My big boy...

[Spankin Allison]

Well here's some pics of "My big boy"..Its a 1965 Silvertone 1485 " six ten's"120W

All original,the speaker's are jensens C10Q,the amp has reverb and tremolo,wich works perfectly.

It use 4x6L6 for output and 12AX7 for pre-amp..not sure what kind of tubes drives the
The reverb and tremolo tho.

Well all original except for the tubes..that i changed for peavey's.
I also got 2 1484 "twin twelves" 60w...they are really the same except half the power.

heheh and my dog is called "Garcon" loll
Thanks for lookin
Frank

[Dnepr]

Those are great sounding amps. I always love playing with Silvertones!

[jtr654]

The Twin Twelve was my 1st real amp.

[Dennisthe Menace]

Spankin Allison,

That's TOTALLY DISGUSTING!!! 'Piggin out' with all those Silvertones on your hands...........
I'll volunteer to reduce your weight and take one of those off your hands............ ......

................................... ......................................
...............................SWEET!!....................................

[jnslobaugh]

NICE
Anyone happen to know what name that grill cloth is or where to find any?

[zarfnober]

The reverb on the 1484-5's is driven by a 6CG7/6FQ7, basically a heavy duty version of a 12AX7. The 6CG7 is also used for the phase inverter and, the tremolo opto/oscillator is driven by a 12AX7, basically a Fender AB763(?) trem. The tanks can be very fragile, be careful with them, they can also squeal when a resistor is going.

These are awesome sounding amps which respond quite well to the Mosrite single coils and pretty much any pickup for that matter. The output trans on these are very small and saturate very quickly, a big part of this amps signature tone. New output trans are available from Weber and Mercury, the Weber being $100 less, in case you burn one up.

The downside to these amps is cheaper resistors and caps, especially the electrolytics. You will notice a night and day difference in tone by replacing ALL of the caps in the power supply and the cathode caps. And your amp won't burn up on you

Even with the work these usually need, you really can't beat them for the money, they're on Ebay all the time. If looking at one, check for gut shots and look for Red Atom caps in power supply and cathodes, these will need replacing, along with a new cap can. The original cap can is no longer available but, there are better ones with higher capacitance that will fit perfectly. A 3 prong power cord is also a smart upgrade, and you'll be able to disconnect the polarity switch too! No more shocks from touching your strings! Keep these things in mind before you shell out big bucks for one.

I've rebuilt several of these and really enjoy working on them so, if yours needs work, PM me. Lots of shops hate working on the old point to point wired bargain basement amps, call me crazy, but I prefer them. I'm currently building a clone of a Matchless DC30 but, it's 15 watts, with tremolo and reverb. OEM transformers and completely point to point wired, no tag boards for me! I'll post photos soon.

Rocco

[Veenture]

I enjoy this guys, keep it going...

[Spankin Allison]

Rocco,yes i could probally send you one of my 1484 head for upgrade.And even if i never got shocked for touching the strings...i was a few times by touching my neck plate,and worst,when my lips touched the microphone.
Thanks
Frank

[Sarah93003]

I would love to know more about these amps, please! I play in an all girl band and we primarily play Rockabilly, Classic Rock, and some Country. Our Lead guitar has a very nice Mesa amp that I think is a 50/100W. I don't recall the model. I have a 40W Fender Hot Rod. The Bass player has a 300W Ampeg and we also have a Bose L1 that we use for mics and a standup bass. Our drummer is new so we haven't done any gigs yet. I sit in from time to time with a local band, just FYI. Oh, and I have a small Vox AD15VT that I use for practice or if I need something light to carry.

Anyway, I'm searching for a unique sound (isn't everybody) so we can sound different. Part of this comes from the pairing of guitars between myself and Michelle. Please forgive me as I try to describe sounds as I'm not very good at putting into words what I hear in my head. When she plays her White Falcon, I play my Mosrite Celebrity and the combination gives us a very aggressive, gritty sound that kinda gets you all amped up. For Country she plays her Black Penguin and I play my Gretsch Annie with TV Jones Classics.

I'm somewhat mechanically oriented but not at all when it comes to electrical things. I do know that I seem to like tube amps better than solid state. I don't know why that is, but it is. It sounds like some of you are very knowledgeable about tube amps. I would love any perspective or opinions that you would care to share.

Whew! So how do these Silvertone amps compare to other tube amps and are there other amps that are really unique in their sound that would be pretty cool?

thank you!

[Spankin Allison]

Well i'm certainly not a gear head,so probally someone else could tell you about it,but i think the silvertone gets is distinctive crunch simply because the where meant to be budget amp...built with cheap component.I mean you cant get a real nice "clean tone" out of it,with single coil...but with humbucker,man that's crunchy...and since there no "master volume"..the more you crank it up the more you get,single coil or humbucker.It really start to sing when vol@10oclock...Btw this amp was sold only tru SEARS catalog in the 60's.
they use to be very affordable on ebay,but since Jack white of the white stripes made them popular the price has gone up real fast.5 out of 6 album of the white stripes has been recorded with a silvertone 1485 close miked and a fender twin..The 3l3phant album was recorded with a selmer zodiac 30 for crunch and a fender twin for clean.I had to look for about 2 year to find one...but the 1484 is really the same...mabye less "cardboard" crunch..but still has that distinctive crunch.

I was quite messed up that night..so please dont judge..lolll ( I'm vocal/guitar in a band called "Climax"...but all my youtube clip are just jammin with a friend at "the barn...and pretty weak of art...)
Thanks
Frank