Super Nice 1966 Silvertone Model 1484.......The Amp that Launched a Thousand Careers
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- Опубликовано: 9 сен 2024
- Today's long-overdue video features an immaculate, basically original 1966 Silvertone 1484, quite possibly the most popular large "affordable" amp ever made. Unlike the previous large Silvertone's I have featured, this 60 Watt version (using 6L6GC's) was never inhabited by mice with overactive kidneys :) We will examine every part of the cabinet and circuit, make necessary repairs, install vintage tubes, check the bias, and then perform a thorough audio check.....giving us the opportunity to hear what this famous amp sounded like, back in "the day". To maintain authenticity, the test guitar will be a vintage Silvertone from the same era as the amp.
In addition, with KC and Jack's assistance, we will open a very appropriate gift box from a viewer, and then go outside to perform an elaborate conversion on a 1930 chopped and channeled Ford coupe.....removing the boring old 4-barrel and installing 3 Stromberg 97 carbs. There is something for everyone in this video. We hope you enjoy it :)
Here is the link to become a patron of our channel: / uncledougsvintageamps or you can make a PayPal donation to: dldcam@aol.com. Thanks in advance :)
The audio test is as follows: 5 tunes clean Channel 1 and 2.....3 tunes Tremolo.....3 tunes Reverb.....5 tunes Channel 1. NOTE: The video portion of the demo is not synchronized with the audio portion, so the position of the input cable and amp controls may not agree with what you are hearing.
I have a 1964 1484. It was 100% original when I got it. I recapped it and installed a 3-prong chord. I love the thing.
I don't blame you, William. This video reminded me how great the old Silvertone amps really were.
Uncle Doug,
The Goodwill auction site has an antique looking amp that is made by "
K and K Musical Instrument Co." www.shopgoodwill.com/Item/81171377 The auction ends 12/7/19 and it's at about $109.00 at the moment with 17 bids. It's got a gator covering (Snazzy) and it looks to have 3 tubes. I hope you can score this one. It's a beauty
@@godsreddoor6345 The Prosonic was only offered from 1996 to 2002, and the early models, handmade in the Custom Shop with "LO" serial number prefixes, are quite rare and desirable. The later models, with "CR" prefixes, were mass produced in Corona, CA and are good amps, but not as rare or desirable as the early versions. If I ever have access to a Prosonic, I would be glad to feature it in a video.
I hear you on the hand wired stuff. Printed circuit boards are planned obsolescence. I always say ones tone comes from ones hand .
I bought mine brand new when I was 13 years old in 1966, and still have it!
That's great to hear, Robert. So many of us didn't have the sense to keep our classic amps and guitars.
That 57 should be about 1 inch from the grill cloth to get the best sound from it.
@@1955DavidH When I am that close, the volume overwhelms the recorder.
@Boxcarcifer I'm sorry to hear of your vision problems, but enjoyed hearing from you. I too spent many a happy day at our local Sears store :)
Watching Uncle Doug open a vintage amp is more exciting than watching Geraldo Rivera open Al Capone's vault.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Except, unlike Geraldo......our vault contains all sorts of goodies :) Likewise, Randy.
Ugh! Bad memories.
@@UncleDoug Absolutely. All treasure and no drama.
@@Slugg-O Thanks, Randy. I hope our treasure to trash ratio remains high :)
@Vinnie Provolone Thanks, Vinnie :)
I grew up with those amps. Purchased from Sears around 1964-1965. We had 4 of them, including one for Bass with one 15" speaker. One for P.A. I still have a picture of us in 1965 with those amps. They kept our band gigging until 1968, never a problem.
As the video title says, Silvertones were the basis for all sorts of garage bands and budding musicians.
The 1484 (which I bought new in 1964) that I had the speak cabinet was connected to the amp with a long 2 wire cord that could not be disconnect from either the amp or the cabinet. I added a jack to both the cabinet and amp. On the amp I isolated the jack from the chassis ground by mounting it on an insulated board. I no longer have the amp part but I use the speaker cabinet with a Fender AB763A head that I was able to get used in 1985 and rebuild in 2006. The Fender head and Silvertone speaker sound great together. I really in joy your youtube content.
Thanks so much for your nice comments and interesting input, William.
Imagine waking up in the middle of the night and glancing at three two barrels sitting on the bedside table? Sweet dreams.
Amen, Lester. You would have to rig some sort of spotlights to illuminate them, and maybe some background music.......by Steppenwolf.
I had one of these amps when I was a young hippie playing in a pychedelic rock band. In a moment of hipness I painted the head lime green because of the effect it gave when under a black light. I ditched the 2 - 12 speaker cabinet on favor of two speaker columns containing 4 12's each. This made the rig look far more impressive. Went to the gig to play and it was sounding great but, then about half way through the performance the amp started to cut out and lost power. I turned around to see what was the problem and saw that the amp head was in flames!
Show wise it was pretty impressive and of course I later found out the fire was due to a amp/speaker impedance mismatch. The amp was destroyed and could not be repaired and I learned a great lesson about matching the proper speakers to the amp being used. Too bad. Now that i'm older and wiser I wish I had that amp just for collectors sake because it would be cool to have. Thanks for showcasing such a beautiful memory as it was and should be. It was fun to watch it being restored. Thanks Doug.
You're the godfather of pyrotechnics in rock concerts, Jim. If you had only patented the concept, think of the money you would have made......just from Kiss alone ;) What a great tale. I may have owned a set of identical columns. Mine were made by Ampeg. I wish I had checked them for scorching.
It's nice to see an older amp like that so clean inside and out. Those are good amps.
Thanks, Carl. It's probably the first really clean Silvertone I have personally seen.....which isn't saying much, after the rat-infested nightmares I have worked on.
That's the one, Uncle Doug. My first amp. Got it for Christmas 1968, along with a Silvertone guitar.
OUR BAND....had this amp...a CORNER STONE...back in the day.....I'm being overly EMOTIONAL...
... 🎶I'M TAKING A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY🎶.....sniffle....sigh....
Your emotional outburst is quite touching, William. I'm glad the video brought back such sweet memories :)
Doug, thanks for the immeasurable knowledge you have in the passions you have. And then share with us. I tip my hat ....
i was just singing your praises on TDPRI... by far my favorite youtube personality! always makes my heart happy when you tackle the big iron!
Wow, thanks so much, Joe :)
Hey Joe, could you please spread the word over at the ampgarage.com/forum/? The world needs to know about Uncle Doug and his contribution to preserving the History of Tube Amplifiers. Thank you for getting the word out!
I have three 1484s and cabs and a 1474. They are loud! Love 'em.
“Got a bit of wood showing through, but then again who doesn’t ?” My solar panel can testify to that D :)
Bragging again, Stewart :)
Caught rotten D :)
@@v12dot .
I had one of these, way back in the mid 1960’s, with the 2x12 cab. I didn’t know what I had and didn’t know how to use it. It was more than likely way out of bias and the tubes were probably shot. All I can remember is turning it ALL of the way up and it never having enough headroom. With what I know now... I wish I still had it !!!
We all tend to get a lot smarter as we grow older, Steven.....appreciating the things we took for granted as youngsters.
works on car like a classic amp. you rock Doug!
Thanks, DR :)
Had one. The head had a solid wire to the speakers. Most owners cut the wire and used jacks so the head and cab could be carried separately.
Yep, knew a guy with one back in the '60s who put some of those quickie flip tab AC connectors on the stock permanent wire so he could carry the head separately. He put the male two prong Edison plug on the speaker cabinet end. Some helpful person plugged it in the AC accessory outlet. Boom, no more speakers.
Back in the late '60s/early '70s most of these that I saw had the grilles painted with various fluorescent color paints as part of the psychedelic era.
I had one close to this in a combo. That thing was LOAD1 Thanks for the fun videos
My hernia and ruptured discs agree, Monty :)
This was my first amp that i owned back in the mid 70`s.I drove this amp so hard i melted the transformer i think i cried when i realized it was toasted.
It was probably the output transformer, Carl. They are notoriously weak for an amp of this output power.
Excellent sound...
Thanks for listening, Marek.
This video brings back a lot of memories . I bought one new in 1965 , I could not afford a big Fender , I wanted a large 2-12 amp , piggy back with with reverb and tremlo , 60 watts . I ran my new 1965 Epiphone Casino ( saw Kieth Richards on an album cover with one ) thru it ! I was in Rock-n-roll heaven . I was 16 years old , had learned my barre chords and I was ready to rock ! Loved that amp !
Also , to appreciate it you have to know that I had Baled Hay all summer , and saved every penny for that rig !
Those knobs are unique. Interesting look.
.....and very valuable. Nice ones can sell for around $30 each.
Nice. I can't tell you how pleased I am that once again, you have done everything as well as I would have done it if I had an amp, a soldering iron, a closet full of spare parts, long experience, deep understanding, infinite patience and a clue. Really good Shew.
Thanks, Rowdy.....high praise indeed :)
Thanks Uncle Doug for going through the reverb tanks in such detail. The little tie down for the center of the spring was missing from the unit I'm working on. As always, You're the best!
Thanks, KG. I'm gad the video was helpful.
My first amp was an early 1964 Super Reverb that I bought in early '64 ... and blessed to still have! This Silvertone is a mighty fine sounding amp, for sure!
Thanks, TT.
I went from a Tweed Champ in '63 to this 1484 2x12 Silverstone in '69 to a Kustom Tuck n Roll 200 2x15 exactly like John Fogertys' in 1970. Great time to be an adolescent thru a teenager.
Indeed, CI. Lots of good equipment, probably at very low prices.
I been going through withdrawal without my Uncle Doug fix !
Consider this your methadone dose for the week, Mark :)
32:27 Wow. The guy who packed up those speakers. *salutes*
Yes, indeed. Nice packing job :)
That was my first "real" guitar amplifier back in the 60s. Before that I used 2 x 6V6 amp that I scavenged from a hi-fi console. Those Silvertones are fantastic.
That took me back to the past. In the town I came from, that model amp and speaker cab was the P.A. of choice for the bands. (P.A.s weren't available yet) Because its tone was so neutral it was great for vocals instead of its intended design to be a guitar amp.. That was a fun video.
I had that amp in 66 as a jr high guy. That amp powered all the Monkees, Rolling Stones, Animals and Yardbirds hits of that day. Sears of that era had a huge music dept with records blaring. You could buy amps, guitars, drums, organs and microphones.
Us old timers have a tear in our eye, Bob, when we recall how wonderful the music department of Sears once was.....especially around Christmas time.
@@UncleDoug Sears at that time was more like the store in a Christmas Story movie. They went all out for Christmas.
My heavens! What lovely smoky chime!
Thanks, Don :) Please subscribe so you can received notification each time a new video is posted.
When I was sixteen I joined my first band which rehearsed in the late great Dave M's garage. Dave had THIS Silvertone head and we used it as a PA head for our vocals. Worked great and we crunched our way through Rolling Stones songs and Mountain and CCR hits, etc. Then came the sad day when we showed up to jam and found that Dave had swapped the Silvertone for a lousy Crate guitar amp that you really couldn't get a clean sound out of! It always sounded distorted. Charlie the piano player shook his head and wondered what we were going to sing through. It's funny how one dumb move can begin to derail something that was so cool. You should have heard us play "Break On Through" by the Doors, we did it way faster than the record!
I wish I could have been there for a performance, BW. I'll bet it was a dandy :)
Bless you Uncle Doug. Your videos bring our family great joy. You are preserving Tube Amplifier History for future generations. We love every educational video and your playing makes us feel like kids again!!!
Wow....thanks so much, F1 :)
The tone of the amp is fantastic. Great job!
Glad you liked it, W. Thanks !!
Ha! I used to have one of those! Sold it for a song in the 70's when it looked like tube amps were on their way out.
We actually did our first gigs with one of these amps and a padded custom amp in 1966 brings back many memories. Thanks for the video.
You're welcome, Leroy. Glad you enjoyed it.
Oh the memories.....in 1968, when I started playing Guitar at the age of 5, I HAD THIS AMP as well as the Silvertone, from Sears, at the time, 112!!!
The $$$ they bring now.
You'll find these Amps in Studios all over Nashville, TN
Wish I still had them....they really sounded great.
SO WARM!!!
SO YOUNG, SO DUMB....SO SOLD WHEN I WAS ABOUT 10.
Wow....you started playing at a young age, Keith, and most of us weren't buying and selling good amps at 10 years old. Very impressive :)
@@UncleDoug I didn't buy the amp.
Luckily, I grew up in a musical family.
My Uncle.....Father's Brother.....was also a Guitarist in Big Band/Swing Musical Orchestras.
He had, what today would be, a laughable Recording Studio in Oklahoma where he recorded Swing and Big Bands.
Of course, there wasn't a whole lot of Guitar in that style of Music!!
While visiting, he taught me the 12 Barre Blues and much to my Fathers dismay, tried to get my Father to really encourage me.....apparently, he saw something in me.
Long story short, he tried his best to help and influence me.
He gave me those Amplifiers because they were spares in his Studio.
I have no idea what Amps he used...
Needless to say, my Father didn't get along with his older Brother and as much as I loved, and still love my Father, although long since passed, he made me sell the Amplifiers when I was roughly somewhere between 10 and 12 with the promise of a new Amp when I turned the Teenage year of 13.
My Father DID follow through, it was a much lower volume and quality Amp.
I think it came from a "Sears Like Store" called Montgomery Ward!!!
Just my dad being my dad!!!
He had ZERO DESIRE for me to become a Musician!!...lol...
What I wouldn't give today to have him come home from work, come back to my bedroom and about break the door down yelling at me to turn it down!!!
@@keithdarling8290 I understand completely, Keith. I experienced a lot of friction with my father and, at times, we both made mistakes.....but he mellowed out a lot in his old age (as did I) and has since passed away. I do miss him.
@@UncleDoug
My Father passed a couple of months before I turned 20.
Not blaming my Mother at all.
His death was sudden and totally unexpected.
Mom totally changed after he passed. I honestly believe she developed Early Onset Alzheimers and a mild case, if that's what one would call it, Dementia.
I felt out of a sense of duty to stay home to take care of her.
She passed from Alzheimers and Dementia in May of 2016, just a couple of weeks before her 90th Birthday.
Both my Siblings are a lot older than I.
8 and 6 years older!!
Yep, I was the "Accident!!:...oops!!
They were both married and lived out of town and state.....I was all she had left.
I never stopped playing, had, I guess, a name and reputation in my hometown, so I was happy just doing Studio work and local gigs.
I finally moved to Nashville about 7 years after he passed, still doing Studio stuff until I got married.
I kid you not. The day my wife and I walked into our apartment from our Honeymoon, the phone was ringing as we were walking in, with Suitcases in hand!!
It was a band, just released their 1st album.
Also being a Drummer, they had seen me play and were calling me to ask if I would do a European Tour with them.
I turned them down!!
I just got married, and had an instant Family.
She had a son from a previous relationship, 9 years old, totally felt that since his Father wasn't in the picture, he needed stability and a man in his life to be there for him.
It was the right choice....the band never released a second album and disappeared into oblivion!!
I still play Guitar today locally as well as a FOH Sound Engineer.
I'm nobody famous, just an old guy, thinking I'm still 25 and still wanting to have fun and collect gear!!!
That's my life story and I'm sticking to it!!!...lol...
Enough of my boring life and information you probably wish you'd never commented on!!
Take care Uncle Doug!!!
Keep on keeping on....or so the music goes!!
🤘😴🤘
@@keithdarling8290 Thanks for sharing your life experiences, Keith. Best of luck with your music, life, health, and family.
I bought one of these in 68..used it live for five years..great amp!
It seems this amp inspired uncle doug, loved the 25 percent non original content and still showed you have chops, thank you.
Thanks, Noel. Glad you enjoyed it :)
Hey Doug. Just seeing how you're doing. Hope your holidays went well and you're in good health. Looking forward to the next video, as always.
Never better, Brad. Thanks for your concern. We've been working on hot rods and other projects for several weeks, but have a new amp video in the works. It should be posted in the very near future.
Another staple of my late-60' era was the Shure 100 watt PA system. It was "the" PA system to have. My band eventually bought one when we could afford it. I still have the 6-channel 100 watt PA head. :)
That sounds like a real "fire breather" Tony. I'll bet it made your presence known to the audience.
Trying to get my hands on one of these. You're not helping my impulse control! Great video!
Purchased. Found a spectacular example with the foot switch about half way in-between us. Luckily I have family much closer to pick it up for me!
I bought a 1484 in 1965 when I was 14. Although it was powerful and sounded great, I did not appreciate it. I wanted a Fender, Kustom or Vox amp like the other bands had. Now I have all the Amps I wanted as a kid, and plan to buy a 1484 for fun. Thanks for the video. Victor
The grass is always greener, particularly when we're young, Vic. Glad you enjoyed the vid :)
UD, Thanks for this video and the previous 1485 video. I watched the entire 1485 vid about 3 times with great interest. More about that later. When I bought my 1484 used in 1968, (age 16) I had no idea how great it really was. But after all, I was just a dumb kid. One thing I knew immediately: When I traded the amp for a newer but solid state Silvertone, I knew I had made a dreadful mistake!! Some lessons are learned the hard way!
Fast forward to today. Recently acquired my 1484 head and built a speaker cabinet myself with two brand new Jensen C12Qs. After watching your renovation of the Silvertone 1485 amp, part 3. (I guess it was 9 months ago), I started my renovation. Even though the amp was working pretty well, (all but the tremolo was functioning), I cleaned the amp's face and chassis, removed death cap, removed ground switch, removed power outlet, added a speaker jack, and painted the two transformers black. Everything worked out very well and I was encouraged to keep going. I decided to replace seven of the capacitors, (C1, C17, C26, C27,C28,C29, and C30. Then, miraculously found the can capacitor from Hayseed Hamfest! After a few trials and tribulations, (and very good customer service from Tom at Hayseed, have got a really nice and quiet solid amp to play my treasured Clapton and Hendrix licks! Oh, almost forgot, I also replaced all the input jacks with 4 new self grounding Switchcraft jacks which really help quell the unwanted noise. (Also replaced two resistors at the inputs and 3 of them adjacent to the can cap).
When all was said and done, the amp really sounds great. Jack and KC would be proud to hear this beast. Couldn't have done it without your fine and entertaining videos. Please keep them coming.
I’ve had mine since 1967 and it sounds great with a 412 cabinet turned on 10
I'll bet the neighbors like it too :)
Uncle Doug Happy Thanksgiving thanks for all your videos
@@bobbarcus8310 You're welcome, Bob. Likewise on the holiday good wishes.
@@bobbarcus8310 Likewise, Bob, to you and your family.
The speaker cord was originally hard-wired from the chassis to the speakers. Back in the 70's, friend of mine wanted to "disconnect" the speakers from the amp, so he cut the cord and used a 110-volt socket on the speaker cabinet and matching plug on the amp. Those of us "in the know" knew that the factory-molded plug was for power and the "add-on" plug was for the speakers. One day while we were setting up for a practice, someone who wasn't familiar with his configuration plugged the wrong plug into the wall outlet! We had a fireworks show in my parents' living room! Show you that you need to use the right plug for the application. Lesson learned the hard way.
Uncle Doug, my first attempted amp repair! When I was oh 12 playing in my buddys basement. I wasnt going to touch it but id fixed all the bad guitar cords succesfully so.What a great learning experience and it was only a small fire. And the feeling came back to that hand. Eventually. :)
Sundog Audo Fun story!
Third degree burns and the loss of appendages are a small price to pay for achieving success with amplifier repair, SA :)
@@UncleDoug ROFLMAO! Great comment Sundog Audo!
Hope you had a great holiday season and that you and yours are doing great!
We did indeed, Murry. Hopefully the same is true for you.
Got one myself. Love it!! The speaker connection is not correct. The head and cab came hardwired. Great amp!!
Thanks, Slim. The ability to separate the two units is way better than hard-wiring, in my opinion.
I am really surprised at how GREAT it all sounds. The tremolo is strong enough to make me seasick ! Thanks Doug.
Thanks, Craig. I knew the Trem Hounds would love it :)
Hi U.D., No hear from in a while, I hope you had a great holiday season, and I look forward to seeing next project!
Thanks, UB. Likewise on the good holiday wishes. We should be back on the air this month.
Nice I remembered the main filter condensers were red planet ones and that reverb always made buzzing noises enjoyed your video take care
Thanks, Gordon. The voltage doubler caps were indeed bright red.
What a great find Doug.. That amp and cab are exceptional for 1966 vintage.. I suppose the equivalent amps over here in UK were the Watkins range, and the more powerful Selmer guitar and bass amps that climbed to the dizzy heights of 50 watts.. Not many of us could afford Vox AC-30's or their Foundation 50 watt bass head and 18" cab. It was 1963 before I heard of Fender amps, but the import embargo meant they were very hard to find and 'very' expensive. Still, Ken Bran managed to get hold of a Bassman , altered a few resistors and caps and Marshall was in business.. We couldn't afford those either ..£1.00 deposit and 5 bob a week repayments until death. (it seemed) .. Can't wait to see the hot-rod complete with it's three Stromberg's fitted and working.. Right, I'm off to the music shop to pay this weeks instalment of 25 pence.
Thanks so much for your detailed and interesting input, Pete.
Used to have one of these units back in the mid 80’s. Sounded pretty good.
Yeah they're sort of bassman like, some of them even came with that rickety little cabinet with 6-10" Jensen's in it!
I had one of these. You could turn every knob down to zero, crank the reverb to 11, and it would sound...well...I liked it. It sounded like being in a lightning storm while sitting in an empty grain silo.
Good analogy, Dan. Thanks !!!
Hi Uncle Doug, This model was my first “Big Amp” back in 65. Bought it new from the local Sears on the installment plan. Played mostly Surf and British Invasion in a garage band. Loved it. For me It was the “Fender Twin Reverb” that I could afford at the time. Great video. Brought back a lot of memories. Thanks.
Regards, Steve Todd
You're welcome, Steve. I'm glad the video brought back lots of great memories to so many viewers.
You can find video on RUclips of Howlin' Wolf playing a Gibson through one of these Silvertone head. I also remember seeing footage of Kings of Leon playing thru Silvertone amps at an outdoor festival.
You are a font of historical info, GU. Thanks !!
Uncle Doug, I have a Peavey Classic I bought second hand about 35 years ago. The tone was always a little poor and the output broke up if the volume was set above 5. A few months ago, the power transformer burned out. After much searching for a replacement, I had one made from scratch by ClassicTone. After I installed that, I figured I should check out the PC board before I fired it up and I found 4 electrolytics which had thrown up. I also ordered new octal sockets, thinking that replacing those might help with the break up at high volume. Before I got around to installing the sockets, I saw your video in which you tightened up the tube sockets by squeezing the little pin receptacles with a pointy object, so I did that, rather then cut out the old sockets. I got it put together and plugged it into my brand new current limiter. Since I got only a slight glow from the current limiter filament, I went ahead and put the chassis back into the cabinet and put the back door in place, The amp sounds better than it ever did in those 35 years and I could crank it up to 11 with no break up. I could FEEL the sound on my shins as I stood in front of the amp. Before I stumbled upon your channel, I would not have had the confidence to make the replacements I made, So, I want to thank you for the education.
You're quite welcome, Steve. It's great to hear that you're putting your knowledge to such good use. Keep up the good work.
Nice teaching moment for the breakdown of the reverb unit. I never really understood how they worked. Piezoelectric technology... lol
Glad you enjoyed it, James :)
Hi Uncle Doug. I got all teary eyed seeing this amp. This is the first amp I had. I looked on line and guitar center has the head and cab. I think I will call and see if they still have it.
It's the ultimate garage amp, Monty ;)
In 1966 I had the amp and a red 2 pickup Hagstrom. My very first guitar amp. It had reverb!!
I'll bet you were a force to be reckoned with, Fred. The neighbors must have loved it ;)
I own a 65. Original tubes were in it when i bought it. My amp tech went over it and switched out the 2 prong plug. Fantastic amp ! Great breakup and takes pedals well.
Thanks for sharing, Dave.
Best guitar work ever.
Wow.....thanks, Jeff.
Great interesting display and commentating of an iconic amp...enjoyed your play by play. Your humour is dry and fabulous. I also enjoyed your hot rod ...and particularly the footage of a bamboo chopstick used to plug the vac line ....I must be the same age as you , since I use them with my acoustic guitar repairs ...repurposing them & they are great tools..happy Thanksgiving to you and your family ,
Alberta Dave
Thanks so much for all your very nice comments, Dave. I had to improvise......there were no golf tees handy :)
great to see you back.
It' our pleasure, Brian.
I JUST got one of these in last night to restore. It's got all the original tubes and caps. Only 2 owners. It's going to be brought back to life soon. You'll probably be seeing it on reverb 😁
Good luck with it, Mike.
Its Thanks giving 2019 9:05pm sitting on the couch with what is probably the smoothest cat in the world laying across my lap and my left elbow resting on the top of a Sears Silvertone Twinchassis number 185 11040 when I spotted your thumbnail . I recently purchased this amp from my friends older brother for $150. He received it from his parents in 71along with a ES335 as a graduation present I asked why and he said he wanted to buy a Crate amp. First thing I did was separate the factory umbilical cord and figure out if the foot switch was the reverb problem It wasnt. As soon as Daisy lets me get up Ill have my tank out and my piezos serviced and no hes going to keep the guitar...for now. new sub. Terry
Welcome, Terry. It sounds like the perfect Thanksgiving.....comfortable couch......Daisy the cat.....and a great amp to torture the neighbors. Life is good !!!!
Uncle Doug, thank you so much for explaining the reverb tank here. I’ve been trying to repair a guyatone piezo tank and thanks to your video I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to. Thanks again
Good luck with the repair, QS. Piezo's can be frustrating.
When I was in the Hubcaps we had one of these hooked up to an Altec Voice of the Theater the amp and speaker were great but the career fizzled.
That 350 sent a twitch to certain lower extremity! I love how easy it is to work on these muscle cars, no computer in them, but they had to ruin that for us like that would stop us from working on them. I had a 1979 Z28 MINT CONDITION. It was paid for brand new and garaged until I got it. The original engine was removed and was replaced. It was a 350 totally rebuilt and punched out to a 383 if I remember correctly, new race cam and the heads were done professionally, but I must admit, I had a 400 small block with a Holly 750 Double Pumper. The cops could never catch me. What you have on your beast looks like a Performer intake which is a great choice, but I had a 1981 Dodge Ramcharger 318 2 barrel, but it had the cam for pulling. Someone removed the 4 barrel and put an adapter on the stock intake and a friend handed me no charge a high rise split level Edelbrock so I went out and bought a 650, instant monster 4 on the floor with granny gear as the first gear so normally I started off in second. I was able to pull a Chevy Blazer up a 60 - 70 degree hill in idle with my door open sitting sideways to show off. I always had a thing for only the vapors going to the piston so everything had to be cammed out with the appropriate spacers for the carb and I even did this idea on my furnace, I talked to the guy and told him my idea and he took out this jet element and told me your furnace will never be more efficient using any other as it sprayed a fine mist instead of a stream past the electrodes. I use heating oil and it ran hot after installing this so I knew it was doing the job so I had to adjust it back down to 180 degrees from nearly 200. The efficiency improved 15 to 17% into the 90's in %
Somehow, this sounds like the lyrics to a Chuck Berry tune, Mr. B. Thanks for sharing it with us :)
Beautiful. My dad played a triple neck National steel through one of those. Thanks for bringing back memories.
It was our pleasure, Rick.
Interesting, Rick. I have a double neck Supro lap steel, which was of course built by Valco just like your father's National, but I've never seen a triple neck that was built by Valco..
Beautiful amp uncle Doug. I've been working on guitar amps for 25 years Love your. Repairso your repairs also Terry and Brad.you learn something new everyday sorry about the grammar or lack of it......
I have one of these. The box fell apart so its in a different natural wood cabinet. works really nice.
Glad to hear it, MR.
Beyond outstanding. MasterChef can wait;-)
Thanks, OB :) High praise indeed.
Had one around 1982, they sound great cranked up!
Yes, they do, Scott.
I can smell it just looking at it. Love those amps!
Three deuces always beats a 4 banger at my table ...... I lusted after Silvertone gear as a kid ... Wow !
Then I guess this video was a hit, Zanky :) Glad you enjoyed it.
That was well worth the wait - thanks Uncle Doug.
I don't know who else said it, but I'm usually compelled to hit the "like" button within a few seconds of watching your videos. Great content!
Thanks so much, Adam.
It looks like it was babied pretty much its entire life. Excellent find!
Duct tape...no rat feces...recording studio habitat...I'm glad you finally had a softball/creampuff tossed your way, Unc. Lord knows, you've been put through your paces on some other amps...it's a treat to see anything from this era in such well-preserved condition...gotta love those lipstick tube PUs...
Amen, C7. I have definitely paid my dues when it comes to Silvertones :) I too thought the Silvertone guitar sounded great with the amp.....a perfect pair.
Ah! Love these old Silvertones and Airlines (from Montgomery Wards!) Nice video! One of these was my first amp I serviced (tube sockets and filter caps were bad!!!) My first lesson in electrical safety as I pulled myself off mom's kitchen floor! Learn to drain your caps, kids!! Lol!!!
I'm glad the video fostered some good.....and instructive.....memories, Thomas.
Wow Uncle Doug.. What an awesome time capsule!! You have a real keeper there.. it was also a treat to watch you dissect the Reverb tank.. We all knew someone who had one of these 1484’s.. and yours sounds GLORIOUS!! Thanks again for this wonderful episode!! Luth
Very nice shape.
I've repaired a few of these with similar problems. Recapped of course. Was also able to repair the reverb as you did.
The weirdest one i had was the 100 watt version that squealed and oscillated all on its own.
It behaved like poor lead dress but there was no rearrangement of wires that would eliminate the oscillations completely.
It all seemed to be centered around the screen grid leads of the power quad.
This amp did not have any screen resistors and came from the factory that way. So on a hunch, i added them.
That completely cured the oscillation. My thoughts are the original tubes had less gain or possibly higher Inter electrode capacitance (Miller Effect) that subdued the tendency to oscillate. I did not have any vintage tubes to prove out that theory.
Old tube amps...gotta love em!
Thanks, Glen, particularly for the tip on the screen resistors......it may come in handy :)
I just (re) bought my first 2 amps my original 1972 Deluxe Reverb & my Marshall Master lead combo..(SS)...both sound amazing...
I had a Silvertone Bass Amp in 1970-71 with a 6 speaker cabinet. It was really a good amp!
Sounds like a big, wonderful, heavy amp to me, William :)
Thanks so much for setting up a mic to do the amp demos, sounds better to my ears than the camera mic for sure!
Great amp Uncle D... but I can't wait to see how that bad ass motor will sound and perform!
So nice to see another video. Great to see you have another hot rod to work on too. :-)
I was born in 65 and that amp is in better shape than I am...LOL. Great video Doug.
Thanks, TW. Have you been re-capped yet ??
@@THUNDERWORX Mine has a 0.01A fuse that tends to blow whenever I shirk my household duties in favor of my hobbies. The result is generally plenty of AC (ass chewing) :)
Always worth the wait for an Uncle Doug video! I believe those amps had the head hardwired to the speaker cabinet with brown zip cord when they were new and a lot of owners installed a jack on the chassis so they could plug in other speakers. So the in line jack is less invasive.
Later on I bought a 1969 Fender Bandmaster-Reverb 50 watt amp that I still have (Fender incorrectly rated it at 35-40 watts and the 35 watt output transformer soon failed) for the many school concerts that my band was playing. I had a 50 watt output transformer installed and all was good. Soon after, for more power I bought the then popular Ampeg V4 100 watt head to use with my 2-15 speaker cabinet. This amp proved to be too loud for most of the gigs we played and I eventually sold it to buy a Fender Super-Reverb 50 watt amp that had a master volume control. Back then unfortunately there weren't hardly any overdrive pedals.....so a master volume control was a good thing.
Beauty, Jack & Ollie made a new video 😁 thanks Uncle Doug, something to watch while I eat breakfast
Bon appetite......Pedro.
Wow Doug, the installation with those 3x2 carbs looks SWEET! Great call on that.
Thanks for the encouragement, Gerald. My wife insists that I am crazy to remove a perfectly good almost new carb and then install three little old-fashioned ones. I'm glad someone else "gets it" :)
I am very happy to see a video from you. Excellent video and perfect explanations. A+++
Thanks, Stefan :)
Another Learning Video. Thank you Uncle Doug Top Job.
You're welcome, AC.
I have a 1484 twin twelve that my dad bought brand new in 1963, and I starting using it in 1983, when I was 15 yo. I'm 54 yo now (born in 68) and I have never changed the speakers out, nor have I even replaced a tube in all these years!
Still works perfect! (Occasionally a little scratchy turning the knobs but no dead spots on pots.)
I didn't realize until today that it is kind of a big deal to own one of these in perfect condition. Your video was part of the rabbit hole I went down researching whether the amp was a 60W amp as many people claim, but for some reason my dad always called it a 100W. Many other people, including guitar places selling them also call them 100W.
So which is it? I'm confused on this one point. All I know is that the sound is great.
With a pair of 6L6GC's the output power was probably between 50W and 60W......if everything was operating properly.
I had a little bit of wood showing through when I awoke this morning.
TMI, WJ :)
@outlawrickenbacker You didn't have to wait very long :)
@@UncleDoug yeah, and while we're on it, it took me a while to work out that it was a schematic for the reverb 'music signal in', and not a drawing of an naked lady holding a cake or something at 21:45 😂
@@sonovoxx I can see where the arrowhead might give that impression :)
I have this same amp. While I was not the first owner, I bought it (as a teenager) from the first owner in original condition, except that I did not purchase the speaker cabinet. The press down type tube shield is the correct one as you suspected. Your chassis number is the same as mine (185.11040) but mine is stamped on an aluminum plate that is riveted to the chassis and has black paint on it so that Sears Roebuck and Co shows through along with other info. I suspect mine is older and directly printing it on the chassis was a cost-saving measure. Mine had a long wire attached to the back to connect to the speakers, but no connector at the end. I suspect that it was missing, but I have added a female 1/4" jack on the back of the chassis in its place so I can connect through a more standard connection. FYI, since I stopped using the amp decades ago, the original Silvertone tubes are still in place and still work. I have recently recapped the amp with the exception of the filter capacitors, which may be why I get an intermittent hum. I also took out the death capacitor and replaced it with a properly grounded three-wire AC plug. I replaced the knobs (back in the early seventies) that I liked the look of better. The originals were mostly in bad shape. Unfortunately, I did not save the originals or misplaced them. The reverb does not work (it did when I stored it in my crawlspace back in the mid-eighties (if I had only known how these would grow in value over the years), but everything else does. I recovered the case with blue vinyl and made a matching speaker cabinet out of MDF. The faceplate is in nice shape, perhaps not quite as good as yours. I replaced most of the screws with stainless hex head bolts and nuts. Lastly, I replaced the front panel power light with an LED and dropping resistor.
One question: What are your thoughts on replacing the carbon resistors with modern metal film resistors? Apart from the reverb (I am using an external reverb that I like a lot) since it works and sounds good, is it worth the effort?
If it works well and sounds good, I would leave it alone, Mike. You might check the resistors to see if they are over 20% out of spec and replace the ones that are.....but changing them all will be a lot of work with no real payoff.
@@UncleDoug Thanks for the quick response. My main concern with the resistors is if they would be out of spec in a way that could cause the tubes to be overdriven and fail "prematurely" which is kind of funny to say as they are already about 55 years old. BTW my reverb tank has never been opened and I am thinking that the problem with it may be somewhere else in the circuit. I am just not sure where to look. It might be something as simple as the switch.