NGD 1967/68 Magnatone Firestar Reverb 150R IT'S DONE! PICS!!
Moderated By: mods
IT'S DONE!!!! I guess they finally found a website that sold the schematic for $5....go figure. I now have a pdf copy of this for future reference.
Bad news:
-There was an absence of certain components in the vibrato circuit....so that part of it is currently bypassed unfortunately. At least I have the schematic so if I decide to tinker with it after a while or have someone else do it I can make an attempt at restoring it. My guess is something broke and the original owner didn't fix it the right way.
-This thing is really not loud. Wattage is unknown but if I had to guess I'd say maybe 30 watts solid state if not 25....no way to be sure. It might be loud enough to keep up with a quiet drummer or a quiet kit. Most likely could be mic'd on stage, but considering it's bigger and just as heavy as my Fender Twin, I'd be better off bringing that or my Hilgen.
Good news:
-It sounds fucking amazing. Doesn't hum unless reverb is on and even then it's quiet. CLEAN..... warm as all hell for jazzy leads, and has a great vintage bite in the "bright" position or with the treble pickup...lets just say I'm going to have to learn some Buddy Holly licks when I make a demo video soon. Even though the sound competes with some of the best vintage amps I've played there is a missing "tube" dimension....it's easy enough to compensate for and is mostly in my head. Truth be told it sounds excellent.
-It's finally done and I now know exactly what I bought 5 months ago....I'd say for probably the worlds' coolest practice amp, the total investment of $140 was well spent.
Bad news:
-There was an absence of certain components in the vibrato circuit....so that part of it is currently bypassed unfortunately. At least I have the schematic so if I decide to tinker with it after a while or have someone else do it I can make an attempt at restoring it. My guess is something broke and the original owner didn't fix it the right way.
-This thing is really not loud. Wattage is unknown but if I had to guess I'd say maybe 30 watts solid state if not 25....no way to be sure. It might be loud enough to keep up with a quiet drummer or a quiet kit. Most likely could be mic'd on stage, but considering it's bigger and just as heavy as my Fender Twin, I'd be better off bringing that or my Hilgen.
Good news:
-It sounds fucking amazing. Doesn't hum unless reverb is on and even then it's quiet. CLEAN..... warm as all hell for jazzy leads, and has a great vintage bite in the "bright" position or with the treble pickup...lets just say I'm going to have to learn some Buddy Holly licks when I make a demo video soon. Even though the sound competes with some of the best vintage amps I've played there is a missing "tube" dimension....it's easy enough to compensate for and is mostly in my head. Truth be told it sounds excellent.
-It's finally done and I now know exactly what I bought 5 months ago....I'd say for probably the worlds' coolest practice amp, the total investment of $140 was well spent.
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hotrodperlmutter
- crescent fresh
- Posts: 16665
- Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 10:29 pm
- Location: Overland Park, KS, USA
-
hotrodperlmutter
- crescent fresh
- Posts: 16665
- Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 10:29 pm
- Location: Overland Park, KS, USA
right, my point is that shit should be fucking loud as hell. if not from the guitar SONDS then from the fucking 50 year old buzzing sparking shit inside.
if it is super quiet (which nick admitted to not pushing her to 11 just yet), then i would fear something is not right.
if it is super quiet (which nick admitted to not pushing her to 11 just yet), then i would fear something is not right.
dots wrote:fuck that guy in his bunkhole.
I don't think there's anything wrong with it....it's not THAT quiet, but I do know what you're talking about. Truth is when Solid State was getting big in the late 60s there were quite a few big amps that just were not that loud by today's standards (see vox). Don't get me wrong, if cranked it's "too loud for the living room". I remember having the same fear about my Hilgen not being loud enough when I bought that and it worked out fine. I think I got spoiled (and maybe a little deaf) having a silverface Twin with 100 watts of clean tube power at my disposal.hotrodperlmutter wrote:right, my point is that shit should be fucking loud as hell. if not from the guitar SONDS then from the fucking 50 year old buzzing sparking shit inside.
if it is super quiet (which nick admitted to not pushing her to 11 just yet), then i would fear something is not right.
There is no 11 on this thing by the way....The volume pots are this reverse audio taper...it goes up to 10 at like 3-4 and then stays at 10 all the way up to 10. It does this on both channels and the eq controls react the same way so I'm pretty sure they're stock parts.
It could be worse....it could be loud as hell but sound like shit
I just looked it over and on the back on the bottom where the power switch is conveniently located there are two 1/4" jacks that have "see caution" written under them. The caution note on the sticker warns that you should only connect these outputs to certain models of Magnatone POWERED SPEAKERS.
So from what I'm getting from that, this amp is probably meant to be used as is for practice and light gigs (at least back in the 60s when drummers didn't play too loud), and if you needed loud you would plug it into a proprietary PA system
Here's info on one of the recommended speakers
http://www.vibroworld.com/magnatone/PAS150.html
Gee no wonder these things were so popular
So from what I'm getting from that, this amp is probably meant to be used as is for practice and light gigs (at least back in the 60s when drummers didn't play too loud), and if you needed loud you would plug it into a proprietary PA system
Here's info on one of the recommended speakers
http://www.vibroworld.com/magnatone/PAS150.html
Gee no wonder these things were so popular