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Post by gravesnumber9 on Mar 11, 2021 21:49:30 GMT -6
Last time I played a Silvertone like this was 10 years ago and they could be found for $250. I'm going to try this thing out tomorrow but I'd love some opinions. Also, if you're in the Austin, TX area, don't be a jerk and snake this out from under me! haha... I know you'd never do that 1) I've played guitar for 25 years but I'm not a tech guy when it comes to amps. These mods all seem to make sense to me but can someone look at the photos and give me some feedback? 2) I can't remember the Silvertone I used to play. I was playing lead guitar for a, let's say eccentric?, front man who used to buy random amps and have me play through them sometimes sight unseen right before a show. haha. It was quite a ride for a variety of reasons. Anyway, we played a similar looking Silvertone for like 10 gigs before it got destroyed by running it dimed for too many consecutive hours. So my question is... anyone have thoughts on this particular model? 3) What's a fair price for this if I decide I love this sound tomorrow. Note - My personal playing style is typically sort of 60's bluesy or 70's country. I'd be running a 90's Strat, an Ibanez AS73, or some variety of Teles through it. The secondary purpose will be as a cool tone amp for people who come to record in my home studio. I'm looking to build a collection that currently is limited to a Blues Jr, a Deluxe, and Vox Pathfinder 15r. austin.craigslist.org/msg/d/round-rock-1965-silvertone/7289718777.html |
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Post by jcoutu1 on Mar 11, 2021 21:54:10 GMT -6
If you don't love the sound and the guy might want to ship, I might have a buddy that's looking for one.
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Post by gravesnumber9 on Mar 11, 2021 21:57:09 GMT -6
If you don't love the sound and the guy might want to ship, I might have a buddy that's looking for one. I'll ask tomorrow for sure. Any insight on this model? |
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Post by jcoutu1 on Mar 11, 2021 22:01:41 GMT -6
If you don't love the sound and the guy might want to ship, I might have a buddy that's looking for one. I'll ask tomorrow for sure. Any insight on this model? None. I know my bud was looking for the model that had the 6x10 cab, but I think he likes all this old stuff. |
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Post by Guitar on Mar 12, 2021 12:38:37 GMT -6
That's a good price, I would jump on it. That was my main amp for nearly a decade. There is some vague connection to Beck, Velvet Underground, Beefheart, White Stripes, Queens of the Stone Age, Cake, and so on, it's just a good amp. People would try to buy it off me at shows. I still have the cabinet but the head got trashed, abused, smashed. Was backed over by a car at one point even. If it works, buy it. It might break though, they are not built well. Get a case for it maybe, or don't move it a lot. They are made out of cardboard, almost literally. Hard paperboard. The cabinet will have a cool compressed tone due to the wimpy materials. If it has crappy old dried up small magnet speakers, you may be advised to change them out. I liked a Vintage 30 mixed with a Weber 12F150. They are not that loud for playing with a drummer, that's the only drawback of this amp. It's 20 Watts. Some folk call it the "poor man's plexi" in other words, it has a crunch to it that is the key part of the tone. It's not really a Plexi at all but it breaks up real good. You might want to add a bright cap on one channel, that was an essential mod for me. I believe svart has some version of this head currently as well. |
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Post by gravesnumber9 on Mar 12, 2021 12:46:30 GMT -6
Awesome, thanks for chiming in. One of the things I was worried about would be if it was too loud to record without shaking the walls. Sounds like that's a non-issue.
I can't really imagine gigging with this thing too much as I do know enough about Silvertone amps to know that I've already destroyed one in a matter of like 10 shows. Although those were fairly psychotic shows (the drummer dressed as a bear and the singer typically wore a matador costume and did lots of pushups on stage if that tells you anything), I'm definitely on the "keep the old amps at home, take the Blues Jr out" train.
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Post by svart on Mar 12, 2021 12:53:34 GMT -6
That's a good price, I would jump on it. That was my main amp for nearly a decade. There is some vague connection to Beck, Velvet Underground, Beefheart, White Stripes, Queens of the Stone Age, Cake, and so on, it's just a good amp. People would try to buy it off me at shows. I still have the cabinet but the head got trashed, abused, smashed. Was backed over by a car at one point even. If it works, buy it. It might break though, they are not built well. Get a case for it maybe, or don't move it a lot. They are made out of cardboard, almost literally. Hard paperboard. The cabinet will have a cool compressed tone due to the wimpy materials. If it has crappy old dried up small magnet speakers, you may be advised to change them out. I liked a Vintage 30 mixed with a Weber 12F150. They are not that loud for playing with a drummer, that's the only drawback of this amp. It's 20 Watts. Some folk call it the "poor man's plexi" in other words, it has a crunch to it that is the key part of the tone. It's not really a Plexi at all but it breaks up real good. You might want to add a bright cap on one channel, that was an essential mod for me. I believe svart has some version of this head currently as well. I do! Just the head though, not the cabinet. They're cool amps but they like to eat output tubes. Expect to go through at least a set of tubes a year unless you mod the bias. But then you might affect the cool tone. Turn all 3 channel knobs up for a great country guitar sound. Supposedly a secret weapon in nashville I've read. |
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Post by gravesnumber9 on Mar 12, 2021 12:55:13 GMT -6
That's a good price, I would jump on it. That was my main amp for nearly a decade. There is some vague connection to Beck, Velvet Underground, Beefheart, White Stripes, Queens of the Stone Age, Cake, and so on, it's just a good amp. People would try to buy it off me at shows. I still have the cabinet but the head got trashed, abused, smashed. Was backed over by a car at one point even. If it works, buy it. It might break though, they are not built well. Get a case for it maybe, or don't move it a lot. They are made out of cardboard, almost literally. Hard paperboard. The cabinet will have a cool compressed tone due to the wimpy materials. If it has crappy old dried up small magnet speakers, you may be advised to change them out. I liked a Vintage 30 mixed with a Weber 12F150. They are not that loud for playing with a drummer, that's the only drawback of this amp. It's 20 Watts. Some folk call it the "poor man's plexi" in other words, it has a crunch to it that is the key part of the tone. It's not really a Plexi at all but it breaks up real good. You might want to add a bright cap on one channel, that was an essential mod for me. I believe svart has some version of this head currently as well. I do! Just the head though, not the cabinet. They're cool amps but they like to eat output tubes. Expect to go through at least a set of tubes a year unless you mod the bias. But then you might affect the cool tone. Turn all 3 channel knobs up for a great country guitar sound. Supposedly a secret weapon in nashville I've read. I have a feeling the tube eating and the tone creating are intimately linked. |
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Post by Guitar on Mar 12, 2021 13:47:08 GMT -6
Mine wasn't too bad with power tubes, but there was one preamp tube, I don't know if it was a reverb driver, or what, that kept burning out.
They are pretty loud, but perhaps it depends on your point of reference. I've hurt my ears with them before. But it's a good volume, not too loud to crank, not too quiet to ruin the tone. Sort of a goldilocks power rating.
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Post by srb on Mar 12, 2021 13:47:13 GMT -6
I do! Just the head though, not the cabinet. They're cool amps but they like to eat output tubes. Expect to go through at least a set of tubes a year unless you mod the bias. But then you might affect the cool tone. Turn all 3 channel knobs up for a great country guitar sound. Supposedly a secret weapon in nashville I've read. I have a feeling the tube eating and the tone creating are intimately linked. Yeah, sometimes an amp sounds best right before it blows up!  |
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Post by svart on Mar 12, 2021 13:50:05 GMT -6
I do! Just the head though, not the cabinet. They're cool amps but they like to eat output tubes. Expect to go through at least a set of tubes a year unless you mod the bias. But then you might affect the cool tone. Turn all 3 channel knobs up for a great country guitar sound. Supposedly a secret weapon in nashville I've read. I have a feeling the tube eating and the tone creating are intimately linked. I believe so. Some amps sound much better when biased hot, namely marshalls. Some are purposely biased extremely low, like Peaveys. The silvertone doesn't have any native bias adjustments. Back then you just bought tubes with certain inherent current ranges. Since most amps made today have bias adjustments the tube manufacturers have only one or two ranges anymore. Also, the older carbon-composition resistors are prone to drifting values and can be quite "wrong" over time. I have some very old 6L6 tubes that bias OK in the amp but are weak while my new 6L6GC tend to redplate if played for more than an hour at a time. They're simple circuits though, and fairly easy to fix. |
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Post by Guitar on Mar 12, 2021 13:55:01 GMT -6
I have a Vibro Champ that does that, red plate tubes constantly, sounded incredible while it was working. On the list of things that will get repaired.
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Post by gravesnumber9 on Mar 12, 2021 14:34:46 GMT -6
I have a Vibro Champ that does that, red plate tubes constantly, sounded incredible while it was working. On the list of things that will get repaired. Headed out to take this thing for a test drive right now. Hopefully coming home with a new member of the gear family. |
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Post by gravesnumber9 on Mar 12, 2021 17:39:33 GMT -6
Sounded awful. I love it! She's in her home now, right next to my desk. Thanks guys!
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Post by notneeson on Mar 21, 2021 21:03:40 GMT -6
I can’t tell what model you’re talking about, the link is down, but my Silvertone 1482 kills. Great breakup, kinda tweed-like but different. Dark, not bright like a Fender etc.
Have also recorded a great sounding 1484, but with a massive Traynor cab. That was cool too. Love these amps.
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Post by gravesnumber9 on Mar 22, 2021 11:26:45 GMT -6
I can’t tell what model you’re talking about, the link is down, but my Silvertone 1482 kills. Great breakup, kinda tweed-like but different. Dark, not bright like a Fender etc. Have also recorded a great sounding 1484, but with a massive Traynor cab. That was cool too. Love these amps. 1484 and loving it. Didn't sound that great with the hollow body I first played through it (cool in a bad way though) but, man, it sure SINGS with my Strat. I'll tell you that. There's some serious mojo going on between those single coil pickups and this old amp, it sounds fantastic. The neck/middle setting is incredible. |
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Post by robschnapf on May 4, 2021 7:36:01 GMT -6
1482s are awesome little amps. Dark amd compressed. Cool trem.
I have a 1484 that I split the shared cathode resistor into two and voiced each channel differently.
Came out great. Two different shades out of the same amp.
Stock 1484s the two channels are the same.
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Post by gravesnumber9 on May 4, 2021 22:38:08 GMT -6
1482s are awesome little amps. Dark amd compressed. Cool trem. I have a 1484 that I split the shared cathode resistor into two and voiced each channel differently. Came out great. Two different shades out of the same amp. Stock 1484s the two channels are the same. Interesting. Yeah, was wondering if there might be some interesting mods that could be done on one of the channels. Way beyond my skillset. How else do people make use of the second channel? |
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Post by srb on May 5, 2021 13:10:54 GMT -6
1482s are awesome little amps. Dark amd compressed. Cool trem. I have a 1484 that I split the shared cathode resistor into two and voiced each channel differently. Came out great. Two different shades out of the same amp. Stock 1484s the two channels are the same. Interesting. Yeah, was wondering if there might be some interesting mods that could be done on one of the channels. Way beyond my skillset. How else do people make use of the second channel? With an ABY box you could have two different voices/volumes for things. You could do that with any two channel amp, though... |
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