vintage silvertone amps

T

TheJangus

New member
Anyone know of any good sites with vintage silvertone amplifier info? Slim pickings indeed.

I've started collecting as much stuff (info,media,schematics) on silvertone amps as I can find out there.
http://cookies.berkeley.edu/silvertone/

I potentially am going to start building a comprehensive silvertone site (since I can't find one out there already). If you own a silvertone amp and would like to contribute (sound clips, images, info, manuals, anything and everything) pm me.

Thanks!
 
Re: vintage silvertone amps

Jangus,
good idea

I think interest in Silvertones, as with other vintage amps, has grown lately - maybe due to Jack White!

there is a Silvertone forum, but I didn't see a whole lot of info there

good luck
 
Re: vintage silvertone amps

Your in luck for info, plus i will have pics up in awhile,
I just recently(about 2 months ago) purchased a 1964 silvertone "twin-twelve", 1484 model.
These amps are very raw sounding on the distortion/overdrive side, but personally that is the kind of tone that i like from an amp, raw and gritty.
The cleans on this amp amazing for the money i paid for this amp(i paid 200$ canadian for it by the way, so they CAN be had relatively cheap).
There is a couple things about these amps you have to watch out for, first off if you hear a buzzing sound when it is turned on, switch the ground switch, do NOT touch the metal on the amp if it is buzzing, you'll get a nice shock, another thing to watch out for is the tolex stuff(covering) on the outsides of these amps, they are extremely weak, not soo much in construction, just what they are made out of.
MY overall impressions of this particular silvertone amp, is that it is a great amp as far as im concerned, plus as far as i have seen they can be had for quite cheap.

SOUND:
To go more in depth on the sound of this amps, i have heard people describe the sound as "swampy", not in a muddy non clear sound, the amp has plenty of clarity, just raw like i said above, another thing is these amps are notorious for amazing tremolo effect and incredibly terrible reverb, neither of those things are an understatement, the tremolo is absolutlely amazing and the reverb is well.... to be blunt, USELESS!.
Again to the cleans, the guy i bought this from said the cleans sounded good, as far as i concernced that IS an understatement, this amp has a very glassy clean tone.
As far as versatility goes, it isn't excelling there, the volume knob is your only gain control, it breaks up sorta of a clean/overdrive around 4.
for all my classic rock/blues stuff i play it anywheres between 5 and 7 for a nice classic sounding overdrive.
for heavier stuff(ex: black sabbath, etc...) i use anwheres from 8 to 10, when you crank this amp it reminds me of the first sabbath album alot.
There is only a 2 band eq for each channel, bass and treble, i usely keep the treble cranked and the bass around 6, but thats just my settings.
 
Re: vintage silvertone amps

I should add that I own a 1484 twin twelve head and am looking to acquire a 1482.

The twin twelve I bought from Kevlar has sparked my love for these vintage beauties.
 
Re: vintage silvertone amps

SpeedDemon said:
Your in luck for info, plus i will have pics up in awhile,
I just recently(about 2 months ago) purchased a 1964 silvertone "twin-twelve", 1484 model.
These amps are very raw sounding on the distortion/overdrive side, but personally that is the kind of tone that i like from an amp, raw and gritty.
The cleans on this amp amazing for the money i paid for this amp(i paid 200$ canadian for it by the way, so they CAN be had relatively cheap).
There is a couple things about these amps you have to watch out for, first off if you hear a buzzing sound when it is turned on, switch the ground switch, do NOT touch the metal on the amp if it is buzzing, you'll get a nice shock, another thing to watch out for is the tolex stuff(covering) on the outsides of these amps, they are extremely weak, not soo much in construction, just what they are made out of.
MY overall impressions of this particular silvertone amp, is that it is a great amp as far as im concerned, plus as far as i have seen they can be had for quite cheap.

SOUND:
To go more in depth on the sound of this amps, i have heard people describe the sound as "swampy", not in a muddy non clear sound, the amp has plenty of clarity, just raw like i said above, another thing is these amps are notorious for amazing tremolo effect and incredibly terrible reverb, neither of those things are an understatement, the tremolo is absolutlely amazing and the reverb is well.... to be blunt, USELESS!.
Again to the cleans, the guy i bought this from said the cleans sounded good, as far as i concernced that IS an understatement, this amp has a very glassy clean tone.
As far as versatility goes, it isn't excelling there, the volume knob is your only gain control, it breaks up sorta of a clean/overdrive around 4.
for all my classic rock/blues stuff i play it anywheres between 5 and 7 for a nice classic sounding overdrive.
for heavier stuff(ex: black sabbath, etc...) i use anwheres from 8 to 10, when you crank this amp it reminds me of the first sabbath album alot.
There is only a 2 band eq for each channel, bass and treble, i usely keep the treble cranked and the bass around 6, but thats just my settings.
Click to expand...

Awesome isn't it?! I had my tech put on a three pong cord. That ground switch made me nervous. Mine has all the original silvertone tubes in her too. I love it.
 
Re: vintage silvertone amps

67-tube-amps.jpg
 
Re: vintage silvertone amps

ya these amps are definatly great, i plan on holding on to this sucker for awhile, the tubes in my amp are about a year old, and the speakers aren't the orginals, i plan on swapping out the tubes for some JJ's or EH tubes, the only problem really with mine is that the channel 2 volume knob has a slight bump in it that cause volume to mess up a little, but i imagine is simple to fix.
 
Re: vintage silvertone amps

Curly said:
Jangus,
good idea

I think interest in Silvertones, as with other vintage amps, has grown lately - maybe due to Jack White!

there is a Silvertone forum, but I didn't see a whole lot of info there

good luck
Click to expand...

No doubt. Not to mention that tweak fuzz demo with Blues playing through a 1482! :32:
 
Re: vintage silvertone amps

I brought my 1483 to rehearsal last night, good god that thing sings!! Jangus I am glad you are digging it!!
 
Re: vintage silvertone amps

My first amp was a 1472, so these amps have a special place in my heart!

not to mention, they can sound rather nasty .... in a good way :)
raw and gritty

I did have a Twin Twelve for a while but it took up a fair amount of room and I sold it. Oh well. Something tells me they're becoming more popular though.
 
Re: vintage silvertone amps

My first 2 good amps were both Silvertones...one twin 12 piggy back, and one of the bass versions with 1x15...both amps still had the blackframe Jensons, and both had been painted black, which sucked...but those amps were killer...in fact since I sold them I have been trying to capture that tone again! Since the White Stripes got bigger the prices have gotten crazy, and IM sure they will only go up!
 
Re: vintage silvertone amps

The only Silvertone amp I have is the one that was built into the Silvertone guitar case. In my old band, I played a scratch tract with the guitar and amp and it sounded kinda cool, so we kept it and added more modern distorted guitar on top of it. I'll see if I cant make an MP3 of it for you.

Im actually thinking of trading it in for a Mesa Boogie, but their is something about it that makes me want to hang onto it.
 
Re: vintage silvertone amps

I think I read somewhere that Lewguitar has a modded out twin twelve. I'd love to hear some clips and see some pics of that thing!
 
Re: vintage silvertone amps

TheJangus said:
I think I read somewhere that Lewguitar has a modded out twin twelve. I'd love to hear some clips and see some pics of that thing!
Click to expand...

ya that was in one of my threads, when i was asking about silvertones, his brother modded, dont know if he still has it.
 
Re: vintage silvertone amps

Silvertone twin twelve piggyback - my dad had one of these back in the sixties when he was in high school. He has always kicked himself for selling it. He still has the Silvertone Jaguar guitar like the one Mark Knopfler has been playing some lately. It needs a little bit of work, though.
 
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