Silvertone 1392

To add what was previously described: 1957, 2X6V6, 1/2 of a 12AX7 for one channel gain 1/2 for the other, 1/2 another AX7 and for PI. 6AU6 for trem. 12 inch tiny magnet Rola alnico. Tiny Rola OT. Three inputs: 1 mic (high impedance), 2 instrument. Schematic available at Schem heaven, 'bargain bin' section. Sounds like about 10 watts RMS, but I have not measured.

I've played this with SC and bucker guitars. It's a very warm amp, especially the mic channel. The clean sound up to about 7 o'clock or so is jazzy. Where the amp shines is the full tilt overdrive. Sounds like early Zep - monstrous, unreal, better than any pedal or other small amp. And I've owned MANY old amps. The 'secret sauce' is the combination of the low voltage, high value plate resistors (390k) and tiny OT makes for a very brown sound. The amp is just phenomenal when you run it through a cab/different speaker with a little delay on it.

The amp circuit is so basic there is nothing to it - easy to fix. The OT is very small. I wouldn't use any kind of boost or pedal with this amp. It doesn't need it and could fry the OT.

Kind of a one - trick pony, but eh absolute best at what it does. the distortion kills all my Fender tweed and early Gibson amps.

This amp was made in 1957, taking that in context, the amp has everything that was standard on an amp in the late fifties. Personally, it's enough for me, just one tone knob, three inputs (two for guitar, one for a microphone, so technically two channels) and a gentle tremolo. The clean volume capabilities of this amp are limited simply due to its design, as well as the volume at any gain level for that matter, but wiring up an external cabinet or two can fix that. Essentially, it is what it is: a low wattage vintage tube amp, but I believe it is one of the best.

The sound quality of this little amp is phenomenal. Crystal clear highs and round lows with a smooth, cool, vintage edge to it at higher levels. All the old Silvertone amps have a unique character to the sound that is hard to describe, but it can at least be said this model is no exception. If you start to incorporate some good quality gain and boost pedals, this amp can scream! It should be noted however that it's a noisy amp, as many older amps are, so if you're looking for insane gain and volume, I'm not saying you can't get it on this amp, but you'll be running from feedback the entire time. The drive on the amp itself is controlled by the volume from your guitar, which has the useful effect of being able to fade into or out of distorted passages as well as infinitely variable gain levels. If you use it for what it was meant for, I haven't found an amp I prefer over it.

My grandmother gave me this amp when its original owner passed away. When I received the amp it was in completely original condition: tubes, speaker, caps, resistors, everything, and it played just fine. I played it this way for several years without incident. I have since replaced the tubes, caps, and resistors, but the old speaker is still going strong and it sounds better than ever. Even ignoring the fact that it's more than half a century old, I would still consider it as reliable as any tube amp.

This is a rare, old amp. That being said, any repair technician who's heard of it should have no problem working on it. Like any valuable tube amp, take it to someone who has experience with similar amps. I've done some work myself, very easy amp to work with. (as far as I know, they all came with a lot of the electrical specifications glued into the inside of the amp!)

If vintage amps are your thing, I think you'd be hard pressed to find anything both as unique and playable as a Silvertone amp. Although the amp itself may be grossly outdated, some very minor mods (like an external cabinet running at 4 ohms, bridging one guitar input with the microphone input, and finding a good boost or drive pedal to give you that foot switchable second channel) can compensate for its diminutive size and lack of modern conveniences.

As previously stated, built in 1957. Versatile if you love "old school" tube vibe, distoration and a bit of a ragged edge to your tone. Two channels, two inputs for the "instrument" channel and one for the "Mic"; can be jumpered for more guts. Bought on ebay for about $250. I use the amp as a template for a "re-creation/reincarnation/replica" amp that I now build.

I use an American strat as well as a 60's Harmony Bobcat and Strtatone-the very guitars it was contemporary with at the time. Music style best suited to "old school" rock and blues. Noisy-not with good caps in place. Volume on 10-no problem! Tube tone and distoration is what you long for and it delivers, controlled by your guitar volume as you would want. Sounds... well, like you want your best low powered (12Watt) tube amp to sound like. Also works well w/your fave stomp boxes.

Fully serviced, it should hold up just fine. If you relate to this kind of gear, then you know what serviced means. You wouldn't drive your 55 T-bird with the original tires, hoses, battery, etc. Neither would you use this amp seriously w/out a good service stop first. It does not compromise the "integrity" of this vintage amp; it simply makes it reliable again, with the obvious increase in usefulness that new, correct parts can bring to an old amp.

Any competent tube amp tech can make this baby right. Heck, spend a few weeks educating yourself on the internet and you can do it!

Playing most of my 54 years, mostly for own enjoyment. If stolen, surf ebay for any number of Silvertones comparable or find yourself a builder and give him the schematic. Love its sound; why else have it! Also, the styling is cool. Comparasion shopping before purchase? Nope, just pure dumb luck that I got it on ebay and ended up with a jewel and the start of a great love affair w/tube amps-both playing and building them.

Made in 1957. Probably sounds better now then it did 50 years ago but, I wasn't around to know. A friend a was playing in a band with give it to me one night after a practice. I played harp through it and no amp has ever sounded as good to me as this little guy. It handled playing in a loud blues/rock band with two guitarists. I hadn't even opened her up until 3months worth of gigs.

As stated before its around 12-15watts I believe, the tube are 26v6gts/6au6/6x5gt/2 12xa7s.
Nice and brown covering with the silvertone logo on the front.
check out this site for more info and pictures
http://www.freewebs.com/silvertoneguitar/

I now use it at home. I play a ASAT special. No more harp playing with it. I've replaced the filter caps, change cord to safe grounded. Output trans is fine and I hope I never have to change the orignal speaker out because I think thats where the magic happens. This amp is fuckin unreal sounding. You just can't find the type of sounds it makes anywhere else.

Its 50yo. maybe if I restore it a bit more I won't worry about babying it.

Yeah,

Find one and never let it go.

This is an update to the review I posted on 10/08/07..

I posted my last review before I got the amp working. Turns out I had a bad preamp socket but I had it fixed. The tremelo did not work. Replacing the 3 caps around the tremelo tube fixed it right up. I installed a better baffle board and installed a new output transformer from a Fender blues Jr and replaced the stock speaker with a 10 inch C10R Jensen. Now this amp really sounds good. I had a real player play it and it sounded a lot like his Fender Tweed Deluxe! Tremelo sounds great too, both channels work well, the mic channel is a little cleaner, you can jumper both channels with a guitar cord for an even fatter tone too! Look at the review for the Silvertone 1432 amp. It is the same amp just with a tone control for each channel in a different style cabinet. Tried it with a harmonica miced and it sounded great too!

I had to replace nearly all the resistors and the output transformer.
I replaced the filter caps and the caps controlling the tremelo.
OH I got the schematic from schematic heaven. There is a resistor marked 68k or 390K. 68k is super clean, 100K is a bit louder, grittier and the 390K was way over the top with little clean sound.
I recommend the 100K resistor. I also replaced the 2 wire cord with a grounded cord for safety. Any of these 50 year old Silvertones will need a lot of work to sound like new or better, but it is worth it!
It is ready for another 50 years or service now.

Sears will just think your crazy if you call them for help with this.

These were made in late 1957 until early 1959 so there are not very many still around. This thas the brown tolex covering not the gray color that was around in the 1960s. It has 5 controls and 2 channels.
mic vol,instvol,tone,trem speed,trem depth. It has a 12 inch 3.2ohm Rola speaker with the smallest magnet I have ever seen on a speaker. It has a split chassis with controls on top and one tube 12ax7 on top with the rest of the tubes, 12ax7, two 6v6, 6au6, 6x5gt. Has the Sivertone V logo over the offset speaker. Leather handle and I figure it is about 12 watts. I bought this in an antique shop. It was the dirtiest item I have every owned. Damp dust had settled into every nook and cranny so bad I had to wash it out. I have only seen one sell on Ebay in the last 6 months and it fetched $500. These are rare.

I have tested the speaker, cleaned the controls and jacks and tube sockets and tested the tubes. I have not gotten it restored yet as it needs more work electrically. I replaced the baffle board and did a super clean up job on it. I replaced the filter caps and nearly all of the resistors, they had drifted out of spec or read nothing at all. I may need an output transformer and a little bit of debugging by a pro to get this running correctly. Will comment on sound quality when it is all finished.

Simple circuit, I found the schematic at Schematic heaven for free.

being 50 years old Sears has long ago forgotten this amp.

From the few things I have seen about this amp in working condition, it should sound fantastic. I am adding this amp out here to get the ball rolling so some other owners will add their reviews.