Vintage Magnatone Integrity

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Groovy Tunes
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Vintage Magnatone Integrity

Post by Groovy Tunes » Sun Apr 30, 2017 6:50 pm

How well do these old Magnatone amps hold up? I love the sound of them but they look delicate and I'd want to gig one a few times. Just wondering how well they are built and what your opinions on them are. I'd like to know if they are worth the price they are pulling these days. On reverb.com they are currently going for $1200-$1800 for an all original one in good condition.

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HH1978
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Re: Vintage Magnatone Integrity

Post by HH1978 » Tue Sep 12, 2017 3:23 pm

Hello,

I realize you posted this thread in may, but in case you're still looking for those amps, here's my opinion.

I have two of them. The first one is a 1958 Magnatone 213. Seems very well built, I would not have concern taking it to gigs (I mean no more concern than taking my 1966 vibrolux reverb, which I actually do most of the time). It's also very portable, and loud enough for moderate venues (similar to a Deluxe reverb).
The second one is a 1967 Laub 26r, which is a later licensed 460 (with 7868 power tubes instead of 6l6). It's a more complicated circuit which carries a lot of tubes and old components. It seems also very well built and sounds awesome, but due to its complexity, I wouldn't rely on it as much for gigging.

Soundwise, both are on the warm side. I prefer the 2 varistors vibrato of the 213 vs the 4 varistors version on the 26r, more natural sounding to my ears, but they are close. The 213 breaks up very nicely, the 26r doesn't break up at all.
But the Baxandall tone stack on the 26r is really awesome, while the 213 can be a little too dark with a dark sounding guitar, and it has a wonderful reverb, very different sounding when compared to a typical Blackface's. It's not very loud for 35w, but more efficient speakers would probably be a different story.

1200$ for a 213 seems like a correct price to me, if the amp has been serviced and safety checked. I paid 1000$ for mine in excellent condition and freshly serviced (which I consider a real bargain since I was lucky enough to find it locally in Europe).
Bigger amps are more tricky, so I wouldn't buy an expensive one without trying it. I paid 600$ for the Laub last year. It had been serviced.

Less popular models like the 440 and 450 can sometimes be found for a cheaper price, but I've never tried them.

Hope this helps...

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