My bass player left an amp for me to try, a late '50s Magnatone 460 Stereo Vibrato amp. It has 4 speakers, 2x12" and 2x small ovals which I haven't yet measured. It has true vibrato and with another cab hooked up the vibrato is in stereo! As the pitch goes up on the amp, it goes down on the extension cab and vice versa. It is sort of like a chorus but way cooler. Damn thing looks a little beat up and has some missing knobs but functions perfectly. It is very similar to Buddy Holly's amp featured in a recent edition of Vintage Guitar Magazine.

Nice! The lonnie mack/robert ward sound. Those oval speakers should be 5x7 according to this-

http://www.vibroworld.com/magnatone/460.html

enjoy

I'll take it!

Weren't the 400 series the first slightly redesigned Estey versions? Holly had a 280, when it was still Magna Electronics.

Holly may be over-associated with Magnatone. He definitely had one, but wasn't that just supposed to be the last 6 months or so, and he didn't tour or perform with it(?) I had heard a Fender tweed Pro was his main performing amp.

I just got one this weekend, it's labeled "DaVinci High Fidelity" model D60.

Best that I can tell it's EXACTLY THE SAME as a Maggie 460, except with original unlabled Jensen c12r speakers instead of oxfarts. Which is odd because all the online research shows these amps with 12K5's, but these jensens have the right date codes and certainly look original to the amp. Guess I got lucky and they were out of oxfords that day, or perhaps DaVinci accordians spec'd it that way.

Here's some pics from my garage:

The Birdman says, "Holly may be over-associated with Magnatone. He definitely had one, but wasn't that just supposed to be the last 6 months or so, and he didn't tour or perform with it(?) I had heard a Fender tweed Pro was his main performing amp".

Yessir, the Pro was his main recording and performance amplifier, until Buddy got a Bassman for live work. The Pro was then used as a studio amp. For the last tour, Tommy Allsup used his Fender connections to get a pair of new Stratocasters and two Twin amplifiers for Buddy and himself to use. I don't believe Buddy ever played the Magnatone on stage or in recordings other than the second batch of Apartment Tapes (1st to 9th January 1959). For this batch the Stratocaster and Magnatone amp were used. Note how all these songs are cover versions- Holly demoed his new original compositions in December with the Gibson acoustic.

Here's the instrumental piece which has become known as 'Buddy's Guitar'. It's vibrato-tastic-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdnCuKuxzYw

I think the amplifier choice was a final flourish of Buddy's enthusiasm for Bo Diddley's sound. 'Not Fade Away' has the Bo beat, he covered 'Bo Diddley' and on this final batch of recordings Buddy performs 'Love is Strange', co-written by Bo (allegedly, but Bo certainly had a version out).

It's entirely probable we would have heard a lot more of the Magnatone with Buddy on the other end of the cable as he forged a new sound for the new decade. Whether you consider it to be an ironic twist or not, the Jack Hansen overdubs with Don Arnone's magical lead guitar breaks absolutely reek of Magnatone-style Vibrato. Exhibit B, 'Peggy Sue Got Married'-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adi7Jx43nUg

Very nice, Mr 54 Club. Love the little booklet with the modern styling.

That's a cool lookin amp!

Its a cool sounding amp too with another cab hooked up. Wild! The player most associated with Magnatone is Lonnie Mack.

Here's the back. Some control knobs missing. Don't think the knobs are original anyway. Does anyone know what the original knobs looked like?

Cover off.

Left vibrato control is original, The 3 or 4 knobs all the way to the left are original.

No source for replacements though.

Well they are similar to Sears home stereo knobs.

Here's the back. Some control knobs missing. Don't think the knobs are original anyway. Does anyone know what the original knobs looked like? -- '54 Club

Pretty sure those knobs With the gold insert are orig. they are identical to the knobs on mine.

A Magnatone 460 isn't stereo vibrato. The giveaway is that there's only one output transformer. The 280, 480 and some higher model M series are the only stereo models.

Yes, mono output, but it does have stereo accordian input. At least that's how my 460A is set up.

It's an easy mix up since the amp says stereo right on it.

actually you can jumper the input channels of any magnatone amp and get that same efffect. it's very useful for brightening up but vibrato channel

The other guy most associated with Magnatone is not as well known. The late Robert Ward.

If the 460 is like the 260, you don't need to jumper channels. They're interactive without it. Full volume, or just short of it, on the normal channel boosted volume on the vibrato channel. It worked no better jumpered.

MD

Neither of my 260 amps I have work that way. Nor my 280 or M10. My 413 amps do, though. The 260 seems to take on an auto-wah sound to the vibrato that way too

http://www.youtube.com/watc...