1950s Magnatone 'Mother-of-Toilet' Varsity Amplifier and Lap Steel w/Case

What a great combo! Up for grabs is a Magnatone ‘Mother-of-Toilet’ Varsity amplifier, and matching Lap Steel. The steel was missing two of the tuning machine knobs and they were replaced, and included with the steel is a very cool retro ‘faux-alligator skin’ case—the lid to the case does not attached due to wear on the lid where the hinges attach. The steel is all original in a grey/blue pearloid finish! During the 1930s and into the late1950s, Hawaiian music was very popular and this led to the development of the very first electric guitars.

Magnatone M-197-3-V

These amps were made to be used by guitar, lap steel and Harp players. The Varsity is a 5 watt tube amp with an 8" speakers that gives a truly awesome sound and tone. Great for recording or as a bedroom practice amp. If you are into "Tone" this is the right choice. The sound is somehat similar to a '50s era Fender Champ. Has that clean bright sound but will break up at about half volume.

Beginning in the late 1930s, Magna Electronics produced amplifiers, Hawaiian and steel guitars. In the 1950s and 1960s, they produced vibrato-equipped amplifiers which were used by musicians including Buddy Holly[3] and Lonnie Mack. The 'real' vibrato effect called F.M. Vibrato[4][5] was distinct in sound and design from the more common tremolo circuits found on Fender amplifiers.

Magnatone amplifiers began in the late 1930s as the Dickerson Musical Instrument Company founded by Delbert J. Dickerson in southern California. They made steel guitars and amplifiers designed for that instrument.

In the forties Gaston Fator Guitar Studios in Los Angeles bought the business from Dickerson. Fator owned it for a few years, and then sold it to Art Duhamell around 1946. During the years Fator ran the business, there was little engineering or innovation, he basically continued the product lines Dickerson had established and continued to build amps and guitars for other manufacturers as well.

In the hands of its new owner, Art Duhamell, the amplifier and guitar brand name was changed to Magnatone, and the company name was Magna Electronics Company. Duhamell built Magnatones alongside record players, radios, and speakers. By 1950, Magna expanded from their Jefferson Boulevard, Los Angeles location with three new buildings at 9749 S. Freeman Ave. and employed more than twenty-five employees.