Silvertone 1471

Simple all tube amp, P2P wiring, mine had the OT directly wired and soldered to the speaker as well. So minimal connections to effect the tone.

Awesome. This is my favorite small amp for composing, low volume playing, and recording. When I 1st got the amp, it had the stock tubes, sounded OK, not great, little headroom and kinda bland.

Experimented with numerous pre's and NOS 6v6's and NOS rectifier tubes.

Found that it is very responsive to different tube types. And the interactivity of the pre's to the power section can be quite touchy. Some of the pre's had too much gain and the amp would feedback very easily. So, taking a little time, you "tune" it to your sound can coax some of the sweetest tones.

I settled on NOS RCA Milspec Metal can 6v6, just gave it a whole diffent character and much more headroom. Note these do run very hot, but have not had any trouble over the past 6 months I've had it. It is so quiet, I have left it on for days and never known it until I reached behind to turn it on and felt the heat! One tough little amp.

I have bought a new speaker for it, but just can't bring myself to change it, it does sound that good!

As said before, it is so quiet, you need to be carefull and make sure you turned it off. But it is still kicking great at over 40 years old. That's reliable!

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If you see one, grab it. A few tube tweaks and Once you try it, you will never let it go. Heck for a sub $125 P2P 100% tube amp (including rectifier) can't be beat!

1960's simple all tube amp with a treasure of tone inside.

Bought used for Guitar, it arrived sounding kinda flat and dull. Figured it needed to be retubed. This amp appears to react VERY differently with different tube combinations - more so than others I have "messed" with. Like some of the best sounding amps, they can be a little tempermental when experimenting with tubes for sound shaping. With all original and most of NOS, found it was a tame reserved amp - when used direct. With effects, OK but sounded like it was being held back.

Found that the 'recipe' for mine:

1st found out that 12ax7 was more of a challenge than I thought. The EI Gold's that sound awesome in some of my more modern amps were too much and would squeel with certain effects. I went through several brands and numerous and found one of my EH's just hit the mark and the sound was moving!


Tried several 6v6's and tried a NOS RCA Metal Can 6v6 (know they run very hot), bang, now it has some real balls.


Now it has sweet detail clean or with effects. Bluesy breakup on striaght. Extremely responsive to an Axe's tone and Vol controls. Even with with effects, the single notes will cut right through a high gain power cord, no mud! Unbelievable detail. Excellent for recording.

WARNING- this amp is Quiet. Dead quiet, I have left it one overnight before and still not known it was "on" until I felt the tube heat.

Still kicking!

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This my favorite small room amp and for composing. I can get just about any tone I want with this amp.

This is the poorman's Fender Champ! To the best of my knowledge this is a 1960 model. Features have already been described, no need to duplicate.

Love that Silvertone sound! Unique and soulful! I've replaced the speaker with a Weber 8S Ceramic and a GT 12ax7m Mullard...this little amp smokes! Very warm yet chimey tones, breakup up nicely when pushed. The new speaker is a plus as you don't get any speaker breakup now, just tube. Great practice/recording amp that is more than loud enough to sit a few feet from it and barely hear yourself singing out loud. Great bluesy break up and nice cleans when you roll back the volume.

It was all orginal when I bought it a month ago and it worked well...not bad for an extreemly simple 45 year old amp!

This was one of those dream finds. I found it hidden behind a couple of amps in the sound room of a GC in Oregon. Plugged in and it smoked nearly all of the low wattage tube combos. Asked what they wanted for it and they said $22.....SOLD! It's a great base for amp tweakers or leave it alone and enjoy the great tones. I've been playing a few different guitars through it: Strat-Antiquity Custom Bridge/Texas Hot/Texas Hot, Tele-SD Broadcaster/Lindy Fralin Blues Special, Tele-SD Hybrid '59/Custom 5, Hybrid '59/Jazz. The amp seems to like the singles a bit better, though it also sounds pretty good with p90's.

I'm not sure of the year this amp was made...probably mid to late 60's. Got it on eBay. I play harp, Chicago-style, usually with a controlled reluctance green bullet. The amp has 2 inputs, volume, and the all-important TONE CONTROL (which I leave turned up all the way unless I'm trying to play clean; delta, country or bluegrass). It's not too loud by itself; But fine for small gigs or rehearsals. I can turn it up to about a volume of 5 before F/B, depending on how far I am away from her. Wireless on the bullet helps. I use the Airline AF-1 and I LOVE it...COMPLETELY WIRELESS HARP!!

This amp has the nicest tone of any amp I've tried. It's FAT, BROWN & CREAMY even at lower volumes. Reducing the volume on the bullet and turning the amp all the way up only makes it sound better. I LOVE THIS SOUND! How does such a small little thing make my harp sound so damn good?

Always, always, always bring a 2nd amp...It's nice to tandem them anyway. I use the Silvertone as the preamp, send a line to one of my other amps, this gives a nice mix of tones...Or I mic it depending on the venue.

The best customer support is my guitarist who is used to servicing amps. He fixed a loose speaker wire and put on a 3 prong plug so I don't get shocked anymore when my lips touch the vocal mic.

Been playing harp for over 35 years; Amplified now for the past 10 years and seriously in a bluesband for the past year. The tone of this amp is better than my Kalamazoo Model One, the Gretch 6150, the Gibson GA, or the Tonemaster. The only amp that comes close is the Pignose Legendary, and that's not loud enough and is prone to F/B. I'd buy another one. I'm even thinking of getting a 2nd just to tandom them (Rod Piazza does that with his two Harp King amps).

Very basic with only volume, tone, dual inputs, and off/on switch. No need for more. This is a true case of "less is better". I could not have asked for anything less with more tone than this little beast.

I picked up this amp for the sole purpose of playing blues harp through it. I played Marine Band, Special 20, Pro 20, and Solo Tuned harps. The mics I use are JT30 and Shaker Madcats. It proved to work very well with any combination of the above. Nice buttery brown tone and easy overdrive. Hard to believe so much sound out of a 5 watt amp.
Great bell-like horn tone at lower volumes with clean response. Was seriously considering buying Fender Blues JR. Played both and bought this.

All OEM parts. All tubes silk-screened with Silvertone and Jensen Alnico 8" speaker. Nothing replaced as far as I can tell. This amp was most likely not used much and in great shape. Hard to believe it is as old as I am. Wish I was showing as little wear for my age. Seems to be doing better than I am.

Your guess is as good as mine. If it ever does break I may take back to Sears just to see the look on some pimply kids face when I ask if he can check my waranty status.

Been playing for over 10 years now. Have played through lots of amps over the years. This has proven to be one of my favorites in the short time since I got it. I have a couple of Fenders, Marshalls, and Ampegs at present. But they did not take me by surprise like the sound of this amp did. I did not expect what I heard when I plugged into this. Once I built a new closed acoustical cabinet and upgrade the speaker it should easily move to the front of my amp pack. Only thing I don't like about it is the open back press board box its in. I shall take care of that though.

early 60's most likely,50 bucks

This amp is the answer for me. I play harp. Been looking for something for a while that wouldn't break the bank and this is it!! Really simple,2 inputs,volume and tone,and most importantly,tubes. I mike it to a Crate gx65 solid state amp with an extra daneltro speaker plugged into it. This combo has a nice fat sound and will cut through everything at the local jams.

too soon to tell

hard to say,sears? probably non existent

The simpler the circuit the better the tone, so this is perfect. Anything more would get in the way

I play my strat through it usually, nice chimey mids, sparkly highs, no lows to speak of but one day soon I will put in a temporary ext. speaker output and mess around with a couple of 12" AlNiCo's. I have a feeling it will be very pleasant.

It still has original Silvertone tubes, No problem.

Yeah, right.

My main amp is a "65 Super Reverb 4x10 and other than that I'm used to twin 12" combos so this doesn't have nearly the bass response that I'm used to , But it's a nice little amp. Could use a little bigger speaker.

Very simple. One volume, one tone, two inputs, an on/off switch and easily accessible fuse. It is what it is- the basic Dano/Valco/Univox derivation of the Champ with a 6X4 rectifier (very musical sounding). The guy I bought it from stuck a Celestion with a huge voice coil in there, so it's got a nice open toughness you don't always find with a Jensen (C8R was the original speaker, I think). I do wish the tone pot was voiced a little better, but I'm sure if I went through it with a multimeter I would find some off stuff to replace and that would take care of it. But for jamming, recording, and practice, there is nothing easier. Who needs super switching versatility when you've got this kind of tone?

This amp sounds killer with any guitar. I have two Teles- a mahogany one with a JB and a '59, and a customized American Standard (alder) with a Duncan Hot Strat in the neck and a Quarter Pounder in the bridge. I also have a '58 ES-225 with very hot P-90's. I play jazz/blues mostly, and it suits me fine. Smooth, with a gloriously chimey sound. Very nice distortion. It takes the volume- and it is loud- when you dime it. I generally run it around 8 and use my volume control to go from clean to dirty. It is a little buzzy right now, but that is because it is still not properly grounded. That will be sorted, but I don't use it for clean recording because of that. For that I give it a 9.

I have never gigged with it, but it has never let me down in recording except for the aformentioned buzzy thang.

Silvertone...hah. Maybe if I had a time machine...

I love this amp- if I could find the schematic, I'd design a pre-amp from it. I've seen them go for a lot in NYC, but I think there must be a lot just kicking around in rummage sales. Good hunting!

1960 model 1 6v6 1 12ax7 vol tone 6x4 ?rectifier.Cardboard box with cool basket weave grill 6 watts hey dude below 1 6v6 is 6 watts usualy.

OK not all that empresive not like a old champ but fun I allways hooked it up to a couple of celestians so I woundnt blow the speaker in it.

35 years old when I bought it. They must have done somthing right

I bought this for $13 dollars at a resale shop didnt use it much after about three or four years I took it to guitar center and traded it even for a $189 squire bronco bass. Havig lots of fun with the bass dont miss the amp at all. Sounds cool with a EL34 in place of the 6V6 and it didnt have any bad effects on the amp.One of a number of fun deals ive made over the years

This old tube amp is not about features. It carries the bare minimum. Volume and Tone Knobs.....Toggle type on/off switch....two inputs...Fuse....Small speaker, probably an 8 incher or maybe even smaller....cant tell...It says on the amp that it is 30 watts or something and even though i dont know that much about amps, i doubt it has that kind of power. It may? I dont know. Very nice vintage looks...Tough black chassis and basketweave cloth...Dont know what year its from....Its my dad's old amp. He doesn't remember....Looks like its from the late 60's by style. Wish it had reverb or some onboard effect.

I am a 17 year old blues harmonica player and singer. The amp has a very nice sound for electric blues harp. Very toneful and warm. Pretty bassy and middle ranged....which is preferred for harmonica. I use a green bullet mike through it and it gives it a nice fat sound. Nice natural overdrive when cranked up. It has its original tubes which sound very vintage. This is the only tube amp I have and being so young i dont pay much attention to the tube configuration. All I know is this piece of crap sounds awesome. Its totally raunchy even without a seperate gain channel. The natural overdrive is what makes this amp worth it. It does have some flaws. A bit of a rattle sometimes and it isnt TOO loud but it still can crank for its size.

I have had some problems with this thing in the past. Ive been using it for a little over a year i guess. About a month after my dad pulled it out of the closet (probably was in there for 20 years covered in plastic) and let me play through it, it just died. Mysteriously it started to work after a week of not playing with it. Since then, I haven't had much trouble with it. I dont totally trust it sometimes. Once in a blue moon it will sound like it wants to blow up and starts to rattle but usually its okay. It has a two prong plug which is a setback. Ive received many a elecrical shocks from this thing. They are nasty ones too. I am going to have a three plonged plug installed to end the abuse. I dont think id trust this thing on a gig without some sort of backup.

I have no idea...If there was a warranty, im sure it was over like 20 or 30 years ago. Only time i deal with Sears is when returning clothing...

Ive been playing harmonica for a little over four years. I play mostly chicago style blues, but also like to play straight up rock, country and pop. I can play with almost any music really, i have no big preference. I can play accordion a little bit. Took lessons for a few months but am taking a hiatus. Ive taken up singing in the past year and a half.... Never had a lesson but consider myself a mediocre singer. The shower taught me well.

I dont own a whole lot of equipment. I have this Silvertone Amp and a Fender Frontman Combo (15 watts, 8 inch speaker, Clean and Gain Channels, No effects). Out of the two, i honestly like the Silvertone better for its tone as a harmonica amp. I recently got a GFX 707 multi effects processor for my harp. That thing is loaded with features and adds a lot of variety for my playing. Its great with a mixer but not as outstanding when plugged into the Silvertone.

Like I said before, I wish the silvertone had some reverb or chorus or something... Its beautiful for its simplicity and authentic tone but could be better. Id be kind of sad without it. Its my pride and joy so to speak. I cant compare it to my newer Fender because the age difference is like thirty years and they are totally different. I kind of wish it wasnt so ugly looking. The Basketweave looks like it was made from an old rug. The chassis looks like it used to be from an old ghetto television. It does look vintage, but I have seen nicer looking vintage cosmetics.