How Rare Are MusicMan Amps

[Odinbass]

Guitar Center's online used section is pretty good for amps. A lot of private sellers either don't list or won't ship amps online due to the size and cost. Guitar Center will do it. Of course, a saved search on Reverb doesn't hurt either. You never know.

Specific to EBMM I'll say good luck. I had an EBMM Audiophile 2x10 cab and looked high and low for the HD-500 head to match, no dice. There are other Music Man bass amps but they seem to only be available in Europe and not widely.

 

[JimB52]

I had the Audiophile HD 2x10 and 2x12 cabs for quite a while. Sounded really good with a Marshall DBS 7200 or Sunn 300T head.
Cabs were very heavy - 2x10 was 60+ lbs and the 2x12 was 107lbs. I lusted after the HD 500 head. Finally got one, but resold it in a few months. Too clean for me.
I think there was also a 6x10 cab made.

 

[Ostie]

Over 40 years playing and I've seen several MM guitar amps, but never a bass amp. A good friend had a HD130.

 

[Bunk McNulty]

Early 1980's MusicMan HD150…
View attachment 4880319
I've had this amp for many years and it still performs flawlessly. The hybrid design is different from most since it has a Solid State preamp and a tube power section. If you like loud and clean it delivers nicely. They do run at high voltage but so far the tubes seem to be holding up just fine. You can find them on Reverb every now and then.

1981 Music Man HD150 *Serviced Tube Amp Guitar/Bass Amp Head | Reverb

I lugged one of these around for years. Then somewhere...probably here!...I heard about Class D amps. A friend basically took me by the ear into a store where I played through a Genz-Benz Shuttle 6.0 and ended up taking it home.

 

[nixdad]

I can't help with the information, but certainly do own an exceptionally rare B100 combo - white pinwale with the optional EV speaker:
View attachment 4880134

Correcting myself: It's a 115B-120 EVM combo.

Weight?

About 50/55 lbs.

 

[tombowlus]

Here is a picture of my MM Audiophile rig back from one of the "Bowlus Bass Borg" GTGs in the mid-2000's (the "short hair days"). Still have that rig (HD-500 head, HD-210 and HD-212 cabs), and tonally, it still holds up well against some really great gear in my "collective."

Shout-out to fellow TBer and the man with the best sounding hands I have heard, Vision!

 

[burgerdj]

I demoed an Audiophile HD-500 probably about 10 years ago. It was pretty sweet, but more than I needed - also a pretty large form factor.

The Audiophile cabinets were really nice but heavy as an elephant. Was told by the salesman that the cabinets were developed in cooperation with B&C and Markbass. Not sure if that checks out or not.

 

[tombowlus]

I demoed an Audiophile HD-500 probably about 10 years ago. It was pretty sweet, but more than I needed - also a pretty large form factor.

The Audiophile cabinets were really nice but heavy as an elephant. Was told by the salesman that the cabinets were developed in cooperation with B&C and Markbass. Not sure if that checks out or not.

I believe that is correct regarding the cabs, and yes, they are some heavy mo-fo's!

 

[MIMike]

I had a late 70's HD130 with a 1x15, EV loaded cab.
It was a nice amp, but the cab was a little "boxy" in tone.
I think this was back in the day of designing a cab and throwing a speaker in it, rather than taking a speaker and designing a cabinet around it.
I never really tried to get the amp to drive very hard. At the time I was just looking for the cleanest tone I could. It worked OK for that.

I don't think they are particularly hard to find, especially based on their production volumes.
The relaunch of that Audiophile series were pretty short lived if I recall.

 

[Bruce Felgen]

My main head for almost 20 years was a Music Man HD-130! 1 12Ax7A preamp tube and 4 EL34 's, it easily put out 100 plus watts. (I still have it, but I usually use my Quiter Class D/light weight) Great amps, you have to look in the classifieds, Ebay or Reverb to find one

 

[Jari Kurri]

I had the HD-500 and the 210 and 212 cabs. The head was nice but too clean-sounding for my taste at the time, and I didn't have a need for the two channels. I ended up selling it and moving on to a SVT. I recall hearing somewhere that yes, it was designed with input from Markbass before they had launched their line in the US.

The cabs sounded awesome but were really heavy.

 

[Old Fart]

I have never been more impressed, overall, with any guitarist's rig than when I was in a band with "Frank" who rocked a MM 112 combo. Foot switch for reverb and distort. Two output tubes, which did not need to be biased at replacement. This thing was quite small. Smaller than any reasonable suitcase. Perhaps the size of a lady's makeup case. Open back, where cords could be stored. One 12" speaker is all a guitarist needs for nearly any nightclub. And the lower power allowed Frank to get the tube overdrive tone everybody wants on certain songs. His clean tone was to die for. On top of all that, Frank was a pretty good guitarist and a nice guy. Some of his solos were sublime.

 

[StayLow]

I had the HD-500 and the 210 and 212 cabs. The head was nice but too clean-sounding for my taste at the time, and I didn't have a need for the two channels. I ended up selling it and moving on to a SVT. I recall hearing somewhere that yes, it was designed with input from Markbass before they had launched their line in the US.

The cabs sounded awesome but were really heavy.

HD-500 was totally designed & built by MarkBass. I think it was their last effort before changing the world with the LMII.

HD-500 has no resemblance to what anyone would typically think of as "MarkBass" however. Yes, it was a quite sterile amp and the tube did virtually nothing. I'd bet fewer than 100 made it into the wild.

Those cabs, also by MarkBass, made up for it, and sold much better and eventually were blown out for a couple hundred dollars each for an Ernie Ball charity project, but anything sounds great through those cabs. Big and heavy though, but not out of sync with standard gear of the time, back when shipping was dirt cheap and just at the cusp of neo cabs coming to market so very unfortunate timing.

There was a 2x10, 2x12, and IIRC a 4x10 in that Mark-made "Audiophile" series from the aughts.

Don't let the ridiculous "Audiophile" branding or sterility of the HD-500 head steer you away from these cabs if you get a chance to try them though. They hit as hard & heavy as their robust back-busting build. Maybe some of the best cabs of that gear era?

 

[Bruce Felgen]

Over 40 years playing and I've seen several MM guitar amps, but never a bass amp. A good friend had a HD130.

I bought a HD 130 Bass head in 1980/81. My main head for 20years...

 

[Jari Kurri]

HD-500 was totally designed & built by MarkBass. I think it was their last effort before changing the world with the LMII.

HD-500 has no resemblance to what anyone would typically think of as "MarkBass" however. Yes, it was a quite sterile amp and the tube did virtually nothing. I'd bet fewer than 100 made it into the wild.

Those cabs, also by MarkBass, made up for it, and sold much better and eventually were blown out for a couple hundred dollars each for an Ernie Ball charity project, but anything sounds great through those cabs. Big and heavy though, but not out of sync with standard gear of the time, back when shipping was dirt cheap and just at the cusp of neo cabs coming to market so very unfortunate timing.

There was a 2x10, 2x12, and IIRC a 4x10.

Heh, that jogs my memory a bit - I tried changing out the preamp tube to dirty up the sound a bit and it didn't have much of an effect. And I think I bought the cabs during that blowout since EBMM was selling them for cheap. I didn't mind schlepping heavy cabs around as a younger person back in 2004, but even then I thought these were too much of a bear.

 

[matty1039]

Off topic, but related: I think back in the day the country band Alabama was sponsored by, or endorsed, Music Man guitars and amps based on the video below. That's a whole lots of Music Man stuff.



If Leo was working for them at the time it makes sense. He was as country music kind of guy.

(Don't judge. My older sister was obsessed with them in the 80s and they were the music of my childhood.)

 

[J-Bassomatic]

Early 1980's MusicMan HD150…
View attachment 4880319
I've had this amp for many years and it still performs flawlessly. The hybrid design is different from most since it has a Solid State preamp and a tube power section. If you like loud and clean it delivers nicely. They do run at high voltage but so far the tubes seem to be holding up just fine. You can find them on Reverb every now and then.

1981 Music Man HD150 *Serviced Tube Amp Guitar/Bass Amp Head | Reverb

Do they sound as Fender-ish as they look?

 

[Gizmot]

I owned an HD130 (which I bought for use with keyboard and guitar) back in 1977. I bought the amp because I got an attractive deal on it and it was pitched as Leo Fender's next generation. I paired it with one of the MusicMan 2 x 12 cabinets.

I never thought the setup sounded very good and its output was wimpy relative to its rated power.

I didn't even keep it for a year!

 

[TN WOODMAN]

They were recently, but they were made by MM back in the day. Once saw Johnny Winter use two 100w MM amps in a 1000 seat club and to this day it was the loudest show I ever saw, even louder than Kiss in 76.

Jimmy I was thinking the same thing. I saw JW about a dozen times but the 1st time I think in '86 and that show is up there in sheer stage volume level. We were right in front close to the stage and not only loud but bright/treble boosted and loud.

All this to conclude with , not only one of the loudest but also one of the best shows I've witnessed. Sorry to derail, back to the original
question.

 

[GBassNorth]

Do they sound as Fender-ish as they look?

I've never played bass thru any of the Fender amps so I can't help you there.

I will say the HD150 head is plenty loud. I used it in place of my Ampeg 300 SVT VR when I didn't want to lug the extra weight around. Running through my Bergantino NV610 it was mind numbing loud with tons of punch and clarity. All the bottom end you'd ever want or need, not muddy or distorted normally. However, there are a few things you can do with the pre and power controls to get a bit of tube break up at reasonable volumes. I've not tried the MM bass cabs so no idea how well it works with those.

At $600 or under for a clean fully functioning HD150 or the next size down (I think that might be a HD130) you can't go wrong. Just be sure it's the Bass head and not the Guitar head. The guitar head has reverb and might not be voiced right for a bass.