Product: Magnatone 441
Price Paid: US $199 used
Submitted
05/14/2000
at
06:43pm
by
Matt Helmke
Email: helmke<at>primenet dot com
Features
:
2
This amp was made in 1965 according to a date stamped inside the chassis. It is intended for Bass and is incredibly feature-free. It has 1 volume, 1 tone, an anti-hum switch, power switch, standby switch, and 2 inputs--high and low gain. It has 2 EL-84's, a 12AX7 and a 12AU7. Finally, it has a Jensen ceramic magnet 15" speaker. I bought it to use as a practice amp for bass (I'm really a guitar player, but I've picked up bass for recording and fun) and some recording.
Sound Quality
:
10
GREAT tone! I bought the amp from the other reviewer and did a small amount of work on it. The speaker was DOA when shipped to me so the former owenr reconed it--and it was done well. I have replaced all the caps and added a grounded power cord in place of the original 2 prong cord of death. I have tried the amp with my guitar and bass and I just can't get a bad sound out of it! It doesn't have much in the way of distortion, but gives a tight, powerful bass tone and a great jazz guitar tone as well.
Reliability
:
10
There's not much to fail inside since the amp is so simple. I might carry a spare set of tubes along, but since the speaker was just reconed and I replaced the caps and inspected everything else, I don't anticipate any problems for many, many years. All point-to-point wired...
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
They just don't exist anymore...
Overall Rating
:
10
I bought this amp because it was cheap, well built, and point-to-point wired. I have a habit of tinkering with and modifying my amps, and since this is neither collectable nor expensive, I figured it would be a good match for me. Really I just wanted to be able to practice bass without plugging in to a guitar amp and risking blowing the speakers. I love the sound and the simplicity and would gladly buy it again.
Product: Magnatone 441
Price Paid: US $95 used
Submitted
03/06/1999
at
07:20pm
by
Anonymous
Features
:
2
Mid sixties bass/guitar combo amp with about 20 watts of power and a 15" Jensen C15P speaker. Schematic inside cabinet. Has a plethora of features - a volume knob, a tone knob and a hum switch. even has a power switch too! Treble and Bass knobs would have helped a lot - the one knob for "tone" works when you crank it up to high and use the tone knob on your guitar/bass in conjuction with it.
Sound Quality
:
6
Running a P-Bass through it now. Sounds nice and warm. Great for a round tone. Smooth distortion for bass - no squeaks, chirps or intermodulation mess. Haven't really cranked it up with a guitar yet - bet it distorts nicely. Probably would suck reallly bad for deathmetal sounds or Country. Basically your only tone control is a feeble atempt at high frequency attenuation and the other "sound" is totally dependent on volume - distortion sets in gradually.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
Bought it broken. Looked at schematic. Found wires in schematic that appeared to have never been soldered in place - added them and the amp worked fine. Designed for 7189A tubes, which are a beefed-up higher voltage 6BQ5/EL84, but it came with the 6BQ5's - the amp puts about 100 volts more on the plates than recommended for that tube but it hasn't fried yet. Still looking for cheap 7189's.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
MagnaWHO? Mang-a-tone? Hello?
Overall Rating
:
8
Makes a great home amp for bass. no earth-shattering lows but what do you expect? Good fat warm smooth tone. Not that heavy so easily tossed about. I'd buy another one no problem. Expect to pick up a working one for under $200, so long as it has the working original jensen otherwise it should be around $125 or less (Jan 1999 prices)
