Identify this Silvertone

#21
Sorry brianrost, Danelectro didn't build their own amps. That was built by Valco, who also built Danelectro, Silvertone, Airline, Supro, Gretsch and many others. Valco amps are nearly always awesome! That amp is a GREAT amp. The dual 6v6 setup is closer to a Fender Deluxe as I recall. They have a wonderful breakup and yes the speakers in most of these are a weak link.
I seriously regret selling my Danelectro DM-25. But I still have a Gretsch (Valco) Dual Twin Reverb that is a killing blues amp.
 
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#22
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Here's the Gretsch
 
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#23
Not a fan of Silvertone amps at all. This is totally my opinion as an old fart who was around when those guys first came out.

Back in their hayday in the 60's, they were the amp you would buy if couldn't get the money together to get a real amp. Sounded like crap back then and sounds like crap now. I just can't believe people pay serious money for them. They were cheap amps that were cheaply made and every Sears store had at least one next to the Craftsman hand tools. Unlike red wines, they don't improve with age.

I seriously considered buying one of their "bass " amps for a short while and decided to save up and buy the brand new 1966 Fender Bass man instead. Thank God I bought the Fender Bassman! Those 6V6GT tubes pictured typically pushed 5 watts each and the Alnico speakers were...well, let's just say they were nothing to write home about. Lots of high school band "hopefuls" seemed to have at least one guitar player running through them, but I can only remember one high-school band in my town that actually played a dance using one and it was the piggy back 212. And as soon as he got the money up he bought a Fender Twin Reverb. Silvertone really had a bad reputation back then. Montgomery Wards was probably their biggest competitor with its Airline series of amps. At least those amps used Jensen speakers.

Just because it's old (vintage) doesn't mean it's any good.

Nonetheless, as I said, I'm a bit of a curmudgeon about these amps. I hope you have a good time with yours but please, don't be too disappointed or surprised if you can't get a decent sound out of it at anything above bedroom practice volume.
 
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#24
dmac1961 said:
View attachment 1056188 Yep, it's a 1482. Great sounding amp (but not cab). I put mine in a head Box and use it for recording. Sounds great with an SVT210AV for a dirty sound blended with a clean DI. The output transformer has 4 and 8 ohm taps available, so it will drive two 210's. I highly recommend it.
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That's kind of what I do. I have a 30 watt and a 50 watt tube head that I use with that same cabinet. They sound really great. I actually gig with them. How is the clean sound on your amp?
 
#25
Smaller inexpensive amps have been used to record with: 10 Huge Sounds Recorded on Small Amps. Fender Champ's and Deluxe's were small student amps, much like the Gibson and Valco amps. A lot of kids that couldn't afford more expensive amps used these and went on to record with them. They contributed to the sound of some of the songs recorded in the 60's.

The Rolling Stones use small amps and tape recorder amps in the studio. Dave Davies of the Kinks relates using his green Elpico, an inexpensive amp made in England (Dave's Guitars & The Green Amp! at the bottom). Below is Paul McCartney's Elpico amp in the studio.

McCartney's Amp:
Macca Elpico 1.jpg




Dave Davies:
Dave Davies elpico.JPG
 
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#26
My Dad worked for Sears for many years and the music gear in the Sears Roebuck catalog - pretty much all Silvertone (Danelectro) - was what I had for GAS in those days. My first electric guitar was a Silvertone. When I switched to bass around age 13, my Dad stepped up and took me to Sam Ash and got me a Hagstrom '65 short scale bass. But I'll bet that old Silvertone amp is nice paired with the right cab - that's some real tube mojo right there. Brings back memories just to see it ...
 
#27
shwashwa said:
That's kind of what I do. I have a 30 watt and a 50 watt tube head that I use with that same cabinet. They sound really great. I actually gig with them. How is the clean sound on your amp?
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It actually is very nice on the clean side, but only up to moderate volumes. The low end is actually much thicker than one would expect for a guitar amp being used for bass. With the 4 ohm tap, I can use both cabs and stay clean enough for coffeehouse type gigs, but it really shines for recording. I've actually been using it more than my B15 lately.
 
#28
I've had one for years. It is a great guitar amp. The preamps differ from a Deluxe as they are more isolated and there is less interaction between channels. I rewired mine to Deluxe specs and like it better that way. I added an extension speaker jack that switches both the jack and the internal speaker (which are in parallel) over to the 4 ohm tap. While the stock speaker has a very light cone, mine sounds great. The amp keeps up with our guitar player's similarity powered Ampeg Reverb Rocket.

I found the amp to be slightly muted...amp or speaker or both, I'm not sure. It responds really well to the Dallas Rangemaster treble booster I built after I got the amp.

I've got lost of old amps, including mid 60's Princeton Reverb, blackface 67 Deluxe Reverb, and a 65 Bassman. I struggled with that damned Bassman from 1969 when I switched to bass until 1975. It was NEVER enough, even at practice. A 100 watt Norlin SG amp (considered a dog) was far better for bass, and a 1975 125watt Carvin killed it.

While fine for guitar, 50 watt Bassmans were terrible for bass. And I used efficient speakers...EV SRO's and Altecs.
 
#29
Steve Dallman said:
I've had one for years. It is a great guitar amp. The preamps differ from a Deluxe as they are more isolated and there is less interaction between channels. I rewired mine to Deluxe specs and like it better that way. I added an extension speaker jack that switches both the jack and the internal speaker (which are in parallel) over to the 4 ohm tap. While the stock speaker has a very light cone, mine sounds great. The amp keeps up with our guitar player's similarity powered Ampeg Reverb Rocket.

I found the amp to be slightly muted...amp or speaker or both, I'm not sure. It responds really well to the Dallas Rangemaster treble booster I built after I got the amp.

I've got lost of old amps, including mid 60's Princeton Reverb, blackface 67 Deluxe Reverb, and a 65 Bassman. I struggled with that damned Bassman from 1969 when I switched to bass until 1975. It was NEVER enough, even at practice. A 100 watt Norlin SG amp (considered a dog) was far better for bass, and a 1975 125watt Carvin killed it.

While fine for guitar, 50 watt Bassmans were terrible for bass. And I used efficient speakers...EV SRO's and Altecs.
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im using a modern clone of a 1963 50 watt blonde bassman through a modern cab and i can say it is absolutely not terrible for bass. i gig with it regularly on electric and upright
 
#30
chuck3 said:
My Dad worked for Sears for many years and the music gear in the Sears Roebuck catalog - pretty much all Silvertone (Danelectro) - was what I had for GAS in those days. My first electric guitar was a Silvertone. When I switched to bass around age 13, my Dad stepped up and took me to Sam Ash and got me a Hagstrom '65 short scale bass. But I'll bet that old Silvertone amp is nice paired with the right cab - that's some real tube mojo right there. Brings back memories just to see it ...
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Yup when I was a kid I used to drool over the Sears catalogues, also the Lafayette catalogues, played guitar then and there was a triple (!) pickup guitar that I was sure would get that trebly guitar tone in I'm Telling You Now by Freddie and the Dreamers which to me was the ultimate in guitar tone. My first guitar was called an Audition, a real POS. My first bass had no name on it, paid 25 bucks for it which took me all summer to pay, in fact the owner started to chase me to finish paying up, haha! First amp was a Univox tube bass amp, similar to a B-15 with one 15" speaker.
 
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#31
shwashwa said:
im using a modern clone of a 1963 50 watt blonde bassman through a modern cab and i can say it is absolutely not terrible for bass. i gig with it regularly on electric and upright
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It never had enough headroom in any band I was in. I do know now how to improve the headroom and have done so in many customers' amps before I retired as an amp tech.
 
#33
shwashwa said:
i must be mistaken then. my amp sucks. i dont use it on gigs every week
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If it works for you, fantastic. FWIW, I have two Bassman 100's and they were marginal for bass for me. I modded one to use 6550's with greatly increased B+ capacitance, and it became a great gigging head.

I've had three 50 watt Bassman heads, and still have my blackface. I got no punch or headroom, and they would just get lost in the band...fuzzy and saturated. They did not work for me for bass except for bedroom practice.

The bands I played in were higher volume than I'd care to play today. The Bassmans were frustrating for me. 100 watts did work. 50 didn't.
 
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