I was under the impression he was using a RD Fifty 112….the 50 watter.

Hi Brian,

You are correct.  It is the 50 watt model I neglected to post that.

Ah… I misunderstood what you were saying. That was my mistake. I thought you meant the amp was a 200 watter, when you clearly meant that the EV speaker was a 200 watter.

awesome. i’ve been wondering what amp chris cain uses ever since i first heard him back in the early 90’s. i used to have a little marshall combo - 25/50 1-12 jubilee series and an old yamaha 175 copy that could nail his warm and woody tone. there was no reverb, just straight in and dry, and it took me right into that tone zone, with just a little edge and lots of lovely bark. sadly i sold both those bits of gear, now have a gibson 335 into numerous amps over the years, but have never been able to get that exact sweeet tone like before.  :(

now i know to keep my ear to the ground for an old musicman 50. should’ve known chris cain would play the workingman’s special. it’s so him.

ps. in case this sounds arrogant like ‘you get the gear you get the tone’ let me humbly point out that we’re talking straight tone, not chops. i could get my rig to sound like cc, but getting to play like him is another matter all together.

how cool is it to find this site eh!! feels like home already. cheers. 

Chris has turned me on to Musicman amps in a HUGE way.
I have two of them. The RD50 112 combo w/ the EV in it as well as an RD50 head. It’s the size of a toaster! haha
These are almost ALWAYS the rigs I use. Best amp ever made in my opinion. PERIOD.

Man, I’d love to have a Music Man Fifty RD 112! I’ve been yearning for one for the longest time. I saw Chris Cain in Pittsburgh some time ago…he was using the amp, and I remember being impressed with the tone he was getting and noticed there was nothing in the “chain.” He was plugged straight into the amp. Well, at that time, I had just purchased a Dr. Z, and was was low on funds….Now, mind you, I’m perfectly happy with the Z….It’s a great amp. But, I’d still like to get an RD 112. Shortly thereafter, the prices of these amps started to climb on ebay. I’m certain Chris Cain has something to do with it! Anyway, I haven’t seen a decent one “come around the bend” for less than $600 bucks. I’ve even noticed the white ones go for much more. Recently, one went for $820! That’s outta my budget.

I have two Music Man RD112 fifty watters with EV EVM 12L speakers. One is done in the original white pinwale corduroy, and the other is in black tolex. They are outstanding amps that will give you the tone Chris Cain has made famous.

Here’s a link to a picture of my amp.

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii74/mrdownchild/MMRD112White.jpg

A cool sidenote…the black amp (My amp tech is doing a cap job…I’ll post a picture as soon as I get it back.) has a EV EVM12L speaker in it that was purchased from Buddy Whittington. He’s currently a Bluesbreaker with John Mayall. Man, the guy is a scary guitarist too!

I’m still loving the RD 112 Music Man amp. They more I play with it, the more I love it. What makes it even nicer, is the weight. It’s a relatively light amp when compared to other 50 watters.

I know Chris doesn’t use the reverb, but on his MUSIC MAN 112RD 50 does he use the master gain channel (says limter on face plate near switch) or clean channel?  Bright or normal switch?  Thanks.
Stevie

When I saw Chris in San Diego at Humphrey’s sometime in 2001 or 2002 I noticed he had the same amp as me except that the little men logo was taken off. If memory serves me right it’s the one with the limiter switch. One of the Delgado Brothers was there. He’s a friend of Chris. He told me Chris uses the regular channel on full volume. That’s it. I can attest that it WAS loud.

I asked Chris about his settings and he said he puts his volume and master both on 3

Juice, That makes sense to me. Delgado told me that Chris had the EVM speaker in his amp. I had one in my MM RD-50 too but I took it out last year because it was too heavy. When I would gig with the EVM in it I only needed to play with the volume on 2 on the clean channel and it was plenty loud. As I said, I took the EVM out last year and put the original Music Man speaker in. It had been sitting in a box for over 25 years. The amp is now lighter, but the MM speaker is much less efficient. I wonder if there is a lightweight neo speaker that comes close to the EVM’s sound and efficiency?

I modded an amp for Richard Lunetta in Corona CA. He is friends with Chris Cain and Richard recorded Chris playing through the amp that I modded. Chris uses a RD-50 that is a pre Mid Shift version and Chris apparently was not aware of the Mid Shift being Engaged on the amp at the time. Since that time I have refined my mods and keep coming up with new and better mods voiced for my clients needs. I have more clips of the RD-50 coming soon for those interested. From what I understand Chris’ amp is a early 80’s with Clean/Limiter not the later model with the Mid Shift, he was using Groove tubes GE reissue 6L6GE #6? a EVM12L speaker and sets the Gain at 3, Bass 0, Treble 10, and Volume 3-...
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