Garth wrote: Tue Aug 05, 2025 4:57 pm Third, I eked a few extra years out of mine by bypassing the fried preamp section and running a (not kidding) METAL ZONE as a preamp directly into the power amp input. I'm not at all kidding when I say it sounded completely decent/not bad.

HOLY SHIT!

Garth wrote: Tue Aug 05, 2025 4:57 pm
Second, they are AWFUL in terms of reliability! Mine took a shit on me and apparently they were a bad design that was SO bad that Fender washed their hands of them and refused to service them...as did my tech for that matter. I can only imagine how unreliable they are 30 years on. I'd love to hear any actual knowledge anyone might have about this series.

I worked on one of these (or something similar from the red knob series) when I lived in Montana. The board-mount pots were notorious for breaking solder joints over time, and the solder quality was questionable at best, so I just ended up reflowing every joint on the 3 or 4 boards to get it working again.

Man, I don't want to jinx myself because I haven't used it in a while (having "graduated" to cheap tube amps like a Kalamazoo Bass 30 and Bogen Challenger), but I have a red knob Power Chorus that's still completely functional. At least as of last year. The chorus is definitely wet as hell & brings me right back to the M-80 Chorus my buddy had in high school.

BOSS should award FM Garth a "best use of an MT-2" statuette.

I originally got the Power Chorus for the keyboard player (mistake, should have gone straight to the Peavey KB300 I eventually found for him) but it stuck around and kept working, so I haven't binned it yet. I even bought a pair of TRS - 2 TS Y-cables so I could use the stereo FX loop.

Some metal guys swear by a Metal Zone in the effects loops.

I was in the office yesterday, poking around forgotten corners, looking for potential gear to try out or that might end up in e-waste.
No cool, small power amps.
However, I did find a Fender Frontman 25 combo. I thought it might be nice as a bench amp or quick "plug and chug" practice amp. Nope. Holy crap. That was a total, hot garbage amp. Three thumbs down.

benadrian wrote: Tue Aug 05, 2025 5:01 pm

Garth wrote: Tue Aug 05, 2025 4:57 pm Third, I eked a few extra years out of mine by bypassing the fried preamp section and running a (not kidding) METAL ZONE as a preamp directly into the power amp input. I'm not at all kidding when I say it sounded completely decent/not bad.

HOLY SHIT!

Does this qualify as borken?

I was given one of these weird things. Rosac Nu Amp II, made by Mosrite. It has germanium transistors, and can be boosted like a tube amp.

https://offerup.com/item/detail/31600a9 ... 0a1864d5b6

Krev wrote: Fri Feb 27, 2026 12:38 pm I was given one of these weird things. Rosac Nu Amp II, made by Mosrite. It has germanium transistors, and can be boosted like a tube amp.

https://offerup.com/item/detail/31600a9 ... 0a1864d5b6

Somehow that is both cool and gross at the same time.

Krev wrote: Fri Feb 27, 2026 12:38 pm I was given one of these weird things. Rosac Nu Amp II, made by Mosrite. It has germanium transistors, and can be boosted like a tube amp.

https://offerup.com/item/detail/31600a9 ... 0a1864d5b6

If it has a three prong plug you're going going to want to convert it back to 2 prong to make it 'original' and preserve the collector's value

benadrian wrote: Fri Feb 27, 2026 1:27 pm

Krev wrote: Fri Feb 27, 2026 12:38 pm I was given one of these weird things. Rosac Nu Amp II, made by Mosrite. It has germanium transistors, and can be boosted like a tube amp.

https://offerup.com/item/detail/31600a9 ... 0a1864d5b6

Somehow that is both cool and gross at the same time.

That also describes its tone well. It's still two prong.