at other MMs as alternative amps. I lust after the 65 210 - you can switch it down to 30watt and run the tubes a bit warmer plus the gorgeous tremolo and extra push of the second 10".

Lots of envy from other musos with big heavy rigs AFTER I play and I am walking out with this in one hand and the tweed case in the other. (They scoff when I walk in.) It's like a practice amp you can use on stage and so loud I barely get it over 3 to compete with a Rock drummer and a big bass rig. In fact if it was 30 watt I might be happier with it.

Only 9 but 10 if I included the cab.

Bought it in 1981 $150 plus my 65 watt Musicman head. Used it as my sole amp till 2000. Two channels with the clean one using a solidstate preamp. Gives it crystaline sound while maintaining the tonal characteristics of a tube power section. I'll disagree with the gentleman from Sydney, though I did have to look at the schematics, the 12ax7 is the preamp tube for the overdriven channel and not the reverb. It's size and weight make it a great jam/practice/studio amp. Leo designed it, what features would you want a vintage Princeton to have? Typically amps that do everything do nothing really well.

Clean channel is great, a little chorus, mmm. The overdriven channel is limited but has a vintage nature. Great for blues, light rock etc by itself but doesn't have the crunch or speaker mass for the weightier styles. I did us a Roland GP 8 to beef it up a bit with decent results. Best sounds are with the gain set low and drive the power tubes. Too much gain and it tends to get a little flabby. I went to a harder set of tubes hoping to gain some definition. Oh well....

Like i said I used it as my only amp for nearly 20 years working it three to four times a week. Replaced the tubes, had the speaker wire short out(problem with storing the power cord and footswitch in the speaker cab)

No worries

I've been playing for ~38 years, 18 years in bands and 20 years on worship teams. I use a deluxe Strat plus with Lace sensors and an X-bridge as my primary guitar, a '68 Casino(my first) a Gibson RD Artist and a couple old Takamine acoustics. The GP 8 finally gave up so I went with a Boss ME 50, mainly for chorus, dely and expression. Please no more modeling. The amp has it's own nitch amongst my Mesa Nomad, Klemt Echolette S-100 and old Gretsch 6162, different amps for different settings. If it went away I'd miss it, probably more than my wife would though. For the typical player a great dependable amp

has reverb, no effect loop, unusable distortion, no mid eq

i use an epiphone sheraton II with sd'59s and a baker b1-c, it really has a beautiful clean sound... great for jazz blues and anything you would normally use a fender for, but louder and a bit less harsh treble... i really like the fact that you can swap tubes, i put el84's in it... and it sounds great...

i bought it used, i think it's one of the earlier model... i brought it to my amp person, they said it was wired nicely... but when i first turn it on, i have to mess with the volume before it comes on... i have to bring it back... every time i bring it to the shop it acts fine...but i imagine it's just dirt in the controls or something

it's a really good amp for clean... i saw a 212 combo in the store and wish i had bought it... it had more options and the 2 12's move a lot more air

amp was made in 1981. The amp has a great clean channel and the other channel is a great overdrive, but does not quite crunch.

used a carvin cm140 for ten years with only a flanger. now use a strat w/ one dimarzio humbucker. have done some (torres) tricks to the guitar and now use overdrive, distortion, chorus, delay. my nephew used it for one and half years with his gibson explorer and a danelectro (fab tone) everyone asks did Leo fender design it?

count it used it 21 years. traveled. also guys I loaned it to my eighteen year old nephew and it still plays.

Owned plush, peavey classic, kustom and I prefer the music man. if it was stolen, i would cry and yes look for another one. wish i had the hd 130r

I bought this amp new in 1981, I think. As described by others, it has two channels, clean and dirty (or 'limiter' as it is called on the amp), one input, a lovely reverb, footswitchable channels and reverb; on the back, there's a line out, speaker and extension speaker jacks. Each channel has bass and treble eq, no mid control. One ten inch speaker. This is a 'hybrid' amp - solid state preamp and tube power amp - 2 x 6L6 tubes for the power stage. There is a 12AX7 tube (which, contrary to some reviews here, powers the REVERB, not the preamp). I like the amp's simplicity.

I use a '62 Reissue Strat with the amp and I play classic rock and blues. The clean channel is excellent - clear, full, expressive. I very rarely use the clean channel's bright switch - too bright for my taste. I can get very pleasant jazz sound from this amp, too. The dirty channel has always bothered me a bit. I can't get a full, slightly overdriven, just breaking up sound from it that I like - it's too compressed into the midrange; the bottom end falls out a bit, and the headroom and clarity just aren't there. Turning up the volume a lot helps to some extent but I've decided now to get a good overdrive pedal which keeps its bottom end (probably a Guyatone OD 2) and stick to the clean channel for that type of sound. I bought a Marshall 1922 cab (2 x Celestion GT 75) and this helps to fill out the sound very well, especially for big rooms, as the one ten inch speaker struggles to give the bottom end.

Sensational. After 20 years, it is still going strong - with the same tubes!

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I've been playing for nearly thirty years and have used Marshalls, a Mesa Boogie and have played many other amps as well, of course, over the time. The clean channel on this is hard to beat. The amp is compact and loud. It really reveals its true character at high volume - when the output tubes get cooking.

The RD 110 fifty does not have a lot of features compared to newer amps, but the down to basics constuction has resulted in a very dependable and portable amp. The reverb in this little cab is superb.

I use 3 guitars with this amp a small venue gigs. The best combo is the RD and my single coil G&L (strat). Good for basic MOR rock and blues. I do a lot of recording using this amp for astonshing overdrive. It sings and sustains even at very low volumn, which is a real plus in the studio. It also works well with my Guild Starfire for jazz. For acuostic I mike through the main PA and then plug a Taylor into the RD first routing through an LR Baggs EQ. The sound through the RD really fatens the overall PA sound. Mine is loaded with vintage JBL-K110 ... wow ... awsome combo! I hook up a JBL-K112 for larger rooms when gigging.

You won't find many of these in a junk yard. Like a Timex, these boxes keep on keepin' on like an Everready Bunny. It is the most reliable amp I have ever owned (at 47 I have been through a few). In the shop one time for a resistor or capacitor fix ... outpatient type stuff and not costly. A friend owned from the time it was new. He decided he wanted to try a change and traded it. I was at the right place at the right time. He misses it now (ha).

There is none. Musicman got out of the amp business a long time ago. But, your local tech buffs should be able to take care of you, as Musicmans are basically Fenders that have been tweaked a bit.

I have been playing since I was about 14. This amp is great. If I lost it I would be in morning for quite a while. Yes, I would look to replace it with another RD. I love everything about it except the line hum, but I am able to work with that to still use it for recording. I have had Fender Twins, Musicman 410's, Pignose, Marshall, and Peavy. The RD110 is the ticket and a keeper! There is nothing I'd add to it. I like the vintage simplicity!

I bought this new in 1980. Small but sturdy. Easy to carry. Foot switchable reverb, clean and dirty channels. Tubes, 10" speaker. Affordable. Used this amp in small clubs literally since the day I bought it and suprisingly it's handled the larger venues too. Pretty darn loud. Especially for it's size. Also has a bright boost. No efx loop or headphone input (who cares what the neighbors say) but that's not a priority for me. One point off for that. Really pretty versatile.

Styles of music are pretty broad. I like using this amp for blues, country, classic rock, jazz and latins.

Guitars... 71 strat/hardtail, 99 mim strat, 86 mij tele, fred gibson mij 335 knockoff, 63 gibson l-7c. This amp has a love affair with single coils in the clean channel. Very, very nice. The l-7c with a floating deArmand sounds beautiful. Especially with chorus. Humbuckers on the other hand sound flat and muddy to me. The aforementioned fred gibson, walnut, open faced hb's sounds unbelievable through my mesa dc-5 but horrible with this amp. I've played a number of lp's and other hb configuratons through it and it's the same. Probably just my taste.

That said, the dirt channel is disappointing. Yuk 2x. The only recovery is diming the gain, boosting the volume and working the overtones into a frenzy. Otherwise, worthless imho.

Treble and bass are very responsive. Very nice reverb! Again, the clean channel with single coils is very very sweet to my ears. Points off for the dissapointing dirt channel.

This thing has been tossed, thrown and transported through every kind of bad weather imaginable. Didn't change the tubes for 17 years! Only changed them then because it just seemed like some maintenance should be done sometime! Excells in this category.

Don't call. Nobody's home. If anyone can help with information I would be grateful.

Been playing 35 years. If lost or stolen I'd probably need a small caliber handgun and a bottle of barbituates. This amp has been an extension of me for alot of years. It's got great tone for my musical styles. Easy on the back and has a cool vintage look.

The speaker grill got a tear in it a bunch of years ago so I reclothed it in a dark brown tweed. I left the cheesy hardware off. It gets alot of gazes from other musicians. Looks better than it did when I bought it. If you come across one of these you owe it yourself to check it out. If you like it and buy it, it should last you for years.

Amp has a sound that will dictate how you play.
1 pre-amp tube, usu 12AX7. Power amp duet - 6L6 (if I remember correctly). Switchable two channel (clean, limiter or gain), with bass/treble controls for each. Master spring reverb control. External speaker output.
If you want an amp with tons of knobs, this ain't it.

Excellent clean channel with lots of headroom.
Gain channel will get good "overdriven tube" sound, especially with power amp maxed at 10 and pre-amp used to control volume. Excellent feedback - doesn't screech but tends to howl (like Santana or Clapton in Cream). No "brown" sound.
If you want an amp with Van Halen sound, this ain't it - not a versatile amp in that respect. Can do blues, country, jass, fusion well; can't do metal or thrash.
I use higher output pickups and TS-9 to boost preamp, mainly to improve sympathetic feedback.

Used the amp on the road (regional tour every summer for 4 years) and in studio since 1979. No problems - amp has never broken down when I needed it. However, my tech did excellent maintance.
Big plus - when changing tubes, amp does not need to be re-biased as most others do.

Never had a warranty claim - matter of fact, never talked to Music Man about anything.

If this amp were stolen or lost, I'd definitely buy another one. Wouldn't sell for the world - it's my bread-and-butter trademark tone.
I've shopped others, but at this point in my life, it would take too much time to learn to "play" other amplifiers.

I bought this amp because I wanted a small tube amp with enough power to play small clubs. I listened to all of the current small tube combos on the market (Fender, Peavy,etc.) But when I went back to hear this amp it blew the others away. I also liked this amp because it has two channels with independent EQ for each. It has a line out and headphone put that I have yet to use. The clean channel on this amp is round and sparkling, the distortion is a warm tube overdrive sound that I only wish I could get a more saturated sound out of. This amp is LOUD, I played a show with this guy who had a Crate stack and my little Music Man didn't have any problem cutting through and the volume was only on 5.

I love the clean sound of this amp, even though it is using a solid state preamp in this mode. It fits my style perfectly since the music I play is a slow rock similar to Counting Crows. It is extremely quiet in the clean channel, although the distorted channel can get real noisy with effects. Overall the amp is not the most versatile if you are trying to achieve different distorted sounds, it only has one mild overdrive sound. The clean channel has a bright/normal switch, which offers a completely different tonality. My only gripe tone-wise is with the eq controls, they don't offer enough change in the tone.

NO problems yet

none

I wouldn't trade this amp for anything. It's great that I don't have to lug some monster around and can still cut through without going throug a PA