Magnatone Super Fifty-Nine circuit

[ZehQuait]

Hi! Has anybody looked inside a Magnatone Super Fifty-Nine? I like the overdriven tone of the amp (from what I can hear on YouTube) and I'm trying to figure out if it's based on a classic circuit (like a Marshall Superlead?) or something else? Based on the manual it has 3 gain stages for each channel and a common master volume, so it looks like it's not just a clone of a Marshall Plexi... Apparently no schematics can be found and the only internal picture I found is located here:

http://www.proguitar.de/ProGuitar.de/Su ... ine.html#4

Any ideas? Thanks guys!

[M Fowler]

I downloaded the these photos when it first hit that web site noted above and read the manual. It is Magnatone circuit with master added in my opinion not copy of anything else. It would be my go to amp if it had reverb built in

Mark

[johnnyreece]

I assume the blue things are the new varistors?

[teemuk]

It is Magnatone circuit with master added in my opinion not copy of anything else.

Do you know or assume?

As far as I can see there are references of using the original Magnatone pitch-shifting vibrato circuitry but other than that I don't see any remarks about reissuing old Magnatone designs.

The "British voiced master volume design" and "developed in conjunction with Billy F. Gibbons" remarks don't really fit a description of a vintage Magnatone.

Are these "real" Magnatone reissues or akin to Gretsch amp reissues built by Victoria Amps, which were nothing like the original amps being reissued but recycled Fender designs, entirely different from the original Gretsch amps that were supposed to be reissued... These are designed by former SLM/LOUD (Crate and Ampeg) designers. Can we expect a Crate or Ampeg design that simply features a pitch-shifting vibrato effect ripped from old Magnatone amps? Didn't Billy Gibbons actually like those Crate amps...?

[M Fowler]

Well I read the features and from what I'm reading it took classic vibrato circuit and Magnatone added their own circuit which happens to be british voiced tone stack and master volume.

FEATURES

The Super Fifty-Nine brings classic
Magnatone into the modern day.
Developed in conjunction with
Billy F. Gibbons.

4 bridgeable inputs, 2 volumes;
normal and vibrato.

British voiced master volume design
with treble, middle, bass, and presence.

Tremolo is available in both channels.

The classic Magnatone pitch-shifting vibrato is
employed on the “vibrato” channel only.

Expression pedal to control the speed of the effect.

[ZehQuait]

I've tried to make the internal picture bigger and was trying to get a better idea of what's going on... considering V1 is "first gain stage - normal and vibrato", v2 is "second gain stage - normal and vibrato" and v4 is "third gain stage" it appears to use:
- 1st gain stage (normal): 220k plate, 2k7 + small bypass cap cathode, small coupling cap, then a treble peaking circuit going to the volume pot;
- 1st gain stage (vibrato) 100k plate, 2k7 + small bypass cap cathode and small coupling cap, then a treble peaking circuit going to the volume pot;
- 2nd gain stage (normal) 220k + small bypass cap at plate, 1k5 (no bypass cap) at cathode, somewhat "bigger" coupling cap than v1;
- 2nd gain stage (vibrato) 220k at plate, 1k5 + electrolytic bypass cap at cathode, somewhat "bigger" coupling cap than v1;

From there it gets difficult for me to see what's happening there, maybe someone here recognize these values as part of any known design? Perhaps teemuk got a point... since (supposedly) Billy Gibbons played Crate amps (V50?) could the Magnatone be a modified version of one of those amps?

[VintageCharlie]

Maybe someone has more info on these these days? From what i understand there was the MKI, MKII and now the M-80 that supposedly combines the tones of both in one amp, but without the GZ34 rectifier.
Mainly, just as the original poster, i am just wondering if it is more or less based on some of the classic Marshall amps, which the name Super 59 (1959 Super Lead) seems to imply. Billy Gibbons has some impressive tone on these clips, but funny enough, i don't see any guitar cords patched into the Magnatone heads, which all seem to be on standby. Maybe he is plugged into one of the combos beneath the heads or maybe in something else entirely?