Vintage Magnatone 460 amp with reverb & vibrato - 1962 - $1,800 (Lacombe)

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This is the best of the great Magnatone brown amps. Why? The stereo 280 and 480 have two rather anemic amps under the hood in order to have the vibrato slosh between the two 12” speakers. You only hear the effect if you stick your head in front of it, and it’s not particularly amazing. The 260 and 460 both have a single robust (2 X 6L6) circuit which is fundamentally much better sounding and muscular. The 260 lacks the gorgeous reverb of the 460, which is at least as good as a Fender, implemented over two years before Leo got around to making any reverb amps.

The vibrato effect is very distinctive too, totally different from Fender’s “harmonic tremolo” which they incorporated into some of the brownface early 60’s amps - it really bends the pitch.

Unfortunately Magnatone went for some pretty lame Oxford speakers in their amps, but this one has two of the best guitar amp speakers of the era: JBL D123, and Altec 417! The only drawback is that it’s freaking heavy! The speakers alone are worth at least $500.

It has all good healthy American tubes installed.

I installed a multiple box inside which allows you to drive external speakers with the internal ones either on or off, or you can drive the Altec and JBL with another amp.

The amp was just serviced today. I love it, but at my age it’s become too heavy to handle. Scotty Moore and many other players have loved this model - now it’s your turn

post id: 7893514430

posted: 2025-11-04 16:43

updated: 2026-01-12 14:55

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Vintage Magnatone 460 amp with reverb & vibrato - 1962 - musical...