Magnatone Varsity - Leilani

[sunvalleylaw]

I just was at a client's house (strat player, in the box blues player with good touch) and watched him play through a Magnatone Varsity Leilani, a tiny little amph that looked like it was made out of a melted down 70's bowling ball. Total MOTS look going on. It had a nice warm tone and sounded great for practicing. I guess they were used for steel guitars? Had a 6V6 power tube. Anyway, wondered if anyone had seen or played through one of these.

Kinda fun to find these old vintage relics of the 20th century and see what they are about.

It looked kinda like the ones here, with something on the grill cloth, but not a palm tree like in the one picture.

http://www.vibroworld.com/magnatone/M-197-3-V.html

 

[tunghaichuan]

I just was at a client's house (strat player, in the box blues player with good touch) and watched him play through a Magnatone Varsity Leilani, a tiny little amph that looked like it was made out of a melted down 70's bowling ball. Total MOTS look going on. It had a nice warm tone and sounded great for practicing. I guess they were used for steel guitars? Had a 6V6 power tube. Anyway, wondered if anyone had seen or played through one of these.

Kinda fun to find these old vintage relics of the 20th century and see what they are about.

It looked kinda like the ones here, with something on the grill cloth, but not a palm tree like in the one picture.

http://www.vibroworld.com/magnatone/M-197-3-V.html

Cool little amp. Low parts count too. I could probably build one in a weekend.

The link above says the Magnatone is similar to the GA-5 Les Paul Jr. and Fender 5C1 Champ amps of the same era. I built a version of the 5C1 using different tubes. Those amps tend to be low gain. They don't break up at all. They are very warm sounding however. They have a different sound from other amps due to the pentode preamp.

 

[msteeln]

Yes, they were produced specifically for steels.

They don't break up at all. They are very warm sounding however. They have a different sound from other amps due to the pentode preamp.

I'd like to test that breakup theory with my hair-making Mag Troubadour steel. It makes amps cry just bringing it in the room. But some amps love it and give a great tone with that extra signal oomph.

Was that a Rola speaker? They go well with steels if you're looking for the old sound.

 

[sumitomo]

That's in the same error as my supro super,I had a Magatone similar to that one and a larger one with the off the wall tubes and the killer vibrato which were removed from a van when I first moved up here.I love my little supro,if I had to keep one amph that would be it.Sumi

 

[FrankenFretter]

I love the way that that amph looks. It does look like something made by Brunswick. I'll bet it would be good for harp, too.