Trying to identify year for 212-sixty five amp

71LesPaul

I bought this amp used from my guitar teacher way back in 1980. It still sounds amazing. I am not sure what year it was made. The serial number is CN02555. Any help identifying it from the serial number would be appreciated. Thanks.

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Music Man Equipment
MM 2-10-65

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11 years 10 months

mm210 Sun, 09/28/2014 - 09:28

Not a real accurate way for MM's but does it have a 12ax7 tube in the PI spot? If it does, it's gen 1 which places it to the 74-77 era or so. No tube but still using 6CA7's it's in the 77-79 or so. The speaker codes and the transformer codes will verify it for you too. The silver backed badges places it in the gen 1-2 category.

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Full Name
James Sute
Music Man Equipment
Music Man 212 Sixty-Five guitar amp, s/n CN02555. I bought it used in 1980 from a guy who said it was too heavy to lug around. I play a '71 Les Paul Custom black usually just straight into channel 2 but I occasionally use a Tube Driver from Chandler Industries for extra punch.

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11 years 4 months

71LesPaul Sun, 09/28/2014 - 12:59

Thanks for the reply. The tubes are Sylvania 6CA7's. The code on the speaker is 677839, so that probably means June 77. So then it must be the 77-79 gen 2. Here is a scan of the circuit diagram that has been sitting in the back all this time.

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Rob Flindall
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112RD-100 with EVM speaker, built 1981

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11 years 4 months

RD112 Sun, 09/28/2014 - 14:09

If you take the chassis out, the date might be handwritten on the circuit board like 5-22-81 ie May 22, 1981

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MM 2-10-65

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11 years 10 months

mm210 Mon, 09/29/2014 - 04:03

That's a gen 1 schem-has the tube

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Kevin Murphy
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spudmurphy Tue, 09/30/2014 - 06:11

My date was witten on the chasis itself.

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Sean
Music Man Equipment
1979 212 Sixty-Five, 1981 212 Seventy-Five
Numerous other amps and several guitars...

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11 years 10 months

codamedia Tue, 09/30/2014 - 19:52

There is some contradiction with the info. The scheme might show a tube, but the speaker codes show 1978. The tube versions normally had the power switch on the front (Hi / Off / Lo) and a standby in the back. This appears to have the stand by in the front (Hi / Std By / Lo) with the power in the back. To me that points toward a later 70's.

If I were a betting man, I'd say this was an early 1978 amp based on the photo and the speaker code. Who knows why the schematic is there - let the amp tell the story, not the schematic in the back (unless it matches the amps guts).

Just my 2 cents.

EDIT TO ADD:
"71LesPaul" said "The code on the speaker is 677839, so that probably means June 77"....

That is not a '77 it is a '78.

67 = Eminence
78 = Year
39 = Week of the year (mid - late September)

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