Magnetic Components Transformers any good?

[oldmanmetal]

I am familiar with Heyboer, Hammond, and of course Mercury Magnetics. I am not familiar with this company. Triode Electronics has some kits with their transformers, and cannot any good info on them.

[Bob-I]

I built a Princeton Reverb using one of their Deluxe output xformers. Sounds great.

[iknowjohnny]

I have a MC PT and OT sitting here in front of me for my new JCM style build. I researched them first and found a lot of good remarks about them and no bad ones. The general consensus was as good as anything out there. American made by a company that has been around for years and designed thier classictone series after the originals. Apparently two rock uses them, so i assume if thier good enough for a high end boutique amp, well, you get it.

It will be a few weeks till i have the amp up and running, but once i do i can evaluate them pretty well because the new amp will be a copy of my old one which i tried both the hammond marshall OT and PT in and then A heyboer OT. any major tonal differences will be from the transformers, tho i won't know how much is the OT and how much is the PT. I can't tell you this much....the PT is heavy as he|| ! Seems like it weighs nearly as much as the entire chassis of my old amp.

Bring this thread back in a few weeks and if i notice it and have the amp running i will post and give u my impressions.

[David Root]

They are excellent and very well priced. They are made the way they used to be made because these guys have been in business since 1943 and they have old tooling (probably 60s rather than 40s). You will find plenty of folks here who use their iron.

Two Rocks have used their iron, I have seen pix of it clearly in their big bucks amps.

They have a Twin OT for ~$60, built like a Schumacher, they look right, they sound right. They make a 100W Marshall JMP OT for $54!

They are $20- $30 cheaper than most, if not all made in USA sources. Marstran no doubt makes a better Marshall OT but not for $54.

[M Fowler]

I have a few sets of Magnet Components transformers as well. Got a four piece Super Reverb set for $159. Now thats a deal.

[oldmanmetal]

Awesome, Their prices are unbelievable, and Triode electronics is about 30 mins away. Any comparison to Mercury Magnetics, they are supposed to be the best of the best. Did not know Two Rock used, that is a surprise.

[Gaz]

Just ordered a few sets myself. Have been using Heyboer, but like many needed to try them just because of the price point. I will report back too - I'm using them in a Plexi styled amp.

[Andy Le Blanc]

They're prices are realistic, It doesn't take much to wind a transformer.
once you have the tools, everything else is consumer ignorance.

[Gaz]

They're prices are realistic, It doesn't take much to wind a transformer.
once you have the tools, everything else is consumer ignorance.

I agree, and I think they do a pretty good job explaining that on their site - that they just do things more efficiently, and that they have been doing it for a looooooong time.

Tangentially, I spoke to an very old organ maker the other day who told me that when he first started making giant church organs he refused to take a marketer's advice: sell his organs for $20,000. Instead, he sold them for $12,000, a low retail price for what he was building, but a fair price to him. That year he sold only a single organ. The next year he decided to take the sales rep's advice...he sold over 20 organs that year! He said that people thought his stuff was junk just because of the price.

It's too bad that we're so used to being ripped off, and folks have to justify fair prices.

[Bear]

Which goes to my general, uninformed impression about Mercury Magnetics. It's like the snark about Bose: better sound through advertising. Ads out the wazoo and a premium price and lots of folks will assume it must be the best. Besides the marketing image, the only thing I've seen Mercury excel at has been having clone transformers for more models of amp than others. (Unless Heyboer makes as many or more and just doesn't care about marketing them so heavily.) I just haven't run across anything to indicate that their iron is always better, or that when they beat the competition in performance that it's by a lot.

[Andy Le Blanc]

I get to work with a large venue bose installation today.....

The oldest bose stuff would time correct by indirect reflection.
the not so old had an active transistorized filter.
the current systems are software based correction.

Nice mid presentation, the lack of large driver punch is a put off to some.

...etc

the consumer stuff has always been "effectively manufactured".

The magic number is very important to sales, High price lends a perception
of exclusivity. Reality is flexible..... (snarky political comment)

You can fabricate and market a guitar amp for 250 to 350, but you can't sell it.
The consumer is strangely cautious, more inclined to spend large for garbage
than to pay a reasonable price for quality.

[FYL]

It's like the snark about Bose: better sound through advertising.

Better sound thru litigation.

[Mitch Roberts]

You will never convince me that (the company whose initials sound like candy) 1) obtained an example of every one of those amps that they claim to have cloned, even specific trannys for each model - even though many used the same transformer, 2) that they dismantled every one of those trannys to study it, and 3) that those vintage transformers came from the best sounding examples of those vintage amps. The fact that they claim such implausible nonsense leads me to avoid their product and to dismiss most of the hype coming out of their effusive marketing. Of course they make a good product, no doubt. But the "best"? I am not convinced. In marketing parlance, it's called "prestige pricing" and in the case of said manufacturer, it's working like a charm. If it costs more, it must be better, right?

I also note the added insult of their charging more for trannys that go with the most collectible amps - even though the exact same tranny was used in another, less collectable, amp. Case in point: Brown Vibroverb 4Ω #125A6A, $110. Blonde Tremolux, 4Ω - $100. WTF?

Also, why do they refuse to post their detailed specs? Everyone else does.

[oldmanmetal]

I am heading to Triode electronics today to pick up 1 of their kits. I will check out their Tformers. I have a Landgraff D'Lux with MM Tformers, and am going to make a copy of it. We shall see if they really are as good. If not, then I will just buy an MM to relace it. Lots of good input here. I am new, and really appreciate the vast knowledge on this forum. I am still learning, and this has already helped 10 fold from where I was.

[Andy Le Blanc]

Minimum order for custom spec at triodeel is 25 pieces.

Its custom gaping and wire insulation at MM, you pay for the guy to tweak it
to a spec and the wire supplier to double dip the wire they use.