Of course 5v pilot lights are an andyfromdenver trademark. I'm picky about extra wires so the redundant 5v leads bother me. We go from too little voltage to too much. That's what Fender did in the Princeton Reverb. Sure, you could swap in a Champ transformer.
When jonrpick showed up with his empty chassis I searched the dungeon for a more useful PT. That's a switch! Usually everyone else copies Fender. for 6AQ5s but wimpy for 6V6s.īTW, the whole thing is a rip of an obscure mid- '60s Gibson amp. It's something like 240-0-240 70ma (or so) yielding 290v at the first filter and on the plates. The power transformer is the weakest link on the MMB. Heck, I have an old Hammond organ in storage with 6AQ5s between all the black keys! I'm not kiddin'! O.k., there may be a few 12AX7s between some of the keys. Point is I have a set of Hewlett-Packard labeled 6005 tubes perfect for a MusicMaster Bass amp. My "Probably Never" stash is 100 miles away. My "Someday" stash is right down the cellar. I wish I'd heard about this before the last time I was rummaging around the stash I have in deep storage. 6AQ5s and 6V6s act exactly the same at the same voltage. Methinks a pair of spent 6AQ5 tubes are primarily responsible for the behavior of your MMB.
Other moral, maybe the 6v6 version is better.? If you must drill, make it look like you did it at the factory I guess. I'm pretty proud of my no drill holes for the recap, and single hole for a fuse. I'll point out what's been done for reference. Moral of the story, anyone else have a similar experience? I also know guys like to tweak this in the MMB Mafia thread, I would gladly go extreme if it were what was wanted (changing tone stack, adding a tube (another rabbit hole for sure) and loosing the transformer. Leaving it alone as it seems like a rabbit hole of tweaks and I don't want to waste time. I decided to put the input cap (.005) back in and it's much better. Tried the same on the 6aq5 version (scheme pics attached) and it sounds soooo bad and bright/harsh/brittle (the power tubes are not matched well either). Still wasn't so shrill (without the input lowpass) that I wanted to die. Then an increased capacitance cathode bypass on the 1st triode, maybe second too. 005 cap on the inputs and wire it Fender style w a 1meg on the jacks and loose the 470k. Currently, the coil tap (middle position) of the switch isn't working (it's still parallel in that mode) and I think it's likely due to the switch being a #2 variant of an on-on-on switch rather than the kind that I thought it was.This is the third MMB I have recapped and maintained. With the switch in "parallel" mode, I get a bit more of the original single coil flavor or something approximating a short scale J-bass vibe. While the original pickups have a cool tone (as they're Mustang pickups), I like the tone of Mustang basses more (with their mini-P-bass pickups) and so the pickup switch to "series" mode gives me that almost-P-bass thump.
The original parts I don't care for on a bass - the pickup, wiring harness, and 2-saddle bridge design - got replaced, however, with a Strat-sized double-blade Alnico-magnet humbucker, volume control, and series/parallel/coil tap switch. It did come to me, however, with completely original bits.
FENDER MUSICMASTER BASS UPGRADE
Suffice to say - my "lunch break" was spent readying this for service as I'd already ordered the parts I needed to upgrade it.Ĭlearly, this bass has seen a lot of abuse - there's moisture damage, tons of nicks and dings, heat damage, and the original Daphne Blue finish has turned into a splotchy, avocado green with a matchingly-faded "white" pickguard that's now a dusty vanilla-tan. A week later, and it was delivered this afternoon. I spied this one on fleaBay in Florida and its absolutely beat, tired, faded, and holy guacamole character grabbed my attention. After trading my "upgraded" Musicmaster bass to a friend of mine, I was on the hunt for another short scale bass and - after destroying my mind trying to figure out what to get - I decided to get another Musicmaster! I can't help it.