We have a '74 Musicmaster Bass Amplifier for sale.
Introduced in 1970, these amps were targeted towards the budget gear market, along with the Musicmaster Bass guitar which was introduced at the same time. As it turns out they weren't much of a bass amp, but they really shine as a guitar amplifier and are popular with the blues crowd. With 12 watts RMS of output power, the amp offers up excellent clean tones. When cranked, it crunches nicely.
The circuit on this model is unique in that Fender used a center tapped transformer as the phase inverter for the output duet (as opposed to the normal tube inverter circuit on their other amps up to this time.) This method is more expensive, and not what you would expect to see on a typical budget amp.
Tube-wise, there were two versions of the amp. The early version used a pair of 6AQ5s in the output section, the later version used 6V6s. This amp is the 6AQ5/EL84 version. The simple preamp uses both sides of a single 12AX7 for 2 stages of gain. Controls are 1 volume, and 1 tone.
Condition wise, this specific amp is is decent shape. Hardware is all there, with some minor patina and corrosion. The faceplate shows a lot of worming. The vinyl is in surprising shape, with a little scuffing in a few spots and no tears. The grill cloth is fine. The original 12" speaker was no good and has been replaced with a blue-label Fender branded speaker from the era. The output transformer looks to be a replacement (there's no stamped numbers.) The power and phase inverter transformers look to be right.
Current tube compliment:
RCA 7455 Twin Diode Preamp
(1) RCA 6AQ5A & (1) unknown brand 6AQ5A
Don't let the simplicity of this amp fool you. It's is a great player for blues and traditional rock, going from clean to crunch with a turn of your guitar's volume knob. It's loud enough for practice and small gigs, and won't break your back (weighing in at 24.2 lbs.)
We have 2 other Muscimaster family listings as well if you are looking, the 6V6 version of the amp and a Musicmaster Bass.
