Magnatone cousin on my local CL

jp

jp

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2006
Messages
4,872
Reaction score
1,789
Location
Pacific Northwest US
Guild Total
4
For those interested parties, ahem ahem, this Titano amp has been for sale for quite a while here on CL. This one made by Estey (see lineage here). Seller claims it was serviced by a guy in town who's a top notch amp tech (for some pretty well-known bands--he's done bang-up service on my analog synth). This prolly means no worries on functionality and tubes.

Read up here. Luscious true vibrato, upgraded to Webers, and 7591-driven power section. Sounds interesting.
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/msg/854787725.html
 
jp

jp

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2006
Messages
4,872
Reaction score
1,789
Location
Pacific Northwest US
Guild Total
4
For those interested parties, ahem ahem, this Titano amp has been for sale for quite a while here on CL. This one made by Estey (see lineage here). Seller claims it was serviced by a guy in town who's a top notch amp tech (for some pretty well-known bands--he's done bang-up service on my analog synth). This prolly means no worries on functionality and tubes.

Read up here. Luscious true vibrato, upgraded to Webers, and 7591-driven power section. Sounds interesting.
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/msg/854787725.html
 
C

capnjuan

Gone But Not Forgotten
Gone But Not Forgotten
Joined
Nov 29, 2006
Messages
12,952
Reaction score
4
Location
FL
I tells ya it ain't right ... all that nice gear in the PNW with its bad weather and down here, with all the nice weather but bad gear .... could no find a schematic; looked at the Maggie 280A w/ quad 6973s but it's closer to a true stereo amp, didn't see the 'fader' feature, and doesn't have a 6GH8 cousin of the 6GW8 (Guild) and 6BM8 (Gibson, Univox) triode / pentodes. Pics would be nice; priced about at a Maggie M10A.
 
C

capnjuan

Gone But Not Forgotten
Gone But Not Forgotten
Joined
Nov 29, 2006
Messages
12,952
Reaction score
4
Location
FL
I tells ya it ain't right ... all that nice gear in the PNW with its bad weather and down here, with all the nice weather but bad gear .... could no find a schematic; looked at the Maggie 280A w/ quad 6973s but it's closer to a true stereo amp, didn't see the 'fader' feature, and doesn't have a 6GH8 cousin of the 6GW8 (Guild) and 6BM8 (Gibson, Univox) triode / pentodes. Pics would be nice; priced about at a Maggie M10A.
 
M

mad dog

Gone But Not Forgotten
Gone But Not Forgotten
Joined
Feb 1, 2007
Messages
1,269
Reaction score
240
Location
Montclair, NJ
This one I'd grab first, ask questions later. Not sure of how exactly it fits into the Maggie heritage. First off, I don't believe any Maggie used 7591 tubes. In later years, as they licensed designs to other builder and built relabelled stuff themselves, design and production changes became more common. Capnjuan is right. This is cheaper than an M10A, which is a killer amp.

BTW, guessing those 4 power tubes are putting closer to 40-45 wats out.
 
M

mad dog

Gone But Not Forgotten
Gone But Not Forgotten
Joined
Feb 1, 2007
Messages
1,269
Reaction score
240
Location
Montclair, NJ
This one I'd grab first, ask questions later. Not sure of how exactly it fits into the Maggie heritage. First off, I don't believe any Maggie used 7591 tubes. In later years, as they licensed designs to other builder and built relabelled stuff themselves, design and production changes became more common. Capnjuan is right. This is cheaper than an M10A, which is a killer amp.

BTW, guessing those 4 power tubes are putting closer to 40-45 wats out.
 
C

capnjuan

Gone But Not Forgotten
Gone But Not Forgotten
Joined
Nov 29, 2006
Messages
12,952
Reaction score
4
Location
FL
mad dog said:
BTW, guessing those 4 power tubes are putting closer to 40-45 wats out.
Click to expand...
Agree.

The M10A is a 7189A amp but the 7189A has gone the way of the 5879 and the 8417. The pinouts for the 7189A and the EL84 are identical:

7189andEL84.jpg


However, the 7189A is rated for 400V on the plates / 300V on the screens but the EL84 (a/k/a 6BQ5) is rated at 300V on the plates / 300V on the screens. If this amp arrived with 7189As in it, when they went it would need to be converted to EL84s. Doing so would only mean changing one or two resistors but it would also result in a modest drop in total power output but I'll betcha it's a pretty cool amp! CJ
 
C

capnjuan

Gone But Not Forgotten
Gone But Not Forgotten
Joined
Nov 29, 2006
Messages
12,952
Reaction score
4
Location
FL
mad dog said:
BTW, guessing those 4 power tubes are putting closer to 40-45 wats out.
Click to expand...
Agree.

The M10A is a 7189A amp but the 7189A has gone the way of the 5879 and the 8417. The pinouts for the 7189A and the EL84 are identical:

7189andEL84.jpg


However, the 7189A is rated for 400V on the plates / 300V on the screens but the EL84 (a/k/a 6BQ5) is rated at 300V on the plates / 300V on the screens. If this amp arrived with 7189As in it, when they went it would need to be converted to EL84s. Doing so would only mean changing one or two resistors but it would also result in a modest drop in total power output but I'll betcha it's a pretty cool amp! CJ
 
Default

Default

Super Moderator
Platinum Supporting
Joined
Jul 30, 2007
Messages
13,629
Reaction score
3,059
Location
Philly, or thereabouts
Guild Total
11
It's an Audio Guild as discussed a couple of times in the passed. The guy that designed this amp was a wheel in Magnatone. Matsickma had one and wasn't impressed, but with my liking for oddball amps, I would pick this one up if I had the scratch.

Even if 7591's drop off the face of the earth again, it's a question of moving two wires per output socket to convert it to 6l6s or 6v6s. You just have to rebias the tubes afterwards. Normally, it's a case of subbing double the ohm-age of the cathode resistor.
 
Default

Default

Super Moderator
Platinum Supporting
Joined
Jul 30, 2007
Messages
13,629
Reaction score
3,059
Location
Philly, or thereabouts
Guild Total
11
It's an Audio Guild as discussed a couple of times in the passed. The guy that designed this amp was a wheel in Magnatone. Matsickma had one and wasn't impressed, but with my liking for oddball amps, I would pick this one up if I had the scratch.

Even if 7591's drop off the face of the earth again, it's a question of moving two wires per output socket to convert it to 6l6s or 6v6s. You just have to rebias the tubes afterwards. Normally, it's a case of subbing double the ohm-age of the cathode resistor.
 
jp

jp

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2006
Messages
4,872
Reaction score
1,789
Location
Pacific Northwest US
Guild Total
4
capnjuan said:
I tells ya it ain't right ... all that nice gear in the PNW with its bad weather and down here, with all the nice weather but bad gear .... could no find a schematic; looked at the Maggie 280A w/ quad 6973s but it's closer to a true stereo amp, didn't see the 'fader' feature, and doesn't have a 6GH8 cousin of the 6GW8 (Guild) and 6BM8 (Gibson, Univox) triode / pentodes. Pics would be nice; priced about at a Maggie M10A.
Click to expand...
Yup, it's gear overload all the time here. Lots of poor struggling muscians always swapping gear. Looked for the elusive schematic as well, but no dice. The Magnatone heritage map is more confusing than Hollywood family tree. Either way, it's a tempting package that I think is worth the cash, especially in turn-key condition.
 
jp

jp

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2006
Messages
4,872
Reaction score
1,789
Location
Pacific Northwest US
Guild Total
4
capnjuan said:
I tells ya it ain't right ... all that nice gear in the PNW with its bad weather and down here, with all the nice weather but bad gear .... could no find a schematic; looked at the Maggie 280A w/ quad 6973s but it's closer to a true stereo amp, didn't see the 'fader' feature, and doesn't have a 6GH8 cousin of the 6GW8 (Guild) and 6BM8 (Gibson, Univox) triode / pentodes. Pics would be nice; priced about at a Maggie M10A.
Click to expand...
Yup, it's gear overload all the time here. Lots of poor struggling muscians always swapping gear. Looked for the elusive schematic as well, but no dice. The Magnatone heritage map is more confusing than Hollywood family tree. Either way, it's a tempting package that I think is worth the cash, especially in turn-key condition.
 
C

capnjuan

Gone But Not Forgotten
Gone But Not Forgotten
Joined
Nov 29, 2006
Messages
12,952
Reaction score
4
Location
FL
Hi JP; this thread Audio Guild contains pics of what locksmith said was his late 60s Audio Guild 4X7591 amp; from his description, seems like it might be pretty similar .... ah ... the siren song of AAS ... good luck! CJ
 
C

capnjuan

Gone But Not Forgotten
Gone But Not Forgotten
Joined
Nov 29, 2006
Messages
12,952
Reaction score
4
Location
FL
Hi JP; this thread Audio Guild contains pics of what locksmith said was his late 60s Audio Guild 4X7591 amp; from his description, seems like it might be pretty similar .... ah ... the siren song of AAS ... good luck! CJ
 
jp

jp

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2006
Messages
4,872
Reaction score
1,789
Location
Pacific Northwest US
Guild Total
4
Seems like the Panoramic has an identical setup to the Titano, as well as the caboose shot with transformers and tubes in the same place too. I wouldn't be surprised if the schematics work for both. It seems like a pretty complicated design for which most Maggies are well-known. Brian must have been tearing his hair out with it 'cuz he's a fan minimal design. Wish I had the cash flow to throw at it.

Lemme know if someone's interested.
 
jp

jp

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2006
Messages
4,872
Reaction score
1,789
Location
Pacific Northwest US
Guild Total
4
Seems like the Panoramic has an identical setup to the Titano, as well as the caboose shot with transformers and tubes in the same place too. I wouldn't be surprised if the schematics work for both. It seems like a pretty complicated design for which most Maggies are well-known. Brian must have been tearing his hair out with it 'cuz he's a fan minimal design. Wish I had the cash flow to throw at it.

Lemme know if someone's interested.
 
C

capnjuan

Gone But Not Forgotten
Gone But Not Forgotten
Joined
Nov 29, 2006
Messages
12,952
Reaction score
4
Location
FL
Hi JP: This is a link to the Hoffman Amps tech board and a thread discussing Magnatones and the M10A. The thread is an interesting-enough read but the first post contains links to a gent's pics of his M10A including frightening guts shots ... not for the faint of heart ... point-to-point wiring on steroids.

The linked pic page also contains this link to Mr. Donald Bonham's patented Varistor-Driven Vibrato Circuit showing a 'bridge having non-linear impedance elements' ... whew! Between reading the thread and picking at the patent doc, apparently the Maggie vibrato is based on phase-shifting as opposed to true pitch-bending for which it is usually given credit .... although to the ear, the distinction is close to meaningless. There will no quiz on Mr. Bonham's patent app. :wink:
 
C

capnjuan

Gone But Not Forgotten
Gone But Not Forgotten
Joined
Nov 29, 2006
Messages
12,952
Reaction score
4
Location
FL
Hi JP: This is a link to the Hoffman Amps tech board and a thread discussing Magnatones and the M10A. The thread is an interesting-enough read but the first post contains links to a gent's pics of his M10A including frightening guts shots ... not for the faint of heart ... point-to-point wiring on steroids.

The linked pic page also contains this link to Mr. Donald Bonham's patented Varistor-Driven Vibrato Circuit showing a 'bridge having non-linear impedance elements' ... whew! Between reading the thread and picking at the patent doc, apparently the Maggie vibrato is based on phase-shifting as opposed to true pitch-bending for which it is usually given credit .... although to the ear, the distinction is close to meaningless. There will no quiz on Mr. Bonham's patent app. :wink:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top