Early in 2010, I obtained this Musicman 112RD Fifty carcass, just for the asking. I really had no idea what it was when I saw it, other than just some Musicman combo amp - but my research has revealed that this might be the coolest thing I've come across in a while. Missing the speaker, knobs and tubes, I wasn't sure what kind of shape the electronics were in, and the amp just looked like an abandoned project when I brought it home. Worst damage was, it LOOKS like the "bass" pot on the "Limiter" channel has either been busted off flush or poked in. Since it's a solid metal shaft and smooth on the end I can see, I'm guessing poked in - probably destroying the pot, maybe damaging a circuit board...

You can see that the upper rear baffle has a crude notch cut out of it, right by the accessory A/C outlet. I cut a little patch out of some plywood, glued it in, I'll have to dig around and see if I don't have a scrap of tolex to improve the look. Notice the original tube chart, stage left...

A little bad news: I pulled the reverb tank, it's a short three-spring model - with a busted spring. After contemplating the break (one end had pulled out of the dingus at the end of it), I decided I couldn't do anything about it, so I just yanked the other end out, and tossed the spring. Maybe it will work with just the two remaining springs. If not, I have another tank I can try. Again, an easy repair if it comes to it. I also had to replace the send and return cables, one was chewed through.

Pulled that chassis out, expecting busted parts, smoke, rust, cobwebs... Oh my! Looks like it just left the factory - except for the fact that it's bent in a bit along the back, right at the primary speaker jack. I fixed that with my strong persuader (also drives nails). On the lower right side of the board in this picture, you can see where it was hand-dated.

As I suspected, the Limiter channel's bass pot had been poked in, popping the pot casing open. Gawd bless Leo, the pots are NOT on a circuit board, they're just mounted through the face of the amp to the front of the chassis, and hand-wired back to the board - so, no "collateral" damage. I unmounted the pot, bent the tabs and reassembled it, and mounted it back up. Everybody got a good dose of DeOxIt.


I Amour-all-ed the cabinet to the max, scrubbed it with a nylon brush, and it came fairly clean.

Time to reassemble...

Here's another thing to love about the way this amp was built: I know we've all been frustrated trying to thread the cabinet/chassis mounting bolts back into those nasty "speed nuts" that almost everyone uses. Not here - they've used LONG bolts (with a pointy end!) that go all the way through the cabinet and chassis, and locking nuts. Couldn't be easier to get this chassis out of, and remount it into, the cabinet.

In the parts drawer, I found two old (mid seventies?) GE 6L6CGs - they have quarter-sized silvery-burnt spots, but I know they work. Just for grins, I selected a JJ ECC83 for the 12ax7 spot. Mounted up the one of the Celestion V12-60 Silver Series speakers.

I eBayed some new Fender amp knobs, and they were a perfect fit. I found it interesting that the Fender knobs go 1 -10, where the original MusicMan knobs start with zero indicated (0-10). New knobs look good, anyway.

Ready to give it a go? I guess so... I crossed my fingers, plugged into a powerstrip with a circuit breaker, and flipped the switch...

Yeeehawww! This little guy sounds GREAT! The reverb STILL sounds pretty good, even short a spring - I guess it just needs to be turned up a bit more than with an "intact" tank.

I can see why everybody raves about the clean channel - nice range of control with the bass and treble knobs, who needs a mid knob? Very sweet with the volume at 4 or so - for some unknown reason, Funk #49 just came riffin' out. Plenty of bottom out of this little guy, which surprised me. I can't find any fault with that low-end Celestion, either, sounds great.

BUT, I can also see why the Limiter channel doesn't appeal to everybody - the first setting I tried (lots of gain) was a little flappy, buzzy, and compressed, but that could be a combination of the ECC83, the low-end Celestion speaker - or that it just needs a little knob tweaking. With just a few minutes of fiddling, I thought I could get a decent enough sound out of it - not great, but OK for da blooze. That is, decent for my ears - but, as always, consider my handle...

Great little amp, whatta find! This may change my whole dream-rig setup...

After a consultation with my tube-guru e-pal Dave Patterson, I swapped the ECC83 out for a 12AY7 - less drive and gain, and the Limiter channel is sounding better and better. Boy, this amp really IS da bomb...

May, 2010: I sent it up to Ed Goforth, who is supposed to be DA MAN for these, for an overhaul/recap and a few mods. Can't wait to get it back. The consensus over on the MusicMan Forum is, after Ed's done, the amp's voice approaches that of a Dumble, and is quite "Robben Ford" -ish... Of course, it will still sound like just ME, playing Robben's rig... but, dang!