Excellent condition featuring 15 watts Push-Pull Class A, two EL84 power tubes, two 12AX7 preamp tubes, one GZ34 rectifier tube, one Celestion G12 Alnico Cream 12” speaker, top mounted control panel with gold metal control plate and white text, volume, treble and bass controls with white plastic chicken head knobs, two instrument inputs, NFB switch (8 dB boost/cut), external speaker and line out outputs, red jewel light, solid pine finger-jointed cabinet with black faux crocodile Tolex covering, cathedral front grill with silver grill cloth, leather handle and silver Magnatone logo badge.
This 2019 Magnatone Varsity is in excellent cosmetic condition showing some slight signs of play wear throughout. There is one small ding in the Tolex covering on the top of the amp in front of the handle that I have photographed. Otherwise, this amp is exceptionally clean with no rips or tears anywhere. The stock Magnatone branded speaker has been upgraded to a Celestion G12 Alnico Cream speaker that sounds absolutely incredible. This amp is in perfect working order and sounds righteous. This amp is based off of a vintage “Tweed” circuit, but instead of running 6V6s in the power section, this amp utilizes a pair of EL84s. This combination together really makes this amp into something special. This amp sounds great at all volumes and you can definitely hear the tweed circuit that lies at the heart of this thing, but there is quite a bit more shimmering top end. With the volume pushed, this Magnatone saturates into super smooth, glorious overdrive. This Varsity also handles pedals extremely well. This is a perfect grab and go combo that has enough power for a variety of different live applications and would make a tremendous studio amplifier. Magnatone is no longer making these with the cathedral front and, in my opinion, it’s exceptionally cool. If you are searching for an absolutely incredible American made combo amp with a superb speaker upgrade, then I highly recommend this Varsity - It’s top notch.
