Magnatone MP-3

1965-66 per Zach's site.
I'm a 53 year old geezer just learning to play. Bought this at a garage sale about 10 years ago for $20 - I have no complaints at all.
Everyone else mentioned all the tech stuff, so I won't repeat. Mine was and is in great condition. with lots of neat Knobs to play with.
I like a lot of stuff - but am learning the quieter Rock stuff, Hotel California - The Rain Song etc.. I play very quietly (I don't want anyone else to hear), but this amp is very clear at low volumes as well. My reverb doesn't seem to work at all, but everything else is mint.

I have 2 guitars - a 1980's Fender Squire and a 1960's Silvertone ($10 at a garage sale - another great buy).
I find it interesting that the On/off switch has the following positions - Off- Standby- Hum1 - Hum2. and yes it does Hum on both settings. Only Kidding - I do get hum, but I think that is mostly due to my sitting to close to the amp while playing.
I also have a Digitech RP80 effects processor, and the amp sounds great through all the 40 presets

I bought this used when it was 30 years old, I've had it for 10 years and it still works well with all original parts. How can you rate anything 40 years old and still working less than a 10 for reliability.

Found Zach's site so I'm good to go, if anything ever does go wrong.
Mine still has the schematic pasted inside - That's thinking ahead!

As a rank amatuer, I would not be able to afford a new amp of this quality. The features a beginner would want in an amp that this doesn't have can be achieved using effects pedals or processors.

Mid 60's25-30 watt two channels with reverb on both and standard ( not pitch shifting trem on the other) Verb has a master tone and level function-nice. Amp has original ceramic Jensens ( C 12) 12" speakers -sounds huge.

Great with both singles and humuckers-extremely versatile but especially good straight in with some volume so the amp sings-Octaves are clear and fat-sounds like a Matchless DC 30 on the top

I bought this cheap but had to do some repairs Point to point so it should be serviceable forever

Repairs were a snap and ZACK engineering is awesome in sending out info and schematics

A lot of years and a lot of amps- I saw this reviewed here and it got such high marks I grabbed one-get it original if you can- a bit bigger but not as heavy as a twin- KIller sounds for Blues Rock and Countryas well as Jazz

Manufactured in 1965 extremely versatile 2 channels with verb on both no efx loop or switching all tube point to point with EL34 tubes. enough headroom to really get the goods! Tremolo is standard fenderlike- not the cool pitch shifting type. Plenty loud for gigs, gets nice and bluesy and has a nice rich tone for jazz work. 2-12" Jensen ceramics- standard

It all comes down to tone- a friend who works with many guitarists who play boutiqu amps commented that he never heard a better anp-Matchless or other. This amp is very robust sounding- I put a Mesa Vtwin in front of it and look out!!!

Was busted when I bought it but it seems very well made all of the tubes are readily available, so I see no prblem there

I have tons of amps including the coveted blackface super reverb and bandmaster a nice old vox and others - this amp is the stuff- by definition it would be a boutique amp if sold today-point to point etc. Others may be as good, but I haven;t had better- I wish I could rate this higher!

This is an old school amp, and is well suited for the time it was made. Comparing features to today's options is futile.

I got this amp in a trade that involved giving up a Plexi Marshall Major Head. The Magnatone posessed the qualities (Full tone) I liked in the Marshall, and it had a little more "Spank". I play a modified Tele.. I have a Gretsch Filtertron in the neck position, Van Zant "Vintage" Tele PU in the bridge. The Magnatone brings out the best of the guitar!

My amp was dropped from 15 feet! The cabnet has seen better days, but, I turned it on to see if it still worked after that, and left it on for 5 days! The lights broke after the fall. It's still rockin!

N/A

This amp walks the line between a totally clean, spanky Fender Twin and a balls out Marshall! I use either an OLD RAT or TS-9 for distortion, and this amp responds well to both. I have a '63 Bassman head, and I like the Magnatone better!

Made most likely in 1966. 35 watts. It has a power cutting switch labeled normal/record. Probably cuts it by half. 2 channels(normal, tremolo) with high & low inputs. 2x12 Jensens. Has an external speaker jack with a dimmer control. 2X EL34, 2X 12DW7, 4X 12AX7. The tremolo sucks. It's not the same as the classic Magnatone trem that you always hear about. Has reverb that now has been working most of the time. The reverb is set up in a fairly unique manner in that each channel has an independent reverb mix(vol.) control. The reverb itself also has a master mix(gain) control along with a tone control. I play punk, surf, 50s & 60s country, jazz, rockabilly, some metal. This amp pretty well suits about everything. It's got enough power for me. If it weren't for the awful tremolo it would have gotten a 10 here.

I use a hardtail Jap 50s strat reissue, a Cortez ES-175 copy, a Dillion Moserite Ventures model copy, & a pair of 6 & 12-string Fender Coronados. It pretty well suits the styles I listed above. As the previous review stated it can be similar to a Matchless and can be Fender-like. It pretty well stays clean all the way up. The reverb's tone control is incredible. Other manufacturers should learn from these. Set to 8(highest number on the knobs) it has a bright Fenderish sound. Turned between 4&1 it has a very unique dark sounding echo. I never use the crappy tremolo. The tremolo is my only complaint, but for only paying $22.50 for it I'm not comlaining very much. On brighter settings the amp can be a little hissy but not terribly so.

I have recapped all of the electrolytics. It was humming a little when I got it. I replaced all of the tubes. One of the speakers had a hotwheel through the cone. That speaker has been replaced but kept in case I get the urge to get it reconed. It smoked on me twice within a period of about 1 1/2 months. Both times the fixes were simple & very cheap. It's been about 7 months since that now & it's been behaving for me. It's probably fine, but since those times I've been leary of not having a backup accessable.

Magnatone is no more.

I've been playing for between 4-5years. I've got a pair of 60s era epiphone amps. One's an EA-50T. The other's an EA-32RVT. Both of them using single 10"s. Also the guitars listed above. It's a unique enough amp and probably had a short enough production time that tracking another one down if it were lost or stolen would be difficult. If it were I would probably try to track down a vintage Standel. I like everything except the crap tremolo. As I said earlier the reverb setup is very unique. I chose this one because it was in an auction where most of the other people were more interested in the office furniture & I picked it up for $22.50. I've never seen anything like it. Extremely versatile. The only thing I wish it had would be the original footswitches. One of the most unique amps I've run across. I nice alternative from all of the normal Fenders, Marshalls & Peaveys.

It has 2 channels with a high and low input on each. The First is clean, and the second is a Tremelo Channel. It also has spring reverb, that doesn't work so well. It doesn't have a form of overdrive, but that's its only minus. External speaker jack, I'm guessing about 40 or 50 type-A(I think) tube watts.

I Use an Ocsar Schmidt Spirit with a humbucker and 2 single coils. I play Rock, and it sounds awesome with my Vox Distortion Booster, It's louder than my friends Marshall half-stack. It has a very rich tube sound, with 6 12AX7-Type preamp tubes, and 2 EL34 output tubes. It has the original Jensen speakers, and they are most rockin'.

I can depend on it, it hasn't broke down since I've had it, plus, just in case I have and extra output tube in the back of it. I would use it with-out a back up! The reverb barely works, but it was like that when I bought it. (It is also a bout 25 years old).

No warrenty, it's 25 years old, and the company, I think, went out of business. But since the store I bought it from has parts and Tubes for it, I'm sure I could fix it easily.

I would defitely buy it again, (if I could find another one) it's totally awesome, great tube tone, loud, pretty cool lookin', and the best amp you'll EVER find for the price!! It sounds a lot like a Matchless amp, which are fairly spendy. I only wish it had distortion, but since I got a good pedal, it's the perfect amp for me