| Author | Message | ||
     Daniel Westrick (lord_preset) Username: lord_preset Registered: 10-2011 |
So I've been reading that a) the early tube splitter models were subject to a rare catastrophic failure mode that caused MusicMan to abandon that design and retrofit man amps; and b) the early versions sound better. I've owned a MM in the past and played a few others over the years but it's hard for me to evaluate this. I'm in the market for an HD 130 or 150 combo and many of the ones I've seen for sale are basically stock and in need of cap jobs at a minimum so comparing tone between them is hard until they are properly serviced. So my question is: What if any difference in tone will I notice between a tube vs SS phase splitter amp? Should I care? | ||
| Mike Kaus (mm210) Username: mm210 Registered: 05-2006 |
I've had both. There is a minimal amount of difference between the two with the tube driver winning slightly. The only time you REALLY notice it is if you use the amps ability to run the channel high and the master low for it's own distortion. THe tube wins here. If you use rack mount effects and drive/distortion or a pedal board with effects on it, I doubt if you'd notice the difference. I've used my tube driven 2-10 65 for years, although not constanly and it's NEVER gone up in smoke. Still has the first set of JJ E34L's in it that I put in probably 6 years ago. I just bias them a little on the cool side. | ||
| Daniel Westrick (lord_preset) Username: lord_preset Registered: 10-2011 |
Thanks. That's good to know. I don't plan to drive the preamp hard - I have pedals for distortion. I used to have a 112 RD50 that had fairly usable OD on the limiter channel but the other MM models are a different thing altogether. |