DaVinci 2x12 "High Fidelity" amp built by Magnatone (model 260)

Here's one that was intimidating. A true barn find full of dead bugs and mouse faeces.... effing gross!

It was sold to my friend Dave at Sonic Circus for $50 a few years back. We weren't expecting much since it had spent so much time growing uglier due to neglect.

But once I cleaned it up, re-capped it, fixed the tears in the speakers it came back to life. And it has of course a gorgeous voice! I'm not a fan of the stereo Magnatone amps, too complicated, oddball expensive tubes, but these simpler ones are the bomb. It's about 25 watts with 2 6L6 tubes. Nothing expensive or difficult to find tube wise either. Just a 5u4 rectifier, some 12AX7 tubes and a 12AU7.

These 'stencil' amps built by Magnatone for other companies are a real bargain. Not exactly cheap but not what you pay for one labeled Magnatone. See my other post for the Panoramic amp I still have.

This amp is basically a Magnatone 260. It's now making music again at Sonic Circus. Dave has a beautiful Vox AC-30 with the copper panel. With the pitch shifting vibrato in the amp the 2 seem spiritually connected. Though, I prefer the Magnatone amps myself. Straight up Bo Diddley tone! Less noisy than the AC30 too, though, no diss on Vox. Those are amazing too.









Do notice the Celestion 'Guitar Center' model speaker I threw in. Not a bad choice but fortunately I was able to get the original speaker going again!



Bowl o' spaghetti construction:





And there you go! Get out there and try one of these. They have quite a sound! J

1963 PANaramic 1210 amplifier, Magnatone psychedelia!

This amp was gifted to me by a dear friend in Vermont. I just got it running tonight. It's a somewhat rare PANaramic amp built by Magnatone.

These are the "after" photos. I changed the badly stained grill cloth.... Before:

Gross!

This poor amp sat unused for probably more than 2 decades. It was a part of Indigo Studios vast collection of 400 amps. When it came to me it was DOA. Bad power transformer. So I figured I'd replace it and change the filter cap as well, ground it yadda yadda. The usual.

The part I used was from Triode Electronics, their Classic Tone line:

http://triodeelectronics.com/40-18066.html

My concerns were: I don't feel like drilling any holes. Actually, that was my only concern. I just wanted an easy fix today. The original part, dated 1962, has all wires on one end with the end bell right up against the chassis. Fortunately the replacement part gives you plenty of room to run the wires on the other side of the transformer across and put it all through the chassis hole.

What we are replacing:

On the chassis, Magnatone generously gives you these nice, long, oval holes to fit many sizes of transformers, Good for me as the part I ordered was a bit too big.

With parts installed:

With the bigger transformer I get a B+ of 417VDC, perfect. I imagine the original is less, please correct me if you know. The replacement part is the same as a Deluxe Reverb only with upright bells. My main amp is modeled after a Tweed Deluxe and I use the Deluxe Reverb part for extra juice. I've used that amp for a decade now and haven't had any issues. Good tubes last a long, long time.

In this particular amp I was happy to find it was loaded with Telefunken 12AX7 tubes, the smooth plate variety. There was a missing 12AU7 vibrato oscillator which I replaced with a nice RCA. The power tubes were Sylvania, still good, and I dropped in a Westinghouse 5V4 for the rectifier.

I used a C.E. Manufacturing 525V Quad Cap for the can. Makes for a tidy job and worth the expense.


It still retains the original Oxford speaker:

Still good! No need to replace or re-cone.

Other shots:

I know very little about the PANaramic line. These were built to match Robert Pancottis' PanCordian. Yes, it's an amp for the accordian, once an immensely popular instrument like the Hawaiian lap steel. It's similar to their Troubadour model 213 but with a different preamp layout and an odd "stereo" input. It's a mono amp folks, one speaker, one phase inverter, one transformer.

Here's a bit about Magnatone and their wild market:

http://www.magnatoneamps.com/otherbrands.html#davinci

So how does it sound? I ain't gonna lie. I have a thing for Magnatone amps. You can buy one of these for about a grand, sometimes a bit more, sometimes less. It's still a lot of amp for your money. I would gladly pay that much for one. It's lush yet very clear and that true pitch vibrato? Better than Fenders lovely Brown panel era, better than Vox and their true pitch vibrato as well, which is also quite lovely. It's the sound of Bo Diddley, Johnny Cash's guitar sound on "Walk the Line". I believe Magnatone was the first to get this sound. Straight it's just a great tube amp. More 'creamy' than 'crunchy'. More refined I would say.

I don't know yet if it's a keeper, I have a small place and too many amps right now! I don't like things to compete with each other. But if you read my post about the Magantone A-646, that's the best sounding amp I own. So now that's a keeper. Tracked with it all weekend using a Les Paul. Heaven! Better than a tweed Fender that amp is.

Here's a bit of my roommate playing his electric oud through my PANaramic:

And Bo Diddley in my favorite track:

Johnny Cash:

These are beautiful sounding amps. I also like the fact that all the tubes are quite common and easily sourced. The bigger Magnatone amps are a chore to restore though well worth it. These cute little ones for me, they are where it's at. Cute and compact and easy to enjoy.

JB