Magnatone Maestro M-212-8B 1952 with 2-12" Blue Jensen Speakers Faun with Brown Alligator

Reluctantly selling my very rare Magnatone Maestro made in 1952. Here is the original description from the seller I originally bought it from who fully restored it. It’s currently working and sounding beautiful. It’s been kept in a humidity and temperature controlled studio for the last 3 years. It’s been powered up and played regularly.

Original description:

“Well here's your opportunity to own a truly rare and unique 1952 made in California Duhamell / MacKenzie Era Magnatone. I have had this amplifier in my personal collection for almost 30 years and during that time I have kept my eyes open for others and have only seen one other on the internet, however with no original speakers. I believe these were probably made to compete against Fender's Tweed Twin amp of the same period. Who knows maybe they only produced a few just to show that they had a competitive offering at a trade show, but they probably proved too costly to reproduce in number. The cabinet is almost the exact same dimensions as the Twin with the exception of the Magnatone being about 2 inches deeper. The similarities to the Twin continue in that the power section of the Magnatone is comprised of (2) original RCA 5Y3 rectifiers and (2) Tung-Sol branded for GE Brown base 5881 output tubes from the 60's set up in cathode bias mode just like the twin. The amplifier also uses a novel approach with a brain section up top Tethered to the power section in the bottom of the amplifier via 3 cables. The power and output Transformers are very beefy and the whole bottom power supply unit is painted in an original hammer tone champagne pink which is rather stunning. The amplifier also has both of its original Blue Jensen P12R alnico 5 speakers they even have their original cones (same speakers as used in the twin). This is a No-Frills amplifier, pure tone! Two volume controls a bass and a treble control and that's it. The (4) tubes in the brain section are (2) 12AX7A and (2) 12AU7A RCA. I have been a vintage amp service tech with 30-plus years of experience and I have performed a fairly in-depth thoughtful electrical restoration of the amp consisting of replacing drifted value carbon composition resistors as needed, replacing the original electrolytic filter capacitors with axial F&T's underneath to preserve the Vintage look on top. The original coupling caps in front of the output tubes were leaking DC and were replaced with 1960's vintage Ajax Blue molded paper caps. The two potentiometers for the volume controls needed to be replaced as The Originals were of such a design that they were not able to be adequately cleaned and lubricated for Reliable service. All removed parts will be bagged and included with the amp. These amps are so rare that there is no known official schematic available. An attempt has been made by an enterprising technician to attempt to document this amplifier and it is available on the magnatoneamps site. I used it as a roadmap but there are some discrepancies in it from this amplifier and it will be included with markups and my hand written notes along with some in circuit voltage measurements. The amplifier has a beautiful tone through the instrument Channel and grinds when pushed. The amplifier is probably rated at about 25 watts just like the Tweed twin. I don't think you'd have any issues with putting pedals in front of it. The microphone channel is a bit underwhelming but the instrument Channel more than makes up for it. I'm not telling you you'll never have to change another part in this amplifier but it's stable and reasonably quiet for an amp of this design and a lot of work has already been put into it to this point. See the photos for a shot of the underside of the power section and the inside of the brain.”

Cosmetically the cabinet is all original solid wood Construction sporting a beautiful two tone fawn colored Center section with alligator skin outside panels separated by a white piping strip which is a very nice vintage look. Grill cloth is beige colored and original. It even has a super cool solid Walnut gigantic carrying handle. The control panel is quite festive with red and green lights and a simulated burled Walnut appearance and white saucer knobs finish it off!

In the end what it is is a rare and historical amplifier and you probably will never see another of and if you do, it probably won't be this original. Like a poor man's Twin and save yourself $12K in the process