MusicMan RD10 Fifty

tbm · May 2014

Any owners? Anyone got experience of this little amp? Any good?

richardhomer · May 2014

I owned one years ago.

Cleans were good (though headroom was not as great as the 50 watt rating might make you think).

The drive channel was heavily compressed and somewhat 'mushy' - almost Mk series Boogie-like.

To be fair, through a bigger cab, the amp sounded much more open.

These are old amps, though generally exceptionally well built - that said, I wouldn't pay more than a couple of hundred quid for one in good condition.

Oh - and the reverb tank seemed to suffer quite badly from induced hum, so higher settings, particularly at home were unusable.

tbm · May 2014

Lovely, thanks for the info. it's defo giggable though, right?

sweepy · May 2014

Be VERY careful who services it though. Musicman amps run very high voltages internally, seen a few that have been buggered through lack of knowledge.

richardhomer · May 2014

tbm;246801" said:
Lovely, thanks for the info. it's defo giggable though, right?

It depends how clean you want your cleans to be, how loud the band is and whether you'd be mic'd up.

The other consideration is the fairly dark sounding drive channel - that would be unlikely to cut through well in a band-mix.

I bought mine to use at band rehearsals, so I didn't have to carry my 4x10 65 watt Music Man unnecessarily.

I never attempted to use the RD50 on a gig, as even in rehearsal I could tell it was close to its limits. Subjectively, the 65 was much louder. To be fair, it had a much bigger cab and four times as many speakers. There was less difference playing the RD through the 65's cab - but of course that defeated the purpose of buying it.

It was as nice little amp - with the caveats in my earlier post - but they do not 'defy phyisics' in the way (for example) some smaller Mesa amps, in terms of volume and projection.

tbm · May 2014

Ok, food for thought. There's one in a local shop. I've an AC30 for rehearsals and gigs, and an AC4 at home. My thought would be the MusicMan would replace the AC4as a home amp (I realise it's still VERY loud for a home amp), but would work as a reheasal/gigging amp in a pinch.

Confirm for me - solid state clean channel, 1 12AX7 on the dirty side, and 2 6L6s in the power section? I've played a HD210 before and liked it a lot. Would also like a different voice to two Vox's.

richardhomer · May 2014

tbm;246889" said:
Confirm for me - solid state clean channel, 1 12AX7 on the dirty side, and 2 6L6s in the power section? I've played a HD210 before and liked it a lot. Would also like a different voice to two Vox's.

Correct.

The clean channel doesn't have a master volume (unlike the HDs) so 'edge of break-up' sounds only come from pedals or pushing the amp hard. The dark drive channel doesn't do these tones either - it has too much gain and not enough brightness for that kind of sound.

It will quieten down perfectly well for home use - though bear in mind my comments re: noisy reverb, if that is important to you.

The also produced a version with a 12" speaker which might be more usable - though I accept there isn't likely to be one for sale near you any time soon. These amps weren't in production for long, so they are fairly rare - though not necessarily valuable.

tbm · May 2014

Mmmmm. He's looking for €600 for it. And it's 110 volts. Its mint, 1980, 1980, but seems overpriced. He reckons he might be able to 'tap' the transformer to run at 220. I've no idea what that means.

richardhomer · May 2014

tbm;247017" said:
Mmmmm. He's looking for €600 for it. And it's 110 volts. Its mint, 1980, 1980, but seems overpriced. He reckons he might be able to 'tap' the transformer to run at 220. I've no idea what that means.

It will need a step-down transformer to work on UK voltages.

I would not pay that for a 34 year old amp. They are well made, but (assuming it has not been overhauled) every component is 34 years old.

Something like a Rivera Clubster or Mesa Express 25 could be bought for less, would be newer (and therefore at less risk of needing imminent repair) and more flexible.

MM amps are good - but you need to view it as an old and 'used', as opposed to 'vintage' when judging its value.

ICBM · May 2014

I agree completely with richardhomer.

They're good amps, well-made but now getting old, and have some reliability issues as well as some not very modern characteristics - and yet not really properly vintage either. I would certainly not pay anywhere near €600 for one, especially a US-voltage model. From memory they don't have multi-tap transformers, although I could be wrong.

Sweepy's warning is worth noting too - while not *that* difficult to work on, they are somewhat different from a standard valve amp and can trap un-knowledgeable techs. They're also quite hard on modern valves even when they're working properly.

Misty · May 2014

I had the RD100 1x12 combo years ago. It came with an EV speaker. I haven't tried the 50 watter, but agree totally with the comments above. My impression at the time was of a nicely built amp with quite nice cleans, if a bit sterile, but the distortion sounded pretty bad, and wasn't really usable. Not by me anyway. That may have been partly as it had too much power for my needs, especially with that efficient speaker, and needed to be turned up more to get the best from it, but overall it just wasn't that great. I wouldn't want one now, let alone at £600.

Van_Hayden · May 2014

Nice clean amp. I've had a few, but never for more than £350. For €600 euros it needs to be practically new.

tbm · May 2014

I'm heading into the shop now with a few pedals to suss it out. I reckon yer man will do me a deal if I'm into it.

i shall report back!

Blueingreen · May 2014

I've no experience with the RD50 but have a Sixty Five which I've had almost since new and which IMO is an exceptional amp.

The comments about the distinction between "vintage" and 'old/used" are perhaps fair in relation to MM amps but remember this is a market distinction and the market is affected by lots of criteria other than the sound or quality of the amps. I didn't use MM as my main amp for years because I couldn't afford a Fender I used it because I thought it sounded better than a Fender, and presumably so did Knopfler/Clapton etc back in the day. MM amps are being made again, older ones are being used by some influential artists (eg Arcade Fire). It's not impossible that they might cross the line between old and vintage at some point, although obviously I wouldn't suggest paying more for them based on that kind of speculation.

ICBM who is infinitely more knowledgable about these things than I says there may be a problem with techs, but I've spoken to two techs about my MM recently and in each case a polite but not particularly interested response to an initial enquiry turned into enthusiastic, knowledgeable and lengthy chat once they realised the amp in question was an old MM. Admittedly these were both older guys who remembered the amps in their heyday and younger techs may not have the same interest or knowledge.

ICBM · May 2014

Blueingreen said:
I've spoken to two techs about my MM recently and in each case a polite but not particularly interested response to an initial enquiry turned into enthusiastic, knowledgeable and lengthy chat once they realised the amp in question was an old MM. Admittedly these were both older guys who remembered the amps in their heyday and younger techs may not have the same interest or knowledge.

Exactly. The type of circuit wasn't that uncommon back in the day - Peavey used something similar as well, although with lower voltages - but hasn't been used in many amps since. I would expect anyone who worked on them originally to still know what they're doing!

I agree about the sound, and the build quality - both arguably better than the Fenders of the day. They were more expensive at the time too, if I remember right.

koneguitarist · May 2014

Not an amp I would pay big money on, but a good amp none the less, sounds great with P90's and the clean channel whacked up! Very bluesy.

tbm · May 2014

So I gave it a good go. Just as everyone here has said, it's a nice amp, but not worth the money he's asking. I might make him an offer.

Blueingreen · May 2014

Yeah as chance would have it mine took the place of a Peavey I had out on approval because I was fed up trying to coax a sound I liked out of Marshalls at low volume. The Peavey sounded fabulous at room/shop volume but the gain channel thinned out badly at gig volume. A local guy who was a 'name' guitarist at the time was home for Christmas and came to see our band, and I was complaining to him about the Peavey thinning out. He said he'd been given a freebie amp by MM that he didn't want to keep because it wasn't aggressive enough for him (he was actually using Ampeg!) but he thought it would suit my style better. I agreed to buy it and returned the Peavey. Probably my best ever musical purchase.

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MusicMan RD10 Fifty

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