Music Man RD-110

110-RD WAS MADE IN EARLY 80'S- MINE WAS PURCHASED IN 1995 IN AN ATLANTA VINTAGE STORE FOR $200- I PLAY BLUES. CLASSIC ROCK, SOME COUNTRY- AMP IS AWESOME IN POWER BUT COULD USE SOME HELP IN TONE VARIATION. 2 CHANNELS, LINE OUT, EXT. SPEAKER- THE DARN LITTLE THING IS AS LOUD AS A 50 WATT MARSHALL ANY DAY! HAS 1 10" SPEAKER, WITH REVERB. THE TUBES SEEM TO LAST FOREVER- ORIGINAL SET STILL IN GOING STRONG! I REALLY LOVE TOSSING IT IN CAR AND JAMMIMG- SMALL AND VERY LOUD!

I HAVE BEEN PLAYING SINCE MID 60'S- OPENED UP FOR LOTS OF MAJOR CONCERTS, MAINLY USE A HISTORIC LES PAUL 59 OR 58, 62 R.I.STRAT -I LIKE MY VERY OLD IBANEZ SUPER DISTORTION MUCH BETTER THAN TRYING TO FIND A GOOD TONE WITH 2ND CHANNEL ON THE MUSICMAN. CLEAN CHANNEL STAYS VERY CLEAN TILL YOUR EYES BLEED! NOT NOISY AT ALL, SOUNDS LIKE A MUFFLED FENDER, OR A MARSHALL WHEN CRANKED UP- TAKES A LOT OF ABUSE WITH NO COMPLAINTS! WHEN I PLAY A BIG SHOW, PLUG UP A TWIN TWELVE MARSHALL CABINET UNDERNEATH IT- LOUD!!!

THIS IS A VERY UNDER RATED, UNDER PRICED AMP- BUY ONE IF YOU CAN FIND ONE UNDER $500- I THINK THESE ARE TWICE THE AMP THAT THE LITTLE FENDER SUPER CHAMP IS- AND THEY BRING $500-700 EVERY DAY! THE MUSICMAN CAN BE MANIPULATED TO SOUND LIKE ANYTHING WITH A $99 GENESIS POD. AND THEY ARE SO DARN SMALL AND LIGHT WEIGHT!

SORRY- I PLAYED THE SNOT OUT OF THIS AMP SINCE I BOUGHT IT- NEVER HAD A DIME OF REPARS. MOST SHOPS CAN SERVICE THESE LITTLE DEMONS- EASY.

IF IT DIED, YEP, I'D FIND ANOTHER ONE! IT'S A DARN SHAME THE AMP COMPANIES CAN'T LOOK AT SOMETHING THIS SIMPLE AND OFFER IT TODAY. A LOT OF POWER IN A BOX ABOUT 14"X 13"X 6" AT 30 LBS. WITH A HEAVY DUTY SPEAKER THAT CUTS THROUGH ANYTHING. I CAN'T FIND ANYTHING OUT THERE TO COMPARE IT TO. IT WOULD PROBABLY RETAIL TODAY AROUND $350-400- YOU'RE ONLY GONNA GET A WEAK LIL FENDER OR MARSHALL OR SOME OFF BRAND JUNK FOR THAT, ESPECIALLY WITH TUBES! PUT ONE OF THESE DOGS IN YOUR BACK LINE AND SAVE YOUR ACHING BACK! IF ANYONE HAS ANY TRICKS TO IMPROVE THE TONE SOMEWHAT- THAT'S ALL THIS BABY NEEDS. POWER IS PLENTY!

Two channels, each with own 2-band EQ (treble, bass) - don't seem terribly effective, but are... dificult to explain. You don't hear the treble drop or the bass increase with the twist of a knob, but the sound overall changes. ACtually, this is pretty cool thing. 10" stock EV Force-10 speaker - Very high-quality speaker, but wasn't a great sound for me - too bright, probably great for country. Replaced with an Eminence 35W alnico speaker bright switch on clean channel - amp is already really bright, so I wouldn't use this unless I really needed the cut or I wanted to tear the head off a chicken at forty paces 1 input - wouldn't have minded two two switch between, like on some larger MusicMan combos. reverb - short-spring Accutronics tank, busted when I bought it, managed to repair it several times by unwinding the inductors for solder leads... this probably messed up the sound, but it was the best I could do at the time. Have ordered a new one, but when functioning, sounded allright. Never had reverb in an amp before, so not really a conniseur (sp?) 2 button footswitch - channel, reverb. Tubes - hybrid design with solid-state preamp, 2 6L6GBs in power stage and a 12AX7WA phase inverter. I've heard the design is such that the power tubes operate differently from in all-tube amps, but have not had this clarified. 50 LOUD freaking watts. I never turn it up past 5. Plus it wouldn't be too kind on the underpowered speaker...

Currently running an Ibanez EX through it, and it sounds pretty good (expecially with new speaker). Any sonic shortcomings are more refelctive of the guitar than the amp. Haven't had a chance to run any really good axes through it, as I don't have one and neither does anyone I know. Great clean sound, distortion channel a little buzzy, so I keep it around four for a little jangly breakup. Have TubeScreamer and Big Muff for distortion. Both sound great (Big Muff sounds HUGE through it) Since I don't use the distortion channel as such, I think of it as haveing two clean channels. The first has a more scooped midrange, and sounds more classic Fender. Great rhythm sounds on the neck pickup. The second channel has a more pronounced midrange, so I use it for rawer, lead sounds or blues breakup. It's taken me several months to start getting good sounds (ones I like), but am finally pretty happywith this thing. I only realized AFTER I bought it that I was seeking a more Marshall sound. Ah well, c'est la vie. I'm probably going to pick up a Marshall half-stack or equivalent someday and run the two simultaeously. I think I'll like the sounds of that. Amp gets pretty bright when turned up, so the treble needs to be decreased as much as the volume is increased, and the bass then needs to be decreased to get rid of the muddy sound. This is not really an amp where you can set the EQ once and leave it forever. A constant tweaker.

Have taken this thing apart top to bottom several times out of boredom, and I must say, it's built really solidly. Except for the busted parts when I bought it, It's in really good shape (if you ignore the torn tolex and rusty chrome parts). Either way, As soon as I get this thing in top shape, I don't expect it to fail.

MusicMan is history. ErnieBall should consider restarting the amp division. These MusicMan amps are starting to get afair bit of attention in the Vintage press.

I don't know if I'd buy it again. Was concerned about the cost of tubes, so I picked up a hybrid. Now I sort of wish I got an all-tube. Also, I'm realizing I'm less a Fender guy than a Marshall or Vox. Either way, I've sunk a little more money into getting this thing into shape than I would have liked. With the new speaker, it sounds warmer and rounder, and is about 10 lbs lighter (those EVs are beasts!). It's a better a;ll-clean amp than for distortion, but I can stompbox the sounds I want. I guess overall it's not quite the sound I was looking for, but I'm making do quite nicely. Getting rid of the EV probably kills any resale value, but its pretty rough cosmetically anyways, so I didn't forsee reselling it. Overall, this amp is a winner with the Eminence.