Magnatone Twilighter Stereo | Amp Overview and a Mythical(?) Fault

Uploaded a third time due to a technical glitch the first time and some editing derps the second.

[@Bat21bravo]

My friend Obeid Khan is MAGNATONE Lead Design Engineer. My old local tech Chris Villani is MAGNATONE Production Manager. Both these guys worked for SLM / Crate / Ampeg back in the day. MAGNATONE owner Ted Kornblum used to own above mentioned companies. Its a St. Louis thing. Personally for $4500 id rather a 60's or 70's JMP Marshall. Obeid is a bonafide genius and hellava guitar player.

[@Burgschall]

Everytime I see and hear one these Magnatones I am baffled by the quality of the build and the sound. The "new" Magnatone did real great with the old Magnatone Heritage and even improved the reputation. Nice to see one of these beauties here...

[@zachsmith3376]

The great slide/songwriter Jason Isbell plays through one of these. Aside; he attended Memphis University.

[@wesleymorris1]

That's a beautiful modern build right there, I prefer turret, just easier to work on, but they definitely did a good job on that. I don't like the preamps on the board, but it probably saves room. One time I got a box of faulty fuses, they just kept blowing, I tested everything I could think of, everything was kosher, it ended up being bad fuses, I hooked them up with alligator clips, I could literally watch them blow. Very strange.

[@IamMusicNerd]

Magnatones are just fantastic. Some of the best sounding clean tone amps I have heard in years.

[@watkinscopicat]

these just look so damn cool

[@barkeater9606]

I bought the Super 15 about 4 years ago and it’s a great amp. It is extremely loud for a 15 watt amp. A friend of mine really liked it and has borrowed it a few times for gigs. I priced one yesterday for him and they have gone up $600 in just 4 years! I don’t think it is worth the money now. I will try to find him a used one. 👍

[@phillipalcorn9104]

Great to get to get a peek inside a new amp and good to know Magnatone is building their amps well. I hope you find a way to dig into more new amps. Build quality, proper design, and execution needs to become a more important part of presenting and selling an amp. Keep their feet to the fire, Lyle!

[@yorktown7395]

Brilliant always. Thank you.

[@weschilton]

Oh this is great! I have been really intrigued by these amps, so its great to see one on your bench to get your thoughts!

[@peterdadswell7998]

Ive been thinking about getting one of these as my amp to see me out. Great to hear your comments on this one Lyle. Your a hard taskmaster but fair and you dont mind calling out crap but you always pay credit where its due. Love the vids and the educarion you impart on us.

[@jerryking2418]

Very informative review. Anxious to hear it play.

[@tjminasi1442]

Liked this video very much, and enjoyed the seemingly fair opinion of build quality and why it is liked for what it is, and where it is in the market (value).

[@sgt.grinch3299]

I will keep this amp in mind for the future. Thank you.

[@tobiasryan8378]

We missed you Lyle, glad you're back :)

[@dangitdan9938]

I really like Magnatone amps. Esthetically and tone.

[@donciseau]

Very educational video!

[@psymetal]

I had a vintage ss magnatone about 15y ago that sounded awesome. Had a great reverb as well. It was well made

[@SunTzuBean]

This amp looks great! I had a similar issue with one of my 1971 Bassman amps that I've heavily modded. I found an unmarked fuse in the amp. I replaced it with a proper 2 amp slo blow. Come to find out, the ones that I just bought are also marked the same exact way as the fuse that I found in the amp. Anyway, I test it at full volume for a while and the volume dips. I check the fuse and it had blown. I investigated, tested again, and STILL didn't find anything wrong with the amp. I figured the fuse was bad. I still haven't had any issues.

[@matthewf1979]

It looks good to me! The varistor project was years long, if I recall. Definitely look like WGS speakers to me. They probably are a custom build but close the the G12 family.