ZZ Top’s Billy F. Gibbons Talks Magnatone Amps

Tuesday, November 20, 2018, truly was Billy F. Gibbons Day at Sweetwater’s HQ in Fort Wayne, Indiana. In addition to having the guitarist’s world-famous, heavily customized/chopped 1933 Ford Eliminator “Coupe” on proud public display in our front entrance lobby, we also enjoyed a visit from the legendary guitar-slinger himself. Yep, even though it was a rare day off for this well-traveled road dog on his solo Big Bad Blues tour, Billy and his cohorts headed our way.
The reason the “Reverend”* graced us with his presence was threefold — to take a quick tour of our facility, grab a quick bite to eat, and chat with us about Magnatone amps. And of course, being the gracious guy he is, Mr. Gibbons also made time so fans could take photos and get signatures.

Trivia
Billy is often referred to as the Reverend not merely because of a nickname. In addition to the deserved reverence his playing and sound get, he’s also an ordained minister. As a result, Reverend Billy has presided over several weddings, including one in an IKEA store in Texas!

When it comes to great playing, great riffs, pinch-harmonics, and great tone, the bearded ZZ Top guitarist is rightfully considered synonymous with it all, and much has been written about said virtues. Ditto the art of masterful pinch-harmonic use, of which he is a pioneer. So let’s cut straight to the subject at hand here — Billy’s enthusiastic use and endorsement of Magnatone amps following the company’s recent rebirth in 2013 after a lengthy hiatus. In fact, the guitarist’s involvement with Magnatone’s resurrection surpasses merely playing the amps — the British-flavoured, EL34 powered Master Volume Super Fifty-Nine Series amps (MKI, MKII & M-80) were all developed in conjunction with this Texan titan.

Here’s a look at our enjoyable chat with the ever-eloquent Reverend concerning these fine American-made guitar amps he is so intimately involved in.
Sweetwater (SW): Welcome to Sweetwater, sir. We greatly appreciate you taking this trip to talk Magnatone.
Billy F. Gibbons (BFG): Thank you, Nick. Our longstanding friendship brings us right here to share our admiration of this great brand called Magnatone. It’s recently been resurrected, and we have found it to be some of the more robust-sounding stuff out there on the market.
SW: I’ve seen you live with these amps behind you, and your setup, it is pretty “girthy” sounding.
BFG: Oh, it is. Not only has it served me well as a guitar player, but our dear friend — my pal, your good buddy — Dusty Hill on bass is using them too. It works for guitar; it works for bass — it works for just about anything you want to plug into it.
SW: Cool — I didn’t realize that Dusty was playing bass through the Magnatones too.
BFG: Oh yeah. It’s funny, our fearless drummer, Frank Beard — the man with no beard — he’s trying to figure out what he can do to plug in! We’ll get the whole gang in.
SW: And talking of ZZ, the band’s big Five-O is about to be enjoyed.
BFG: Correct, 2019 — 50 years with ZZ Top. We’re gonna have a big celebration, and I’m sure you’ll see some version of the great Magnatone brand.
SW: Aside from tone, what attracted you to Magnatone?
BFG: Well, the interesting background. It goes back to 1937 when Magnatone first appeared. And through the years, they carried forward up until the early ’70s. And then the company vanished until Ted Kornblum picked it up. He came to me with the announcement that he had acquired Magnatone, and I said, “Well, there’s only one thing to do. Resurrect it and take it forward. And to do so, you’ve gotta do it right.”
That one phrase, “do it right,” covers a lot of ground, but they have done it, from top to bottom. When I use that word “robust,” it’s more like ferocious! That would be a good way to describe it!

SW: And you’ve not just been testing the amps in terms of tone; you’re also testing that all-important quality, “road-worthiness,” as your touring schedule with them has been pretty intense.
BFG: We are entering our fourth year using Magnatones both in the studio…and onstage. And as you point out, standing up to the rigors of the road — that’s the real test. We have not had a single failure in these recent years on the road, and they’ve been put through the wringer!
SW: And when you guys tour, it’s not one or two shows a week — you have a pretty intense show schedule.
BFG: Yeah, in the last year we did some 320 shows.
SW: What? You took three weeks off? How dare you, sir!
BFG: Yeah [laughs]. We’re really happy to be here at Sweetwater, inspecting the wide range of products from Magnatone. It’s pretty impressive.
SW: The Super Fifty-Nine amps you not only use onstage, but also helped develop, are loaded with good ol’ EL34 power tubes. I’m confused as to where you could come up with that name though [laughs].
BFG: [laughs] Well there’s a little bit of background in there…I think you would know!
SW: The amp sounds amazing and is truly worthy of the name.
BFG: Yeah, and I’m delighted to know that Ted and his company has brought the Magnatones with the [EL]34s here…and all their offerings are tube driven, so there’s some richness behind the sound.
SW: The lower-wattage Super Fifteens, which are powered by a pair of EL84s, are really cool sounding and feeling too.
BFG: Yeah. I’ve got Elwood Francis — our longstanding guitar tech — he’s now playing a couple of numbers during the night’s show, blowing harmonica through the Fifteen. It is robust [chuckles]. It’s really cool!
SW: And there you have it folks — Magnatone amps are not only great for guitar, they’re good for bass and harmonica too!
BFG: Nick, I think it’d be fair to say: “If you need any of this stuff, you know where to go — Sweetwater has it all!”
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