So, Magnatone designers on acid?

[drewl]

....or just really whacked on weed?

Got an M15, needs a bit of work but she'll live.
But man what crazy construction.
Most of the problems look to be from pulling the top out, bent shorted components and terminal strips.

Sorted all that out and it's screaming about 30 watts per channel.
Tremolo even works.
Using old EL84's for testing.
Had to swap pin 6 to pin 9 on two left output sockets since it originally uses 7189's.

They were missing as well as the 6GW8's which drive the separate reverb output trans.

So I need to find a pair of those.

This model has the 3 8" speakers and a pair of 3" speakers.

Must have been some good drugs those guys were taking.

[Leo_Gnardo]

But man what crazy construction. - - - - Must have been some good drugs those guys were taking.

"Dare to be different" must have been Mag's motto. I take it this is not one of the modern day models. Yes the oldie but goodie Mags look like an explosion in a spaghetti factory inside, with a batch of tinker toys mixed in. A couple of dog bone mystery modules to make that special vibrato you don't get any other way - mojo to the max!

[The Dude]

Yep. That true stereo vibrato is the coolest.

[drewl]

I know I did one of these years ago, but it was an easy fix.

I have a database with all repairs for reference.

A quick look through my oddball tube stash and no 6GW8's.
Bandmate gave me a box of weird tubes from his dad who used to be a TV repairman.
It has served me well over the years, but not today.

[nevetslab]

Magnatone M15 Restoration

Yes, indeed! Their stereo vibrato was totally cool. A client of mine came upon one that was in really bad shape, missing one of the frame castings, damage to the fiberglass top, but the rest was intact. Took some clues from a boat builder with working with boat resin & fiberglass cloth to restore the top, our building maintenance man is a master welder, and fabricated a similar internal frame like the casting, and the rest was the normal slow-but-steady restoration work. Great sounding amp!!

[The Dude]

Nice resto work nevetslab!

[52 Bill]

That one has three channels, 2 for the stereo vibrato and a third channel just for the reverb.

The stereo effect is really great when there are speakers plugged into the extension jacks and the speakers are placed far apart.

[drewl]

This has that, that's what the 6GW8's are for.

[drewl]

Surprisingly the owner had the 6GW8's and they actually work!
Some of the original preamp tubes he has do not, and instead of supplying me with the original 7189's that he has he gave me a mixed quad of EL84's which suck.

Anyway, the vibrato and reverb sound incredible!

I'll have to transfer some pix I took of the insane wiring so I can post them.
Insane.