Silvertone 1483

The 1483 was made to be a bassguitaramp,but I use it for guitar.I own the head only,not the silvertone cabinet.I originally bought it to use for harmonica because lots of reviews here say it's really good for that.Bought the amp of ebay with the tolex in real bad shape.Retolexed it and had a friend of mine do some "harpmods" on it to get more lowend and to cut back the gain.We set the bias on the 6L6GC tubes I have in it a little higher then stock.Ofcourse this means the tubes will last a little shorter but that's OK with me.Had to replace some wornout caps.Also installed a safe threeprongcord and removed the"deathcap".After those mods we tried the amp for the first time with harmonica and it was not as good as I had thought/hoped for that.Then we tried it with guitar and man,what a sweet,thick bluestone it has for that.Features? None,except for the most important one;tone! It can go from thick,crispy clean b;uesy to thick raw more overdriven bluestone.Because it sounds so good for guitar I decided to leave it the way it is now.Versatile?, no.Tone?YES!

As described,thick,juicy,phat bluestones.Untill 7/8 on the volumeknob the amp stays clean.Turn it all up and it'll get really raw without loosing punch.About punch;it's got plenty!Clean and overdriven this amp delivers all the tone you'll need.Ofcourse it's no metalamp,look elsewhere for that.Sounds great with singlecoils and humbuckers without getting muddy.No pedal needed for overdrive,just set the amp on 10 and get those tubes cooking.It is a little noisy so upgrade the filtercap values and shield the cabinet with alu or copper.This took away most of the hum.Still a little there but it's a cheaply made amp and because of the design you can't get away all the hum.No big deal for me.
The amp puts out about 18 watts on maximum volume.It's pretty loud but might not be loud enough if you're in a really loud band.Gotta use real effecient speakers.

Has not broken down yet.Would bring it to gigs.Do replace wornout caps and have a tech look through the amp before turning it on,it's old.Mine is from 67.

Eh?

Playing blues for years.Use vintage guitars like stratotones,LP's,strats etc.
Love the tone it has.Love the fact that people think it's a cheap looking,tiny sounding amp and that their jaw drops when you plug in.After hearing it other guitarplayers ask where I bought it and if I'd like to sell it. It has no reverb or tremelo but good pedals will make up for this.With a good reverbtank in front of it it blows away a vintage fender princeton reverb.One of the best amps I heared when it comes to tone and I would buy another one if it got stolen.Prices are going up on these ones,that's to bad.Reviews like mine are one of the reasons for that,I guess.Well,so be it.
It's a great amp and I love everything about it.Even the funky/cheap look it has.

This is a 1964/65 acording to my amp tech Jerry Blah(the best in L.A.)I play rock n roll.two channels,vom,bass,treble.no loop,no reverb.i love clear clean tone ala 1965 bassman's and this amp is a dream.22 watt's rms. though it was toted as a 30 watt back in the day.no big, this is tone monster!!the first channel is a little beighter and ch 2 is more middy.i jump the channel's and get a blend that is full and extreemly responsive.the output transformer was replaced w/a weber 40 watt and a solid state rectifier.no other modds were done.this thing will go up against any"boutique" any day!!

I play a custom ash tele w flame maple neck,rio grande pu's(unbelievable)A 1969 G&L prototype(custom maple neck) vinatge dimarzio in br and ducan alnico sinle in neck and a 74 wallnut gibson sg.p-90 neck paf in bridge.this amp is run w/a 1482(vibrato). i play a full plate of tones from heavy distortion to bell like clean tone.i use it with everything.it had a hum when i got it,itook it to jerry and he discovered a insufficent groud/shielding problem in the input's.it probably will get new cap's soon too.from 1 to 5 it's clean 5 to ten it growel's

knowing Jerry's work now for 6 year's its totaly dependable but it is a 40+yr.old amp and i allway's use 2 amp's any way.

they dont exist and i allway's have Jerry blah go threw all my amp's first.he guarentees all his work.

ive been at it 25 yrs now and ive had plexies,black faces,ac30's,paul's,strat's allkind's of stufff.now im down to what i find is best for me.a silvertone 1483,1483,a tweaked early siver champ.my g&l,my tele,my sg,a 1968 yamaha fg-110,afew cutom peddal's,a modded cb 95,octafuzz(fulltone).i would find a nother if this were stolen,i probably should start now!i love every thing about it.it is so ugly,people laugh when they seeit then iplug in and the're jaws drop!!it's a beautifull little monster.get one and if you live in L.A. or close to it,call amp crazy,Jerry is an amp guru!!!

I use this amp for guitar mostly and some keys (wurly or rhodes)...but I do not use it as it was originally intended, that is for bass guitar.

This amp was sold by Sears in the 1960's and was considered the kind of entry level amp you would find at department stores today. However, the technology back then was based largely around tubes and not solid state for powering amplifiers, and also American labour was not the same price as it is now. This amp is all tube (pre-amp, power, rectifier) and all point to point wiring done by workers in America. A similar amp by todays standards would probably cost over a thousand dollars. However, there were some sacrifices made to the amp such as the poor quality of the cabinet, which i believe is particle board.

Anyways, for featuers, there are two channels with two inputs each, which i believe are all completely identical, it doesn't sound like the second input on each channel is padded like on a fender bandmaster, bassman, etc.

I believe the amp is supposed to have two 12ax7, one 6cg (or 6fq7), two 6l6, and one 5y3gt rectifier...however, some modifications have been done to some amps, my amp had RCA 6550 power tubes in it when I got it.

7 in this category simply because of the lack of tonal/volume control and other features. One Volume control, One Treble control, One Bass control for each channel, no effects loops, none of that fancy stuff, who needs it.

My amp stays clean till about 4, the starts to overdrive. The overdrive is really what I'm after and for that it gets a ten. The clean that you do get out of the amp is not very loud and not very usable in comparison to a fender (I also own a 65 fender bassman and use that for any clean tones i need). The overdrive is great, and I think i prefer it over my bassman....the reason being is because it is a little more pure because the silvertone is pure tube (pre, power, rectifier) where as the bassman maintains a solid state rectifier, but each amp has it's strong points anyways.

I would use classify most of the overdrive out of this amp as suitable for blues and some use for rock, alternative, and indie type stuff. Definately not going to cut the mustard for jazz, funk, or metal.

The guitar I use is a Tonesmith (boutique guitar) with two mini humbuckers in the neck and middle position and a p-90 in the bridge. The neck mini humbucker really brings out some awesome blues tones. The p-90 in the bridge is much much brighter and sparkly, more like a 60's British sort of chimey sound.

I think that this amp suits my style perfectly. I play in a sort of lougey, soul, pop sort of band....i don't know how else to describe it, just check it out at www.myspace.com/velavelo ....it's not on any of the recordings as of the date of this review, because i only recently got the amp, but it sure will be.

Hmmm....i think when you start bringing just one amp and one guitar to a show you're always going to be breaking a string and knocking over your amp, or just having your amp mysteriously stop working. I will definately bring a back up, simply because this amp is 40 years old, but I've never had any problems with it, and it hasn't really acted squirrely or anything since it was cleaned up.

none... i don't think sears any longer offers support on this item...nor worries though, because anyone who calls themself an amp tech should be able to fix any problems with the item.

overall, I'm going to have to give this amp a nine. It suffers a little bit for features, but not too much, because we're all after tone here, and this thing has some awesome tone. If you buy one of these amps don't be afraid to turn the bass all the way down and the treble around 7 or 8. It was originally designed for bass and will therefore have a very strong bass presence. Either way, if you find one, pick it up...nice little amp, and quite a number of players use them. I believe Jack White of the White Stripes uses the 1484 which is the guitar version of the same amp (complete with tremelo and reverb ciruitry), and also when I went and saw Rilo Kiley they had two 1483 heads on stage with them....great little amps, if you love tube tone, then you will not be dissappointed with this amp.

1964, 1483 Bass vacuum tubed amplifier, these amplifiers are old and like anything older then 1980 some components just fail. This amplifier is a monster when fully restored. I did mine myself to original specifications and did a couple low cost modifications. The Amplifier was sold as a bass set and that is what it is designed for.I play metal bass and enjoy this amplifier.It is a no frills amplifier.

Mine is clean and fully funtional. Again, this is a Bass amplifier and many people do not know that. It is 23 watt but, a great amplifier just the same, I play a 2005 Fender UrgeII, 1979 Martin EB-18 or my 1965 Danelectro 1444L. I get no distortion if you do then your capacitors and or output tranny is bad. Contact Mercury Magnetics, Radio Daze, Just Radios and Antique Radio Supply for parts or just send it into Mission Amplifiers. They do good work. Most amplifiers distort at anything over 3/4 volume.

I did overhaul mine but, it was sounding great for a 43 year old amplifier from the start. Put in a few extra bucks and you have a great practice amplifier that is a collectable. Get rid of those Planet capacitors if you do anything.I also shielded the cabinet with 2" copper tape and the hum was eliminated. The unit is fine for a small club but, bass needs twice the volume to be heard.

Silvertone has not existed since 1972 so go with Mission Ampfifiers for support and just ship the inside to save on the cash.

I have been playing bass for 30 years and have several bass's I usually play a Mesa Boogie 400+ that has (12)6l6GC and (4)12AX7 vacuum tubes which will trash your house if you use much volume. I practice with a Fender Rumble 100 solid state (which is a good buy) or an old Roland set up and the 1483 tubed amplifier which is more to my liking because of the warmth and 15" speaker.

don't know the year . two channel all tube amp, already mentioned in other reviews. i play harp through a holy grail reverb unit and this amp with a 15 " weber ceramic speaker with h dust cap for harp. this amp and speaker combination is plenty loud to play any small club.

i play blues harp, a JT 30 with a shure controled reluctance element. this amp is the best sounding amp i have ever played harp through. the sound is pure saturated tube,smooth as butter. mine is very quite at idol and nothing but harp cranked up. using the holy grail, it will clip at higher volume. straight through there is no clipping, but hey no reverb.....no blues

hey these things are older than dirt, but the sound is worth any little troubles you may encounter along the way. i play with friends, here and there. have never had any problems with this amp, ever.....you want an old tube amp... you better know a good tech. we got "Bud"..... Bud knows.

like i said ,.....we got Bud

been messin around with music for 25 years. i have lots of amps peavey classic 50, reverberocket 1-12, fender 5E3 clone, built by Channa Moore, of memphis, none of these amps come close to the silvertone 1483 for harp... not even close.. i have three of these heads, no one looses an amp. i'm looking for another one and will buy as many as i can. they just don't make'um like they used to... these words were written as soon as someone played harp through a silvertone 1483, with a 15" speaker.

Two channels. One channel has been modified for harp (increased Mid range frequencies). 1/4 jack for speaker output (8 ohm according to amp tech.) Volume and tone controls.

Sounds great using either Shure bullets (controlled magnetic) or Astatic crystal Mics (I don't own a shure crystal). Nice bottom and sparkle. So far I've only run it with a single 12" vintage jensen C12N in a homemade (solid pine) cab(very sweet), and a Guild bass cabinet with a 15" EV (LOOKOUT!)
The Amp tech did a great job. He replaced the caps and increased the voltages (somewhere) which gave it more punch.

This is the drawback. These amps can be prone to breakdown. I plan on the same Mod on a Silvertone 1484, (which is almost the same amp with reverb) for a spare. Hopefully the cap job on the 1483 will last awhile.

No sense in going to Sears. If they did take it in they would just send it out anyway.

Been playing harp 30 years. After the Mod. this is one of my favorite sounding amps yet. I haven't plugged my guitar in yet. I have a hard time separating from my Princeton Reverb II on guitar.

I've played a twin 12 with webbers and I felt my 1483 was comparable, but without the tremelo or psudo reverb.

I use an old jazzmaster and I prefer this amp to a re-issue '59 Bassman, although it can be noisy. It can also cuts up a little fast, but well worth the dirt.

Just purchased 2 weeks ago, so far so good.

Harmony Central!

I've been playing guitar over twenty yars and I also play harmonica, Hammond, mandolin, lap sleels, and reeds. My band the FourCasters is still going strong. Visit our websight at www.4casters.homestead.com for more information.

I have a 1966 Silvertone 1483. It has 2 channels, each with 2 inputs, volume, bass, and treble. It also has a standby/operate switch, ground select switch, on/off switch, and a jeweled power indicator light. It has 2 6l6s, a 5y3gt rectifier, 2 12ax7s, and a 6fq7. Someone has also put a 3 wired power cord(with ground wire) on it, ans changed the speaker output. My amp doesn't have the hardwired 15 inch jensen. It has a 1/4" speaker jack which I plug an early 60s Bell and Howell 12" speaker cab into.

I think the sound on this amp is phenomenal. I have played other 1483s and mine seems a lot quieter. I don't know if it is because of my speaker setup or what, but I seem to be getting 12-15 watts instead of 30-40 watts, but hey, I still love the sound. I play a vintage(not sure of year) Fender Esquire(single pickup telecaster), a Hamer Centaur with a singel/single/humbucker pickup setup, and Ibanez Blazer with unknown electronics in it and a 70s Riviera hollowbody with mini newyork humbuckers in it. At about four on the volume, it starts to break up. At 7, it's really good and dirty(think 53 fender deluxe at 11) and anything after 7 it doesn't get louder, just dirtier. I find if I play with the bass control above 6, it gets really muddy so I leave it kinda low, but the treble atays at about 8. I love the way this amp sounds, I just wish it were as loud as other 1483s I have played.

It worked fine when I first got it, but I swapped tubes anyway. It didn't seem to make a difference. Then It started surging(getting loud then quiet then loud then quiet). I immediately thought CAPACITORS! but I opened it up and played it and saw sparks jumping across a resistor. I replaced the resistor and its worked fine ever since, and it has had some rough car rides.

I don't think Sears would fix it if I took it there. My grandfather is an electronics specialist, however, and has been invaluable. Not only does he know whats wrong, but he tells me so I can fix it myself which is something I really get off on, and it is a fairly simple design, too. I have no opinion about customer service, but if you know anything about tube electronics, this is a very serviceable amp.

I have been playing since I was 13 and I am now 21. I don't remember these amps new. I am kind of a snob when it comes to gear because I will only blay through Tube amps. It used to be only vintage Fender amps, but this little bugger opened my eyes and ears to something else. If it were stolen or lost, I would either try to find another 1483 or a 1485. I love the small size and weight of this amp. I hate nothing about it, but I wish it were louder. I compared this to my friend's 53 fender deluxe, and my 66 Vibrolux Reverb amp. The Deluxe is a way cool amp, but unless I could get one for the same price as my silvertone, I would take the silvertone any day. The Vibrolux would be in the same boat as the deluxe if it didn't have reverb, but to be honest, I play the silvertone more than the vibrolux. I bought this amp at an antique shop for no other reason than it was a tube amp and it was cheap. I play a lot of surf/space rock, and the tone in silvertone is perfect when it is dimed, especially ince a have a reverb pedal to put infront of it. besides a crybaby, that reverb is my only effect. If it were up to me, everyone would have at least one of these amps. You would be hard pressed to find a better amp for the money.

I purchased this amp ins the mid 60's and it was the first Amp/Cabinet combination I'd ever had, so at the time I thought it was cool. It had 2 channels with volume, bass and treble in each. It had a stand-by switch and a polarity switch. It was connected to the cabinet with a hardwired cable, which made it impossible to use with anything else unless you chopped it. It had 2 6L6GC power tubes, but was on the very light side of 50 watts, approximately 35 watts is more likely. It had an open back, which in my opinion contributed to the lack of punch. If you had to play in a large place, you were done. It was ok for basements and practice rooms if you didn'e play too loud. The amp would overdrive the single Jensen 15" speaker in a heartbeat.

At the time I had this amplifier, I was using a Framus bass with a single pickup placed very near the neck, which I am sure added to the lack of punch.

Over all, the amp and cabinet were very versatile, as there was a nesting alcove in the back of the cabinet that the amplifier fit in and was held there by 2 movable nylon tabs. Unless you had an amp cover, you had to be careful how you placed the amp in the car or truck for transport, because if you put it on it's face, you could mes up the grill cloth and the fron tolex and if you placed it on its back, you could mess up the amp head.

Back when I had my 1483, you had customer support through just about any Sears store, but now you have to find someone that is knowledgeable in wired amps and tubes. There is no warranty on this model any more.

I've been playing bass for over 40 years. You can't even begin to compare it to an Ampeg SVT with 300 watts with 8 tens in the cabinet...now there's some punch. I would like to own one just for the nostalgia. I'm also looking for my original Framus bass...

I assume that it was made in 1965 (bought it new from Sears and Roebuck that year). I believe it was around $100.
Simple two channels with associated volume, treble, bass.
A "piggy back" that the head stowed in the back of the speaker cabinet for travel. One 15" Jensen speaker. Large cabinet that was not too heavy since it was rather cheaply made. It seems that manufacturer never expected it to last more than several years.

It was my first amp and it was bought with a Danelectro/Silvertone U1 bass (black with white edge). The bass was an additional $80 new. Overall it was a smooth sound. Great for small situations and practice. I played one party in a basement (carpeted, stuffed chairs, and a lot of people) and the amp couldn't keep up with it. It was at that time I realized that if I was serious about playing the bass, I had to get a better amp...traded it in on a new Ampeg B-15N. We still have that amp in the family (son has it).

Only had it about a year and it never gave me any problems. Time may have told a different story.

With only a year, never had a problem.

I have been playing off and on for 36 years and have had a lot of equipment. My impression of the 1483 was that (especially in todays standards) it was too big and cumbersom for the amount of sound that you got out of it...though it did have a great sound for low level uses (practice, garage bands, etc.)