Silvertone 1482

Circa 1965 Silvertone 1482, microphone and instrument (2 inputs) channels with separate tone controls. Tremolo with speed and depth controls and 1/4" footswitch jack. (You rarely see the original footswitch with these.) About 15 watts. 12" speaker: I've got a ceramic Weber (12F100) in mine.

Has a tweed deluxe-ish sound, somewhat dark (even with the tone knob on full), clean headroom is almost nil, but gets a nice hairy clean at lower volume settings. The overall vibe and range of clean to overdrive is a lot like what you hear on Neil Young's "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere." Not very loud for 15 watts. Mine had a Celestion G12-65 in it when I bought it; that speaker was a little louder and crunchier, but the magnet was so heavy that the bolts were pulling out of the masonite baffle board.

The big different between this amp and a tweed Fender is the cabinet construction. This is particle board and very shallow, almost closed back. It's got a punchy sound, not at all "3-D" or lush, but projects pretty well. Someday I'd like to get a speaker-out installed so I can try it with a separate cab. The cabinet also tends to develop rattles. I had to repair cracks and tears around the baffle bolts with Gorilla Glue to get it to stop it from buzzing and stick foam rubber between the chassis and the cabinet at the lower right front corner to get rid of a rattle.

The microphone channel has more gain and bit more low end. You can also jumper the channels with a patch cord and get a thicker overdrive: plug into the first instrument input and put a patch cable between the second input and the microphone channel. So you have some versatility there within the neighborhood of darker, tweedy overdrive.

Again, the construction is the main flaw. The tolex is paper. The baffle is masonite, the cabinet is particle board, and the chassis is thin aluminum. Be careful with it. I understand the hand-wired guts are very easy to work on though.

It's an antique.

I like the amp. It suits me. I enjoy the slighty ragged tone and vintage look of it. The volume level is usable for practice and small gigs, in a band with an easygoing drummer. And you can leave your OD pedals at home.

bought for my mom at sears along with the silvertone "silhoutte" guitar in 1965. she didnt stick with playing and it came along from an uncle just as i was selling my marshal l1/2 stack to become a bedroom player. i keep it pretty simple these days and this amp stays in line with that. real tube tone, light to medium powered, one channel, no reverb, very cool tremolo (raises the score 1 point), tone is one knob, but like i said..simple. i've read other wish it had the reverb, but this is not, and never was, a high end amp by any stretch (although surely better than most mass produced crap now). if it had been built with reverb, they would've screwed it up and we'd all be writing about how we don't use it because it's cheeky.

i play a little post-rock, some jazz, a touch of experimental. i play a '62 avri jazzmaster through it and supplement with both a keeley rat and a keeley Ad9 analog delay....
and here's the real trick: sure it's glowing tube goodness, but the stock speaker is absolute garbage. vintage? sure...vintage garbage (i.e. -it was never a good sounding speaker)! when i got it, i had it cleaned up and new tubes. then i removed the particle board speaker baffle with the speaker in it and kept it all intact if i ever wanted to restore it (which i won't). i replaced the baffle with 1/2" ply and dropped in a made in england greenback that was broken in well and flawless. this amp went from sounding ok to absolutely brilliant. the clean is great. suits me with the greenback as i don't care for really trebley tones and it balances with my jmasters pups well...especially the neck and middle position. i use the Ad9 almost as a reverb with a subtle return. the rat (the only distortion box i've ever loved and only one i'd bother using for it's super smooth characteristics)? it produces really creamy lead tones and hitting chords breaks up like a sheet of safety glass. pretty close to perfect.

this amp sat in my grandmothers house for decades...then my uncle got hooked and cooked on speed and thought he could sing late night horror sessions with it. when i got it, the tremolo tube was broken, the wiring had been scrambled in true "tweaker style", and he had painted a frog on it. nice, right? anyway, the cabinet is made of stuff i wouldnt use for firewood, so you have to go easy on it. that's again to mention the baffle....garbage. replace the speaker while you're at it, have a tech clean it up, install a ground cord, some new tubes as needed and you'll be in business.

yeah right. the people responsible for this have long since left the earth. i doubt sears would know what a tube amp is.

great real vintage alternative to dropping huge dollars into boutique stuff...although if i had the money, i would surely score a fargen, reeves, rivera, or some other. i'm happy to have such a great family heirloom. my grandmother passed before i started playing. i'm the only musician in the family and i know she'd be proud.
i've been playing about 15 years and have owned several fender amps, the aforementioned marshall, teles. strats, mosrites, blah, blah...and this is what i feel to be my true tone after all these years of buying and selling gear. the gear lust is an expensive addiction i'm wanting to get past anyway. if it were stolen, i'd be sad to not pass it on to my kids, but i'd carry on.
i'd recommend it to players who are looking for not only a cool amp, but a project that would involve a little basic do it yourself handy work and researching a quality speaker make that will help it's voice shine the way YOU imagine in your head.

Don't know when made. It's the brains of a 1482 put into a crappy black rectangular piggy back unit. Two channels, tremolo, no reverb. Has original silvertone tubes

Dark, growly distortion. I've used severel guitars from single coils to hunbuckers. My favorite mate to this amp was a 3 pickup silvertone single cutaway from 60's. I was told it had original DeArmand pickups and they were the "best ones they ever made." I only got rid of the guitar "cause it wouldn't stay in tune. When I ran it thru a 12" celestion in Marshall cab. it sounded fabulous. It sounds great thru my Hot Rod Deluxe cab too.

Brought the amp from Hamburg N.Y. suburb of buffalo 16 years ago. It's worked ever since.

N/A

Been playing 44 years. Yeah I'd want another. I like the chicago blues sound it produces. Wish it had reverb, and a little more high end.

Mid 1960's tube amp. Probably about 15W, single 12" speaker, 1 mic and 2 instr inputs but the circuitry is the same for all 3, basic volume, tone controls, tremelo I never use. I got it used in 1972 for next to nothing. I blow harp through it and it is absolutely perfect for that. Funky cool retro appearance. On the down side, the cabinet is made of cheap particle board covered with soft plastic like material so the amp is kind of fragile.

I have searched high and low and cannot find anything that comes close to touching it for that old fashioned Chicago styled blues harp sound. Seriously, it's an antique and I wish I could find something else to carry to gigs but nothing else sounds as good. I switched the original 12 AX7 preamp tubes with lower gain AT7's which is a customary mod to use an amp for harp. Sometime I use an old Ibanez A9 delay pedal to sound like I'm playing in the bus station bathroom but mostly it's perfect just like it is.

After 40 years it was working fine with no repairs and all original parts. I got a tech guy to put a new, properly grounded 3 pronged power cord because if I forgot and played without shoes occaisionally it would bite -- not good when you're holding that metal mike up against your mouth. While he was at it I got him to give it a cap job just insure I could look forward to another 40 years of great tone.

It was a Sears product. Obviously there's no support there. Some technicians may not want to work on it because it is so old but the circuitry is simple, very similar to an old Fender and you can find the schematics posted online. You can find someone to work on it if you need to.

I don't play guitar so I don't know if it's as special there as it is for blues harp but If something happened to it I would cry. If you find one at a garage sale or in a pawn shop, buy it! If you find something you like better, sell it to a harp player.

The previous owner said that this Silvertone 1482 amp is from 1959. I?m only speaking from a harp player?s point of view. I play the style of Little Walter using ?tongue blocking?. Usually I use the Green Bullet with Control Magnetic or with Control Reluctance Element. I only use the Green Bullet in the microphone channel. I don?t like my JT 30 Crystal microphone with this Silvertone amp. It sounds too thin with no bottom or highs. After recap and new tubes the Silvertone sounds much better. It still has the original 1x12 Fisher loudspeaker but in my opinion the loudspeaker is too dark. In gig situations the bass and drums will burry the harp. I will try to replace the original speaker with the Celestion Century, the Celestion Greenback, the Jensen Alnico or Weber speaker and see how it goes. I never use the Tremolo or the Speed but I would love some reverb with this amp.

Tube change in preamp.

This information is for harp players only. My Silvertone 1482 came with two 12AX7s in the preamp but it works better with 12AU7 & 12AT7 for harp players. The12AT7 goes into the preamp socket closet to the microphone input. The12AU7 tube goes into preamp socket next to the 12AT7. I use the microphone input for the Green Bullet or the JT 30. With the Green Bullet I can turn the amp up to volume level 3-4 and with the JT 30 even higher. I use a George L high impedance microphone cable.

If I compare the Silvertone 1482 with other amps with same size like the Fender Princeton Reverb, the Fender Tweed Deluxe and the Gibson GA-20 I would prefer the Fender Princeton Reverb and Gibson GA-20. The Princeton Reverb (pre CBS) goes for 800-900 US$ on eBay and the Gibson GA-20 goes for 500-600 US$. I bought my Silvertone 1482 on eBay for 200 US$. I?m not a fully pro. and only half of my income comes from playing harp therefore money plays a role when choosing amps ( I don?t use more money on equipment than what I get from playing harp).

I never had any problems with this amp. The electronics as good as Fender amps but it's not a suitable amp for days on the road. The frame is too fragile.

I think any good vintage amp techician would be able to help out.

My conclusion as a harp player is that the Silvertone 1482 amp is not suitable for gigs with full band. On stage I wouldn?t mic it up either. I prefer bigger amps like the Silvertone 1483 amp head with cabinet or other big amps. If money isn?t a problem the Sonny Junior Amp, the ?59 Fender Baseman and The Fender Concert are among my favorites.

I would only use the Silvertone 1482 as a practice amp. On stage I would use the ?59 Fender Baseman Reissue because it?s one of the cheapest among the big amps.

Here's the deal gang. I've owned this amp (circa 1965) since it was new. MY VERY FIRST AMP!! Also owned a 1484, which I basically gave away..however next purchase for the band was a VOX Beatle (which I also gave away...go figure at the stupidity.) anyway, recently re-tubed it with Sovetek stuff although the original tubes still worked fine. Guess I did it for nostalgia reasons. Wanted to keep the original stuff "pristine". Amazing that these tubes still hold vaccum after 40 years! Also own Fender Cyber Deluxe(wonderful modeling amp), Fender Acoustasonic and VOX AD50VT amp, modified by North Coast Music, looks like and can do AC30 TB sounds. Go there if you are a VOX enthusiast!

Sound is phenomenal when joined to an outboard processor...I use a digitech RP 200 to make this thing sing. Onboard tube tremolo is superb but lacks presence without reverb..if you want that sound. Given the vintage it is still a "kickass" amp for the value.

Still work fine after 40 years...nuff said. However. the two pronged AC line cord should be replaced as the "floating groung" capacitor could go south and expose you to some nasty voltages that could hurt! There are web sites that instruct how to install a grounded 120VAC grounded cord if you dare...otherwise, get it modified by a competent amp tech. Also, don't screw around with any of the point to point stuff in the chassis. When I serviced my amp after not having been plugged in for over 20 years, the caps still had a charge that could do some seriuos personal injury...again be careful here!

Sears...there is none...find a tube amp tech...these amps are not very complicated.

The amp is 40 years old and has been with me for that entire time. Took a 20+ year hiatus from guitar playing but have come back strong in the last 4+ years. Own RIC 360/12, Les Paul Custom, Gibson ES-335 and Fender Strat along with Yamaha and Japan built EPI 12 string acoustics from the 80's. Could not imagine getting rid of it for any price for both sentimental and sonic reasons

I'd guess that this 1482 was manufactured in the mid 60's. As described previously, it has a mic in, two instrument ins, footswitch (for tremelo) in, 1 tone knob and 1 volume knob for the mic, 1 tone and one volume for the instr., and "speed" and "strength" knobs for tremelo. It has that wonderful 'second string' Silvertone design -- it doesn't make any effort whatsoever to nick pro amps in the looks dept. The amp is side mounted, and fit with those crazy oversized nobs which give it the vibe of a television set. It is covered with Silvertone 'tolex' -- that grayish wallpaper we all love. The 1482 gets a thousand points in the kitsch dept.

15 or so watts; excellent tremelo. It lacks a bit in clean headroom, but has plenty of power for most applications. The single 'tone' knob limits tonal latitude here, but there's an easy solution for that (coming up). If it had reverb, it would be nearly perfect.

Mine, incidentally, is near mint. The tolex has separated slightly on one corner, but that's about it. It has the original tubes (which could probably stand to be replaced), the original two prong power cord (NOT a plus), and probably saw less than home use. Nice.

OK -- as a vintage, low cost amp, I really can't cheer about the 1482's sound. It sounds about like one would expect a vintage, low cost amp would sound: somewhat boxy, woofy, and not sparkling in the highs. The tremelo is sensational, however. 'Stock', I would say that it's suitable for jazz, less-than-high-powered blues, and harp. I really hung onto mine as sort of a collectible.

Lightbulb: gee, why not give it a try w/ my Dano 9-band EQ? Yeah, it's 'cheating' but given the tonal limitations of the amp...Weelll, the Dano EQ turned the 1482 into a completely pro quality amp for all occasions. Gone was the boxy, muddy stuff. When the amp breaks up, it breaks up on a pristeen high end, rather than on an already murky sound. FWIW, I rigged up my array of cheap Dano stomp boxes (slap-back, tremelo, and awful 'verb) and it all sounds good.

American made '81 Fender Bullet -- delicious. Epiphone ES295 -- as good as I've heard. Strat -- yeah, that's a Strat. Peavy tele -- c'mon Buck Owens. With EQ, my rating is 9+.

At this point, the issues with this amp are mechanical. It probably could be retubed. There is some rattling with the speaker. And the chasis needs to be tightened up, which is probably easier said than done. Otherwise, I don't think I'll need that Pro Junior after all.

Once I go through it and acid test it for a few hours, I think it should stand up. Note: this not an amp to sit on. The enclosure WILL collapse.

Yeah, I'm gonna call Sears service for help. Sheesh.

I'm a thirty year pro keyboardist, and 4 year hopeful geetar slinger. I make my $ playing. I own tons of stuff. Tons.

If this were lost or stolen, I'm not altogether certain I'd beat a trail to find another. It's great, but frankly, I wouldn't find one for what I paid for this one, and there are other amps available that are more sound in the durability dept.

Two instrument and one mic inputs have served me well, and the tremelo is great fun. Plenty enough power and volume for what I have used it for (practice mostly). It is also light enough to carry around easily, yet sounds like music, not a toy. The only thing I miss is reverb, but for the price, the features can't be beat.

The sounds from this amp have always been warm, the tubes have lasted, and my amp has had no noticeable hisses or hums, even at very low volumes. I play all styles, and mostly use a PRS Custom 22 through this amp or sometimes a 60's era Hofner Galaxie. I mostly play with a clean channel through my other amps anyway, and this amp is very clean; there's no overdrive, but I don't miss it. The bass settings are very low, while the treble setting is clean, but not surf guitar high. I like the sound, but that's just my subjective opinion.

I bought this amp used from my friend when I was in high school in 1967, replaced two tubes at that time, and have used it continuously since then. At times I used it as a car speaker, so it bounced around my MG for a few years. Today it still works and sounds great (as an amp) with its original parts except for the two tubes. So yes, I would give its reliability high marks.

It's a Silvertone from Sears. I don't think they would try to fix it today if something on it broke.

I have been playing guitars, bass, piano and other keyboards, percussion, and woodwinds for over 40 years (I'm starting to sound fair) and have used this amp for gigs off and on during this time. It's not my main amp or even my "2nd" main amp, but from time to time it's the right choice. It's kind of ugly and not that sophisticated, but the sound is sometimes just right for the venue or the music being played. I love it.

Probably mid 60's all tube 1X12" combo amp. Not too many features by today's standards, but quite nice feature wise for it's era. But I wasn't looking for a lot of features when I bought this amp. I was really only looking for a beater 1X12" or 1X10" tube amp that wasn't heavy and easy to carry for jamming with friends and to take to the lake when we go camping with our travel trailer. I have a Yamaha accoustic for this, but I hate playing accoustics. But this vintage amp is in such nice condition, I don't want to use it for a beater. On the back, it has 4 1/4" inputs (1 microphone, 2 instruments, 1 footswitch), red jewel indicator light, on/off toggle switch, and a 1 amp fuse holder. On the front it has 1 volume & 1 tone for microphone, 1 volume & 1 tone for instruments, tremelo depth, and tremlo speed control knobs. The tube compliment is 2 X 6V6 power tubes, 2 X 12AX7 pre-amp tubes, a 6X4 rectifier tube, and a 6AU6 tube for the tremelo function. A nice touch is that all the tube sockets are labeled on the chassis. Mine has all original Silvertone tubes in it, and remarkably, they all work fine. The amp is plenty powerful enough for my purposes. The wish it had a reverb feature, but I don't miss it that much on this amp. This amp's coolness factor is way up there with its side mounted chassis and controls. Very unique looking.

This amp is the $hit. Nice warm, fat tone even at low volume. Shimmery clean tone, but with less highs as a vintage Fender deluxe. The tone just seems to get fatter and warmer the more you go up on the amp's volume, until you hit about 5 or 6 on the amps volume, when it starts to break up beautifully. It will break up at 4 on the volume if you really increase the attach on the strings. What I really like about the sound is how hard the bass notes hit. Very tight bottom with no muddyness. For the amp having it's original alnico speaker (Utah or something), this seems amazing to me. As other reviewers have said, the amp is a little dark sounding, but I like it. It gives the amp a lot of character (it is not an exact copy of a vintage Fender Deluxe tonewise!). IMHO, the dark tone comes from the compact cabinet and back panel. The back panel is right up against the speaker's magnet. I just got this amp, and I have only played it with my USA Peavey Predator (very good Strat copy with 3 single coils). The amp is a Tone monster with the Predator. Next, I going to try my '76 Les Paul Standard with it. The Les Paul's pickups will probably cause the amp to break up earlier on the volume knob. The tremelo works great and sounds great. Would be nice for some surf type music. The only problem I've encounted is a little rattle coming from the amp on hard bass notes. I thought it might be because of the masonite speaker baffle, but I think I've isolated it to the little riveted Sears tag on the chassis. This rating is for the instrument channel. Haven't tried the microphone channel.

For an amp made in the mid 60's, with the original tubes and speaker, and still working perfectly, I would say it's quite reliable, although I think mine may have been stored unused for most of it's life. I just got the amp, so no servicing yet, but I see no need for it currently.

I don't believe Sears sells musical instruments any longer, and if they did, it would be some Chinese made solid state junk. There are free schematics for this amp on the web. Print one out, and if you need service, take it to a qualified amp tech, who has experience with Fender Deluxe tube amps. This is basically the same simple circuit as the Fender.

I've been playing guitar recreationaly approx. 30 years. In addition to the amp being reviewed, I own a Peavy Triumh 60 all tube 1X12" Combo, Peavey straight 4X12" cab, vintage Montgomery Ward 1X12" solid state combo, USA Peavey Predator Strat copy, '76 Gibson Les Paul Standard, Yamaha accoustic guitar, vintage no-name Japanese solid body electric. If this amp were lost or stolen, I would definetly search Ebay for another one (or a 1472). 1st and foremost, I love the tone, 2nd, I love how cool and unique the amp is. Wish it had a 3-prong grounded A/C plug and reverb, but the amp more than makes up for it in coolness and tone. I compared it to a lot of vintage 1X10" & 1X12" all tube combo's for sale on ebay. I chose this one because of the reviews here and because the amp is so unique looking. I bought this amp off ebay for $225.00 with free shipping. This amp probably sold for less than $80.00 brand new at Sears in the 60's. I didn't think it was in as good of condition as it is (poor description and photos on the auction). This thing is in excellent condition with all original Silvertone tubes and original speaker. The only negative on appearance is a long stain across the middle of the grill cloth. I am happy with my purchase to say the least!

Hi folks...greetings from Canada!
Well...one day about 3 years ago I was visiting my friend and local guitar/amp tech at his home based shop. While we where talking I happen to mention that I was lookin around for an old Silvertone or Harmony amp. No sooner had I said it then he says "follow me". I follow him to the back storage room and out of the dark he pulls out a vintage Silvertone 1482 amp....and then says "take it, it's yours". Now, not only did he just give me this amp for nuthin' but...it's already been modified so that both the Microphone and Instrument channels are wired together. Also the previous owner wired in a "Bass", "Treble" and "Mid" controls using the extra controls since the 2 channels are wired together. Basically this is a 1 channel amp but it sounds amazing for 12-15 watts. A 3 prong plug was installed and the tube recifier has also been changed to a transistor and the amp is super quiet and I believe sounds as good as any of those really expensive "hand wired" custom amps... I typically play this baby with the volume set about 5-6 and I use a Zoom 505 effects unit to give me some reverb and boost and more overdrive if needed and this amp is beautiful...I have used it in a band with a piano, bass and drums and have played many blues jams and gigs with it and it is certainly loud enough to be heard (un-mic'd) in room of about 50 people. One of this amplifiers best features is that it's light. It is so portable that I even take it to jams on the city bus. One day I would like to build a new cabinet for it...maybe even turn it into a head/cab configuration. As anyone on here ever done that sort of thing? Other then the fact that I find it's look rather ugly this amp sounds wonderful. I have not experienced any of the rattle that others have from it's rather flimsy cabinet. I have also heard that installing a better speaker baffle will also improve the sound.
By the way...I play a 1995 sunburst Squier Strat (pawnshop prize $120) with a plywood body and stock pickups through this old Silvertone and it sounds pretty darn good...people are amazed when they see my set-up. Amp total cost: $0 Guitar total cost: $120 Zoom Effects pedal total cost: $40 (used). Total cost of my rig?....$160.00...Now thats what I call a blues rig....LOL
Thats my story..thanx for readin it....
keep twangin'!
Bluesfreek

the amp is 40+ years old...