An experimental investigation of the effect of magnetic field on the breakdown voltage characteristics of a multigap pseudospark device, with hydrogen gas, in a hollow anode–cathode, as well as a hollow cathode–anode configuration, is presented. The breakdown pressure at a particular discharge voltage increases with the increase in the applied axial magnetic field, and the magnitude of the increase is more pronounced at lower discharge voltages causing a right shift to the characteristic discharge curve in both the configurations. Application of a transverse magnetic field also resulted in a shift of the characteristic discharge curve towards the right. The observed results are compared and discussed with that found for parallel electrode geometry. ©1997 American Institute of Physics.