7/24/2023 0 Comments Fender musicmaster![]() ![]() It's even stamped Pedro in the pocket and features the '72 date as well. The neck on this one is home base for me - a medium-slim, round-C profile topped with a steeply-radiused fretboard. I do like the feel of the "little offset" body shape, though, and its 24" scale (in this case) neck. The cat's out of the bag, though - good guitars always increase in value and when you pick up any old vintage Fender and you pop the pickguard to check them out, you can see that they're quality products from the outset - with metal plates for shielding in all of the cavities, tidily-wired harnesses, and higher-spec parts used throughout. ![]() We can play the, "I remember when these only cost." all day long because of that. Musicmasters are a gateway drug into vintage Fenders, for sure. While tweed Champs and blackface Princetons are commanding prices of over a grand on Ebay, you can grab the little Musicmaster Bass for around $250, and those with the energy and desire to take on a search could very well turn one up in a pawn shop or used music shop for less.Musicmasters are a peculiar guitar - just a DuoSonic without a bridge pickup - and DuoSonics are already just a Mustang without a whammy. It should be noted here that, as is often the case, what is good for a guitar is also good for harp, and the Musicmaster Bass amp really shines with the sounds of a little tin sandwich being pumped into it through a decent microphone. If cranked, the clean becomes a fabulous dirty crunch with plenty of room to be heard in a smaller combo situation. The amp can provide excellent clean tones at lower volumes. Many players prefer to swap out the CTS speaker for something more to their liking, but the stock piece still delivers decent sound and is desired by some. Nothing fancy here, but it delivers in the sound department. ![]() There is a simple slider on/off switch, one knob for volume, one for tone. Laid out simply, the amp produces twelve watts with either 6v6 or 6aq5 preamp tubes. The Musicmaster Bass amp is a great way to get good tone from an honest vintage Fender tube amp without needing to take out a bank loan. Gradually the news spread that the Musicmaster Bass, while doing little for bass amplification, could flat scorch with a guitar, a situation which was something of a mirror of Fender’s initial bass amp offering, the Bassman. Somewhere along the line, however, a guitarist was hard up for something to power his six string, and a guitar got plugged into one of these things. Created as a practice amplifier for bedroom work, the amp really doesn’t do much at all for bass, with many bassists feeling that above 4 on the volume knob there really just isn’t much to it. One particular piece of equipment that illustrates this point well is Fender’s Musicmaster Bass amplifier. As is often the case, those low-dollar pieces of past years that got passed over so readily have become items of value to players these days. In the 70s Fender produced a line of budget music gear under the “Musicmaster” name. Looking for real vintage tube gear but not blessed with unlimited funds? There may not be a free tweed Champ or blackface Super Reverb sitting on ever corner, but there are still deals to be had straight from Leo himself. ![]()
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