New member – new amp
Hi,
Thanks for having me as a member of this Forum.
Now, quite recently I was able to buy a long sought after Music Man 112RP Sixty-Five off my best friend. Actually it was a trade since I had a Strat he yearned for, so we hit it!
This great sounding amp will definitely be loved as a member of my "amp-crew".
The amp is in excellent condition, a little rust on the surface of the metal parts but not a scratch in the tolex or any other flaws, except for the ugly scratch in the grill cloth. I already have ordered a replacement for it, and in a coouple of days I will leave it at my amp-man's shop to have it looked over/serviced.
Can you help me shed a light on a couple of things:
• What year is it?
• The speaker has no identification whatsoever – anybody knows what it is?
• Where can I buy new logos/plates?
Here are some pics of it.
Member for
10 years 1 month
Other equipment:
Marshall Bluesbreaker, Fender Deluxe Custom, Gibson 335, Gibson 330, Gibson SG ’61 Original RI,
Chandler Austin Special 1990
Member for
6 years 8 monthsMember for
10 years 7 monthsGP3A
All we know for sure from your pictures is that it's a GP3A variety of the amp which means 1980 to 1984. The speaker looks original to it - it's a Music Man C12G made by Eminence. The speaker, as previously stated, should have a date code on it.
The badges are the correct ones for this amp, so no need to replace (if you are going for authenticity). I have never seen an output tube cage in an MM amp before, if it's an original 'Export' piece, it's certainly interesting.
Congrats on the find!
Cheers,
Lars Verholt
Other equipment:
Marshall Bluesbreaker, Fender Deluxe Custom, Gibson 335, Gibson 330, Gibson SG ’61 Original RI,
Chandler Austin Special 1990
Member for
6 years 8 monthsOther equipment:
Marshall Bluesbreaker, Fender Deluxe Custom, Gibson 335, Gibson 330, Gibson SG ’61 Original RI,
Chandler Austin Special 1990
Member for
6 years 8 monthsUpdates after refurbishing
Well, now I have got my amp back from a complete service. My tech swapped power tubes, and quite a number of IC-circuits (hope I got it right) and there is a pic of the stuff he replaced. I would really appreciate comments if you can help dating my amp. As you can see there a written "16" on two places inside the cabinet. And the speaker has stamped numbers as well.
Anyway, the amp sounds absolutely amazing, and I am so glad I could be the new owner.
Member for
10 years 7 monthsMember for
10 years 1 month
Member for
10 years 1 month
Did you look at the Circuit Board?
Did you take the chassis out to look at the circuit board for some markings?
Also, could you post some photos of the replaced parts on the circuit board? The OpAmp integrated circuit chips are marked on the top. Your photo only shows the underside of the old ones. The two large capacitors are under the canister on the underside of the chassis. Just curious what parts went back in.
Dating the Amp
Your best bet is to take the chassis out of the amp. The date will be written on the circuit board inside with a sharpie-pen. FYI the nuts are a pain-in-the-ass to get back on because of the transformers...but not really a problem. Attach photos once you have it apart.
I borrowed the explanation below:
You can use the power transformer as another option for dating your Music Man Amp if the original Eminence speaker has been replaced. You also don't have to remove or get into the chassis to find the transformer. There should be a code stamped into the metal case on the transformer that looks something like this: EIA606-813. The EIA stands for Electronic Industries Association and the 606 is the source code for the manufacturer, which in in the case of 606 is Woodward-Schumacher. Apparently Music Man used the same source for it's power transformers as did Fender back in the 70's. Now, we come to the last three digits of the code with the 8 being the last digit of the year, and in the example of EIA606-813 this would have to be 1978, as the amps were only built from 1974 thru 1984. Finally, the last two digits of the code 13 would stand for the 13th week of the year.
If your amp is all original, you might find that the dates on the speaker and transformer can vary by several months, so I would probably be inclined to use the later date when trying to date the amplifier since the later dated parts were probably installed last in the manufacturing process.
I don't know much about the speaker. It should have a code stamped on the edge of the frame. Google will help identifying it. But it looks like an Eminence...and they all have codes...
The logos look fine to me??? but there is a thread on this forum about ordering custom made badges and logos.