Silvertone 1432

Built in 1960. One mic and two instrument inputs. Independant volume and tone controls for mic and instrument allow for countless combinations of settings. Try connecting a jumper between one instrument input and the mic input for an even fatter tone! Mine has all original Silvertone tubes and original 12 inch Rola speaker. This amp is also in great shape cosmeticaly. Tremolo does not work.

WOW this amp has great tone for harp. I cant stop playing it! I was able to play a small club with band turned down without problems. Lots of feedback when volume gets much over 3. I've found a 12AT7 tube in the preamp section helped with reducing feedback and also made the amp sound a little less crunchy. I will be experimenting with other tube combos soon.

Built in 1960 I believe. Inputs: one mic, and two others. The tremolo doesn't work. I'm a 20 plus yr. harp player. I've bought and sold many small and mid sized combos over the last several yrs. Some I wish I still had. That '53 Tweed Valco Chicago 51 comes to mind. The 4 ohm was replace with a 25 watt, 8 ohm Weber 12A150 (P12N). I'm going with this amp being around 12 or so watts. Works fine in a mid sized room with the band turned down. Up to aound 3ish on volume and treble it's LOUD, after that it squeels like a scared little girl. That said, this amp has a HUGE, FAT, BIG tone. I love this amp so much, I bought another 1960. It will get the same Weber in a few days. Some advice: if you don't have good acoustic tone, you might as well play through a solid state amp. Work on your personal tone first. I spent a ton of dough on amps before I learned that lesson. My other amp is a Sonny Jr 410. Another HUGE tone monster. I play through JT-30s and 707As. CMs and CRs only. No volume controls.

The sound is a solid 10. It's just one of the baddest sounding small combos ever made by man.

It's 46 yrs old. Had it seviced/new Wever about 2yrs ago. All NOS RCAs/gounded power cord. No problems.

No warranties obviouly. A good amp tech should be able to fix whatever is wrong. It's a relitively simple amp, I think, to work on.

Even though I have two of these bad boys, I'd buy two more if they were stolen/lost. Don't need any bells or whistles, so the 1432 suits me just fine. Like I said, get your personal tone down, then buy one of these amps. The tone will knock you out. The Weber has something to do with it too.

My 1432 was made in 1961. It's no-frills. It has a guitar channel, a mic channel (both controlled by independent volume and tone knobs), and it has the coolest tremolo effect that is controlled by "strength" and "speed" knobs.

The design is somewhere between Late Flintstones and Early Jetsons. It is definitely the coolest looking amp I have ever seen.

I don't know how many watts this thing generates. One guy below has said 15, another guy says 55. I can only judge the volume, and if cranked, you get just enough volume to play rythm at a SMALL CLUB (bar with about 75 people) gig. But you need a pedal to boost the volume in order to solo.

I give it a 7 for versatility because even though it whines like a horny alley cat when a harp is played through it, and it produces the coolest blues tone when a guitar is played through it (more distortion than a fender, but cool, creamy, bluesy distortion), the sweet spot provides for limited range in voume, and it's not quite loud enough for even a small gig unless mic'd.

Strictly blues and classic rock.

Great amp for this stuff. Creamy and warm distortion at 6 to 9 O'clock. A little to harsh beyond that, well, for me, anyway.

I absolutely LOVE the tremolo. Every now and then the tremolo gets a little noisey and picks up a gremlin for a few seconds, but, I'm tellin' ya, that makes this thing sound even cooler. I like to play a lot of double stops and slidey, slurvey, horn-like lines. The tremolo makes those things sound soooo cool.

As I mentioned above, there is a volume issue in the sweet spot for this amp. You can play rythm, but you can't get enough volume for lead. I use two pedals with this amp--an MI Audio Blues Pro and an old Bixonic Expandora. The Blues Pro boosts the volume for solos and adds some sustain, and then thing leaps into some serious swelling, soaring, searing lead tones when the Expandora is kicked in.

Never had an issue. It's even got the original tubes still in it (maybe--they're branded "Silvertone," anyway).

I don't think anyone at Sears would even recognize this amp, but I don't think anyone at Sears would even recognize their own parole officers, either.

I've been playing for along time. I usually play Les Pauls, but I have a Nighthawk, a Firebird, a Washburn e-100, a Reverend Rocco, and handful of others I play from time to time. I have some decent amps: a Rivera, a Mesa Boogie Mk IIb, an Egnater TOL 50, a Peavey Classic 50, an old Fender Dual Showman, a couple of Marshalls, and a few other strays. This is probably my favorite amp. For blues, it's a great compliment to a Les Paul. I'm not a big fan of Gibson pickups, and the low end for Les Pauls tend to get a little muddy--regardless of the pickup. This amp solves that problem and provides some cool sounding highs that do not become ice-picks, while, at the sme time, churning out this babbling-brook-crumbly-vibrant distortion that makes me love this amp. I should probably quit gigging it because it would break my heart to lose it, but I get separation anxiwety when I think about that possibility. If forced to choose between this amp and my girlfriend . . . I guess it would be "Honey, it's been great, but . . . ."

This amp is not like a Fender Champ. It has more balls, better distortion and the tone has more character. I would say, take a Rivera Chubster, switch it to the clean channel (which ain't that freakin' clean), turn the treble to 7, the mid to 5 and the bass to 4. Then turn the volume to 7, the Master volume to 3 and engage the Ninja Boost. Close your eyes, slide into an "A" at the fifth fret on strings 1 through 3, and hold it for 4 seconds. Before opening your eyes, imagine what it would sound like if it were twice as good, twice as sweet and had sexier distortion. That would be this amp. Or take an old black face Fender, connect an attenuator, dime the volume and play the same chord. Before opening your eyes, imagine what it would sound like if a sexy growl were part of the tone. That would be this amp.

Guys, I have had my Silvertone 1432 since I was 16. I am now 57!
I see a lot of mistakes in its description in the comments, and they are probably all honest mistakes.

Let me set you straight. The 1432 is 55 watt amp. 1-12 inch speaker. The orignals had ROLA 12 inch speaker with small voice coil of 3.2 OHMS resistance (which translates to a 4 ohm speaker). I still have my schematic and owners manual.

That original speaker is good, but it will blow!...blew mine the 2nd year I had it. Yes, 2 inputs plus a mic. The cabinet is made of 100% particle board, but it is still a majik amp....unbelievable tone and pretty good volume. Mic it if you want more volume!!

Best replacement speaker is probably the Jensen P12R, but it should be a 4 ohm speaker to match the output per the schematic.

This amps cabinet design looks so cool! I am almost finished with my EXACT reproduction of a 100% wooden cabinet. I am going to retire the orginal to preservation. I have found speaker cloth that looks just like the orignal and also that cool grey/black tracer vinyl covering. When I am finished, I don't think you will be able to tell it from original, except it is 100% wood. (What will the tone be in 100% wood??.....probably even better!).

Good luck to all of you lucky enough to own a 1432 Silvertone Amp!

I play it with my original Silvertone archtop w/single pickup.
I play anything but RAP! Naturally Blues, Rock n Roll and Country!!
It is a little noisy, but turn that old 2 prong plug over in the socket to find the true sweet spot!
The AMP will start to disort at >6.
Change the tubes and caps and you cure all of that!

When taken care off (tubes, speaker and Caps)...great reliability.
I may start to make awful sounds, but it will not QUIT ON YA!..unless you totally blow the speaker or break a tube open!!

Sear did forget they ever made it.
You won't believe this, but because I have my owners manual I have all the original Sears pns.

I have been playing this amp since 1964! I was 16 then.
With all this harp talk, I guess I better learn to play harp as this is apparently considered the HOLY GRAIL of HARP AMPS!! GEEEZE, and I thought it was just a Cadillac Amp for my old Silvertone archtop guitar.

I believe this to be around a '65. Not many features, but thats what makes it great. Has a mic and instrument channel...Tremolo adjustments too. 12" speaker...2-6v6's, some others too.

I play guitar and harp, and as forementioned in the reviews, this amp has got 100% tone. Mine is quite loud too! I have had problems lately with a buzzing in the speaker, I think its blown....Anybody have similar troubles let me know. Email me! Other than that, I wish it wasn't buzzing, because this amp HAS GOT the best tone of anything I've played for harp especially!!!!!!! Anybody into blues harp may also like to know, that for many of his recordings, George Harmonica Smith used THIS amp, a little modified, but defineately this one! Rod Piazza has also used this!!!!!!

Fairly decent so far....Other than my speaker problem.

Sears probably forgets that they even made these beauties~~!

BUTTER AND PURE BLUES TONE. HECK THEY WERE MADE IN CHICAGO, MADE FOR THE BLUESMEN!

This amplifier is the most outstanding amp for Harp Players. Mine has the original speaker, which with this amp does not blow. The amp itself does not produce enough watts to really hurt the speaker. This is what I believe made it last for so long.

I've never heard tone as good as this for harp. Even the old Fenders don't have this GROWWL. I't true that over #6, the amp does distort quite a bit, but I never use the tone for harmonica, so if it distorts, I simply crank the tone a little and level it out.

This amp is to precious to use all the time. I have retired it for session playing only. This amp never stops, but I did have a pro rework the Tremelo and replace a few tubes. It sounds better than when I bought it 4 years ago!
I rate the reliability so high because it never fails, never blows.

This amp is simple, but so am I when it comes to tech. stuff.
However, I usually have no trouble getting my trusted techs to tweak it.

I have been playing harp for 7 years. I have played with some of the best. Even the oldest blues player's eyes get big when they see this thing.
When I retired it for session work, I bought a BLues Junior. Not much copmparrison. Like apples to oranges. But my junior does have a nice sound. I also own a Fender Super Twin Reverb.

First off, the guy below is wrong- this amp is about 15W and has a 12" blue Utah speaker that kicks ass... beyond that, any amp w/ a "tone" knob is awesome by my experience.... it's also got a great sounding tremolo but it's not slow enough- you can fix this but I don't know how...

This is the best amp I've ever heard- it makes you want to play for hours and hours- it gets just the right amount of edge around "6" (gets somewhat crappy at full volume but it could be the tubes...) but I swear that sound at "6" is the best in the world... I used an ebow and a looper and got UNBELIEVABLE flute sounds that no other amp has ever produced with the same setup. If you can find one of these, BUY IT - I bet you would've anyway cuz this thing looks so cool anyway...

Mine was "gone over" before I bought it and for being built in 1959, I'd say this thing is pretty f'n solid...

Ha Ha

The only problem is that it's not loud enough w/ a heavy drummer- I want to get three or four of these and create a silvertone wall of sound - you'll be amazed....

A very basic amp, great for beginners. Two instrument inputs, one Mic input and tremolo(speed and strength controlls w/ foot switch{i dont have one;< }) The amp that I have came in a cardboard box so I have no idea what speaker should go with this unit. After looking at the wiring, I believe that this is a two speaker amp(dont take my word on that) Features are fairly limited but still have great function

First off I am using this SILVERTONE with a BASS. I play surf style and classic rock and VooDooBilly. With the 8" OPTIMUS speaker that i have hooked up there is a really clear tone. Yet when all bass controlls are cranked, the distortion is so fuzzy and noisy that it becomes almost unbearable. Volume could be just alittle bit higher but not much. also, due to a weak link in one of my pickups there is a constant background sizzle.

I have NEVER had to replace ANYTHING. as far as I know, everything is still original. This is a very reliable amp.

No Need To.

My SILVERTONE was a gift. I have had it for the 3 years that I have been playing. At times I have gotten bored with how limited the sound is but soon after messing with some tube spin off solid state boxes, I returned to my little 55 watt tubie for the clean sounds.