Quote:
Originally Posted by fenderhutz  They sound great for guitar. I will leave it at that. It was the equivalent of a Peavey Microbass of it's day. Low volumes without much bass.
Used for a Tele and it sounded great until the speaker about ripped itself in half. I think they were 10-15 watts without googling it, at least sounded that way. |
12 watts of soul searing tube tone!! Okay, that may be a bit much, but I'll pick this up and elaborate a bit if I may...
The stock CTS speaker ain't much for bass, and any originals that I've heard (including the stock speaker that I own) are pretty stiff sounding and lacking in bass... Replacing the stock speaker with a decent guitar speaker like the
Tone Tubby San Rafael or an
Eminence Patriot 'Red White & Blues' transforms the Musicmaster into a different amp altogether! Great for guitar or harp, sounding better the louder you go... Definitely giggable for either instrument. For a long while, mine was the de-facto 'spare' in my roots rock band and saved more than one gig when someone else's amp had issues... It also takes effects pedals
very well...
With the speaker replaced, it becomes a reasonable 'coffee-house' bass rig, as long as you don't ask too much of it. Mine currently has the Eminence Patriot as it was a better sounding 'all around' speaker to my ears than the Tone Tubby and works better for bass IMO/IME... The cabinet's open-back design is a limiting factor in bass response. I built a temporary back that covered more, and while the bass response improved, the tone suffered when used with guitar or harp... The stock back is now in place.
I have wired an output jack on mine and have used it with various traditional bass cabs... Don't laugh, but coupled with a TL-606, (see photo), I can get a surprising amount of volume and tone that totally belies it's 12 watt output rating! The 'head' portion of the amp is a low-wattage, no-joke tube amp that sounds surprisingly good for bass (with an efficient cab) and grinds like nobody's business
I've toyed with the notion of making a 'head-box' and using it with an efficient cab for smaller gigs... It does 'overdrive' tone at a sane volume...
As for it's being a 'cheapo', that's part of the beauty! Look at what Fender Champs are going for these days! To me, the Musicmaster is in the same desirability camp for guitar and harp tone-wise, with the addition of being a moderately usable bass amp as well... Versatility rocks
-robert
