Silvertone 1482

mid 60's small and cheap , the versatility depends on the user . if you are dynamic the amp will follow you , two channels , channel one is directly coupled to the grid ,with a 1 mega-ohm resistor tieing it to ground , this is where you plug in the "dallas-arbiter range master" and really feel the love. second channel is basic fender set-up two 68k resistors mixing the two inputs together . channel switching? HA get an a/b/y box . I have modded my footswitch jack to a stereo jack , one side for the kill switch and the second side for a tredle mounted 2Meg log pot for controlling speed . note: i have also wired a 1k pot across the kill switch to set the depth by remote . ( pedal is hooked up as down=slow this is due to the kill switch being mounted under the tredle e.g. you must slow down the tremelo to bypass it ) I'm going to give this amp a ten for lack of features

I use a Penco branded Ibanez semi-hollow , late 60's ? , set neck , thin body , two humbuckers , v-t + v-t controls , shaped like a byrdland , it's some sort of hybrid knockoff that i wouldn't trade for the wolrd. flatwounds ( unwound g for bending) i derive my reverb, chorus and echo from a roland re-501 space echo , this also has tredle pedal controls added for repeat , echo amount , delay time, chorus depth and reverb amount , kind of like Les Paul's "lespaulverizer" except i control it with my feet instead of taking my hands off the guitar.also a clone of a dallas arbiter range master witch is sent to the mic channel on this amp. and last to be mentioned but always first in the signal chain , a DeArmond model 610 volume /tone pedal.this amp reproduces my sond with break up at the spots . B-E-A-utiful

thin cab , rock solid electronics . weights less than 15 pounds

Silvertone it my anti-fender!

On the underside of the chassis there's a handwritten n initial 'ch' and the numbers 68 , 12-44... the pots date to 1966 and 1967, so i guess this was made in 1968? perhaps the 44th one made in december 1968 ??...

100% original amp in PERFECT working condition. all original silvertone tubes and all original wiring... incredibly this amp has no hum (aside from the usual 'two prong hum')no scratchy pots, no issues!!.

Who needs features on a vintage tube amp? simplicity is key.

Only used for playing harp... has a nice warmth and decent crunch factor.... save your fender money and get a cheapo silvertone!....
This amp will project much better with a decent speaker and a replacement baffle board..

This amp is 100% original , so it hums a little due to the two prong lead.... no biggie... You're not gonna geta variety of sounds outta this amp, its a simple amp...

Ive been fortunate to own a couple fender '53 5c3's , gibson tweeds , boutique amps and more.... this is my first silvertone.... IT WONT BE MY LAST!! awesome, awesome, vintage bang for the buck

Owned it less than a week.... im sure itll be pretty bulletproof.

yeah, haha

classis amp, classic tone for low-dough...get one.... you'll not regret it!

I guess my 1482 was made in '66, maybe '65, not too sure. I haven't figured out how to date these bad boys yet. There aren't many features on this amp, only two channels, "instrument" and "microphone," each with a volume and tone knob on the front of the TV-looking amp. That's perfectly fine though, the amp doesn't need any other tricks or features, the beauty is in its simplicity. The lack of reverb doesn't bother me too much, I never really liked a lot of reverb. The amp does have tremolo though, with controls for speed and intensity. The only thing I wish this amp had is a grounded power cable. Every once in a while I get zapped while trying to adjust the microphone or while changing guitars. But that's kinda exciting, it gives the Silvertone character. A speaker output jack would be nice too. Since I've only used it for small ensembles and recording, it always has plenty of power with about 15 loud all-tube watts. It can easily be heard over drummers, but when pushed that hard it starts to break up, and I go for a cleaner sound. I'm pleased with it.

Normally I play an Epiphone Riviera hollowbody with the full-size humbuckers through this amp. I have to be careful to keep the tone up and stay away from that neck pickup. My '79 Les Paul Custom seems to be a match made in heaven for the 1482. That's probably my favorite recording combination. My mexican Fender Strat sounded really good through this amp, until the Strat ended up at the pawn shop... Very twangy, very fun when combined with that deadly Tremolo! However, my Duo-Sonic sounds like poo poo through this amp. Then again, it's a Duo-Sonic.

At low volumes, this is my favorite amp to play through, very warm and dark. It's gotta be those dusty 40-year old tubes! When cranked, it has a very nice classic distorted sound that i don't use very much. I prefer the nastiness of my Blues Deville when it comes to high volumes. At high volumes, this thing can start humming pretty bad, so for me it's really only good for softer clean tones. But the one sound I use it for is exceptional.

Except for the rattling of the speaker mounts (why is it in a cardboard baffle?) there isn't much to improve on its sound, which is why I give it a 9 instead of a 10.

This amp has never let me down, and it has been pushed very hard and treated pretty roughly. It used to be my band's organ/keyboard amp, and it went up against my Blues Deville! It also spent a lot of time bouncing around in the back of my truck in between gigs and it's still going strong.

It still has the original Silvertone tubes which still seem to be strong, except for the tremolo tube that recently stopped working. Sometime in the near future I'd like to get a wooden speaker baffle built because the speaker rattles in the cheap cardboard baffle. How are screws supposed to stay tight in cardboard? Other than that, I've always been able to count on the 1482, but I try not to use it as rough as I used to. I'm not sure how much life is left in it, but then again, it's been around for quite some time now. I wouldn't think twice about taking it as my only amp to a performance.

I bought it from some cokehead for $10...what kind of customer support should I expect? Sears definately wouldn't know what to do with it.

In the 12 years that i've been playing guitar, I'd have to say this is one of my favorite amps that i've ever owned. If this thing got stolen or lost, I'd be looking for another one as soon as I had the money. Although, I might be more interested in a bigger Silvertone. I wish it could be louder and still stay clean. I didn't really shop around for it, it just kinda came up one day. A friend of mine found it in somebody's garage where it had been stored unused for several years, and this person gave it to my friend. My friend then sold it to me for $10 because she was in a huge hurry for some reason... Talk about a great find. I have to admit, I wouldn't buy one for the prices they're currently going for, but the good thing is, somebody else will in a few years.

The 1482 has been good to me, but it still has its faults, so I'll give it a 9.

This tube amp is from 1966-67. This amp is as basic and as beautiful as it gets. The back of it says 70 watts. Built in tremolo. No reverb. It is easily loud enough to play with a drummer.

Ive had it for about 7 years. I started off plaing an old Epiphone Genesis through it. Now I run an Artcore ES 335 nockoff and an Agile Tele into it. First off, this guitar does not like most effects. Its best tones are pretty much when you plug straigh into it and crank it, although my EH Mistress Flanger is friendly with it. It is a very dark sounding amp that can be noisy. I play improvisational jazz and it is perfect for that. Ive done noise improvisations with this amp that are just plain sick sounding. When cranked it clips wonderfully and a distortion pedal is not at all needed. The feedback is wonderful. At low volumes it sounds shimmery clear. It smells good when its on too.

Ive never had any problems with it. Like I said, this amp does not fuck around so it can get alittle noisy. For sterile or pristine work in the studio or on stage, that could be a factor. It has never broken down on me. It is important to get the original power cord replaced by a three prong grounded cord. The original ungrounded cord gave me some zaps when I first got it.

No way...........

Be prepared to handle all of that yerself.

Ive been playing for 16 years. This is my only amp and the only amp I want. Wringing unique sounds from this amp dictates the way that I physically approach my guitar playing. This amp is its own beast with its own agenda. Its like playing two instruments at the same time. I almost had it stolen from me, but the idiot thieves stole another cheap guitar instead. If it were stolen I would either dismember the thieves when I found them, or pray for their death forever and ever.

More than likely early to mid 60's.Not particularily versitile, but it does what it does better than any amp on earth. Very basic, two channels, tremelo.I use it mainly at home and in the studio, has plenty of power and can sing without having the police at your door.

I play a Highway One Telcaster, with vintage alnico pickups,tuned down a half step. I run it through a 6 band graphic equalizer and a digital reverb unit.The reverb adds depth and makes the amp sound much bigger and fuller. Highly recomended. I set the amp at about 4 oclock, the tone at about 1 oclock, and use my volume knobs on my tele to go from clean to cream. Hands down, the best sound I have ever gotten from an amp.I have finally have found the holey grail of amps.The sound is absolutely delicious, addictive. I find mayself playing for hours, just enjoying the sweet, liquid sound. Nothing, I mean nothing even comes close. At lower volumes, it is as clean as a mountain stream. Sparkling, shimmering tones. Lay into it and the touch sensitive nature of the tube amp totally responds, pulling unbelievably authentic tones. Think old Jimmy Page, Eric Johnson. If you are looking for a vast array of sounds, keep looking, this is a one trick poney but the trick it does is the best on earth!

What can you say, it's 40 plus years old, I play it daily and it functions perfectly.

Yea right.

I have been playing for 35 years, most of it professionally. I own several acoustic guitars, and my main electric is my tele.I think humbucker style pickups might sound a bit too dark, but the single coil bite fits the amp to a "T". Amazing bell tones and overdrive harmonics. I have owned Mesa Boogie, vintage Fender, Traynor, Peavy and none of them touch what this amp does. I would run, not walk to replace it if something should happen to it.

Two inputs, microphone and tremelo. Very simple and straight forward. I'm more interested in playing than EQ'ing and dinkering with getting the amp right.

I'm a harp player, used to playing Fender Blues Junior and Bassman 59. This is a great amp for harp players. Nice and dark tone, breaks up at the right. Had some ffedback problems and did some tube swaps, now the feedback problem is solved

Been around since 1966 and works great so I'm assuming it's a tough box.

Call Sears for an amp problem?? I don't think so.

This amp was built back in the mid sixties,when "features" were limited to say the least. But, that said, this little amp has some pretty neat stuff for that era. Excellent tremelo. Three inputs. Two channels. Point to point wiring. It's best feature is it's quality construction. How many of todays amps will be around in 40 years!? With the original tubes, wiring and speaker, no less!! (Although I did replace the speaker recently) I'm basing my rating on what was available at that time for the price. (Reverb would have made this amp a 12!)

I've played this amp with my main guitar, an EC Strat, plus a Jazzmaster and an Epi Korina Explorer. I play classic rock and a little R&B. I'm truely amazed at the sound of this thing. It's really unique and musical. It does not have the "chime" of a Fender, but it does have a shimery sound, at least with the Fender guitars. The sound is slightly "dark", as some other reviews have said, but not to any huge extent. Just enough to not sound like a Fender, which is good. Actually, it might sound like an early (50's) Champ, which had a more compressed, deep sound than the later ones. Anyway, it sounds great! Amazing what 15 tube driven watts and a big speaker can do. I would love to gig with this thing, but I haven't tried it yet because I'm not sure it would have enough volume (unmiked), although when I plug in a Boss compression/sustainer, the volume is impressive. I hope to try it in a casual, small club and see what happens. Obviously, by itself, it produces basically one tone, but that tone is very nice, whether clean or slightly over-driven (6 and up on the volume dial). As above, great tremelo, and a reverb would have made this an unbelievable package.

40 years. Original tubes. One speaker replacement. Enough said.

You're on your own, buckaroo.

I've been playing for 30 years. Besides the guitars mentioned above, I own a 60's Champ, a Vox Valvetronics 120, a Traynor YCV40A and various stomp boxes, etc. I just purchased the Silvertone a couple weeks ago mainly for nostalgic reasons. I had no idea it would be so cool. I feel very lucky now. This could become my main practice/recording amp. Nothing against the others. They are all great amps. This thing just has a lot of charm and character. It's interesting to see that what was once considered a mid-level garage band amp (sold through Sears, for heavens sake!) would be viewed as a "boutique" amp now and would cost $2,500. Hmmm. If this baby were lost or stolen, I'd be back on ebay within the hour trying to find another. For the money, the scale doesn't go high enough.

1965 Silvertone 1482, 1 12" Jensen speaker, 2 channels (microphone and instrument, one volume and one tone for each), tremolo rate and depth. 2 6V6 power tubes a couple of 12AX7s...blah, blah, blah.

What more does anyone need in an amp. It sounds terrific, dark and menacing with single coils, breaks up at a realistic volume, is simple with few bells and whistles, was really cheap and looks cool.

I mainly play Fender Jaguars ('63 blonde (ash body) and a '64 with stack poles), and sometimes a '63 Jazzmaster and a single pickup '63 Gretsch Corvette. The Jaguars scream through the Silvertone. The amp is very dynamic and soulful, quiet with plenty of natural compression. It gets fairly distorted at higher volumes, but by lightening up on string attack or rolling the volume down a bit on the guitar it cleans up nicely.

It works just fine. Serviced, good original tubes, fresh original-value caps...the cabinet is made from a very dense cardboard and probably accounts for it's dark presence and tone. Fender snobs would poo-poo its construction and brand, but it sounds every bit as nice as a Blackface Deluxe (I've A-B'd it against six) and for $200...

Sears?

These are going to get expensive as soon as someone famous starts to play one...

Two channel (guitar/mic) 1 X 12 combo tube amp. Output tubes are two 6V6's in push pull, delivering somewhere between 12 to 15 watts RMS. Preamp section is two 12AX7's, 6AU6 tremolo, 6X4 full wave rectifier. The cabinet is premium quality cardboard-pressboard of some type, don't use it for a chair! Mine was made in 1965 according to the seller, determined by looking at the codes on the potentiometers, I believe. Controls are on the front, arranged in a zig-zag manner. The pilot light and input jacks are on the back, one channel is the guitar channel, the second is marked "mic". Mine has the original 12" speaker.

Mine has the original Silvertone 12AX7 preamp tubes, and retubed with Sovtek 6V6's. According to the guy I bought it from, this was an abandoned amp on the side of the road destined for the landfill. He completely cleaned it up and rewired it completely and replaced several resistors and most, if not all of the caps, as I recall, except the power supply electrolytics. Amazingly, the almost 40 year old power supply caps seem to be fine.

Also, there is a 3 prong grounded cord, which I believe was added.

This amp doesn't have a lot of 'features', and IMHO doesn't need them. My feature rating of only 6 doesn't mean I think lowly of the amp's features.

Ahh, the TONE! I've had this amp about 6 months now, and everytime I play through it it just seems to sound better and better. My main axe is an epiphone strat copy. With the neck pickup and the 1482 set on about 6 or 7 I get a gorgeous bluesy sound with just a little bit of crunch. Turn the amp past 7 1/2 and switch to the bridge pickup and we grind, growl, and woof our way into early Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, and AD/DC territory.

I forgot to mention in 'features' above that the guy who worked on this did a tone control mod and wired the tone stack like a fender (princeton) 5E3, I believe. I've heard several people remark, here, and elsewhere, that the 1482 can tend to be a bit 'dark'. No such problem with this animal, in fact I have to cut back on the tone to keep it from being to bright, it takes a little fiddling, but once I get it set, it's terrific.

This amp has no problem keeping up with all but the most aggresive drummers, we practice in my living room and the 1482 leaves my ears ringing if I stand too close to it. It sits atop my 70's peavey classic 50/212 which I keep warmed up, but it's the silvertone which gets played through.

This is just sounds amazing, even if you can afford any amp you want, you owe it to yourself to grab one these at ebay or if you see one in a garage sale or flea market - GRAB IT!

It also responds well to pedals, I have a zoom 2100 that I use for reverb/chorus/flanger/delay, as well as an old Maestro Fuzz-Phaser/wah pedal.

Every few days a Silvertone 1482 pops up on ebay, in varying condition, they usually go for between $100 to $150. I'm very happy with mine, to say the least, it gets played the most while the Peavey Classic 50 and the Fender blues deluxe sit around on standby, that should tell you something.

Oh yeah, been playing 30 years and have played semi-proffessionaly in rock / classic rock bands, hopefully in the next few months we'll have a gig, you can bet the 1482 is gonna be a major part of it :)

I would rate this amp as extremely reliable, seeing as how it's been rewired and most of the components replaced. I would never gig without a backup.

Yeah right. It would probably be a real interesting experience to lug this into a Sears and see the looks on their faces when I ask for some 'customer support'.

Seriously though, schematics for this amp are all over the place, and anyone with electronics and know how to work on tube equipment can get this baby going if there's ever a problem.

This unit actually still worked when it was found on the side of the road, a little TLC turned it into the awesome TONEMONSTER it is now.

As I mentioned above I've been playing about 30 years. I also have 3 other amps, this one gets about 99% playing time over the Peavey Classic 50/212, Fender Blues deluxe, and my pignose 30/60.

Besides my epiphone 'strat', I also play a lotus guitar w/ dual humbuckers and an arbour strat through this amp.

If this amp were stolen, there's a very good chance I'd hunt down another one, or perhaps I might see if I can get one of the other vintage tube amps made in this era.

I simply don't have 900+ bucks to fork out on a new amp, and I guarantee you this sounds as good, if not better than most of the amps being offered these days in music stores at ridiculous prices.

My only real criticism of this amp is the cardboard-presswood cabinet construction, but just don't use this amp for a chair or leave it out in the rain and it will hold up just fine, I'm sure.

rock on

This is a mid 60s or so silvertone that I bought over ebay. A good friend of mine insisted that I get a silvertone amp and go to tubes. His rational was that these are great point to point wired amps that are very simular to fenders at about half the price. He feels, as now do I, that tube amps are far better than solid state. When I first got the amp I thought "I paid how much for this?". IT sounded like it lost it pecker. Not enough C and B. Anyway, a good friend of his is the manufacturer of Victory Amps, the primeir of custome tube amps, so I gave it to him for a little check up. I had a bad power tube which was robbing all of its go and I upgrade the speaker to a Jenson and a grounded power chord and whola Its got some balls. I must say that I am falling in love with this little nasty amp. The features have been covered fairly well

My guitars suck and I want better ones. I have a epiphone les paul that have stock pick ups. I will change them out once I can hide some more money from my wife. I will most likely go with SD 59s.
My epi plays good enough. This amp gets real fun after about ten minutes of hard play. Those tubes warm up real nice and every note sounds good. I did notice that tube amps are not as forgiving as solid state with alot of effects. IF you dont know the song play softly until you do. It does not hide any mistakes, however, every note can sound great. My playing is getting better already.
The amp sounds alot like old cream.

I would not want to drop it or lend it to a friend. The cabinet is pretty soft. With all the work I did it should last me the rest of my days.

Find someone who knows how to fix and test tube amps. These are very simple amps. That is why they are so good.

I have been playing for 10 years I guess (you would not know it by listening to me) I am looking foward to going tube from here on out. I will be getting a tube spring reverb sooner or later. I like the sound and exspressiveness of this little amp. I dont like the cabinet but so what. For 150 bucks to have a true all tube amp is great. 15 watts of power does seem like a small amount. I can always buy bigger amps someday But 50 watts of tube amp can take off the enamel of your teeth. Every need a little baby amp that can kick some ass. I am happy with it. For my first tube amp it is great. The next level are ampeg or fenders. I am getting to like that natural tube distortion without having separate distortion channels. I always play it at top volume and my ears will ring in no time. If you buy one of these and your ears dont ring get some good tubes in it.