Silvertone 1484 Twin-Twelve

I believe mine is a '65. versatile enough for what i care for. i usually prefer a minimal/ simpler setup. there are 2 clean channels and 2 channels which allow tremolo and reverb options (tremolo works beautifully, but my reverb doesn't work at all). no channel switching capability. it's curse and gift is that you can't get a clean and loud signal (by the inherent nature of tube amps). it has 2 6L6s (Sovtek, anyone have other tube recommendations for this amp?), so it has enough power for what i use it for. i plan to use it as a studio/recording amp due to its limitations. the "piggy-back" head-in-cabinet is brilliant and the "umbilical cord" is more charming than it is practical.

Although limited, this amp sounds great. Not a lot of variety, but it does what it does well. If you ever wanted to know what overdriven saturated tubes sound like, put it on 10 and go at it. in fact you can even get the tubes to go over at 3-4(!) depending on your attack. It think it sounds best using guitars with p90-ish pickups. humbuckers are fine too, but you may need to cut a little treble with single coils because i swear bats can hear it. It may also have to do with the Jensen C12Ps I put in it. The speakers you put in it can make a huge difference, but that's another subject.

Hard to say. I haven't gigged with it and I probably won't. The cabinet is not built very well. it's basically particle board. Not made with quality parts that's for sure.

I doubt Sears would or could do anything about it :)

I absolutely love this amp! It looks fantastic and the elephant skin cabinet with wheat screen screams vintage. Its not versatile or durable, but the sound is priceless. If anything happened to it, I'd definitely get another one. For the money, it's worth it.

Features? Forget about it. Unusable reverb, tremolo doesn't work on mine. Come on, it doesn't even have a midrange control.

Playing through a 2001 Standard Tele. Yes, it buzzes, this amp is far from silent, though the noise doesn't increase as the volume increases, and that's a plus. Mine has the original Jensens, and this thing can get rather loud, with massive bottom end. However, the midrange is twice as massive, and this amp definitely lacks the definition and sparkle of the Twin Reverb it's trying to imitate. Chords sound like a jumbled mess, with very little clarity, and single notes just sound... I don't know, fake, like I'm hearing my guitar coming over the radio.Breaks up nicely around 10 o'clock, with nice crunch, though it still sounds like crap.

I've only had it for 3 months, though I suppose if it's lasted the last 40 years it can't be too bad. Haven't gigged with it, because the thing is heavy and fragile.

Hi, Sears, I have a 40 year old amp here, will you fix it?

The one thing I love about this amp is the look, though it hardly makes up for the crappy sound. I was going for the Jack White tone, hough I now realize that his sound comes more from a Twin Reverb than the Silvertone. Sure, this is the poor man's twin, but if you want that Fender sound, get a Fender amp. I know I will

I just have the head. Reverb doesn't work on mine and I haven't tried to have it fixed, since everyone says it sucks anyway. Mine has an upgraded Bassman output transformer, which is larger than the original. Tremelo works great, although I don't use it. Has a 4 ohm speaker output.

I play harp through it into a 4x8 speaker cab and it sound gorgeous! I've never heard one with the original output transformer, so I can only rate mine with the Bassman OT, which reportedly gives more volume and headroom. Mine gets very loud, loud enough for good sized gigs. The amazing thing is that it sounds fantastic even at low volume--not much breakup, of course, but deep and rich. As the volume goes up, gets thick and creamy, without losing definition. My speaker cab is 8 ohms. It's safe to play with an 8 ohm cab (you can go up, just not down with tube amps). I got a Weber Z-Matcher so I can properly match it to this and other cabs. Interestingly, it sounds nicer with the mismatch for harp--more compressed and distorted. But with the Z-Matcher I can switch to the correct ohm setting at high volume when I want less distortion. Makes a great gigging amp. My guitar player also played through it and was blown away.

So far so good!

There are schematics online and plenty of boards with people who have 1484's, so it's easy to get tips from others for mods, etc.

I've been blowing harp for some time now, and this is a great gigging amp, with plenty of power and tone. A true bargain.

This amp was made in 1964. All-tube, hell yeah. I like to play everything from some funky blues rock to distorted rock?n?roll, low-tuned stoner rock?it?s all good. This amp does all this, I just wish it kicked out more low-end, and was less twangy at high volumes.

Two channels, non-switchable. Unless you had an AB/Y box, which I don?t. Each channel has two inputs, so you can bridge them, and stick an effect between channels for a layered sound. The only features it has is some tremolo with strength and speed controls, and reverb with a depth control. These features are quite enough for me for onboard effects, and sound fine. The tremolo doesn't tick. The reverb spring (just one) rattles when you turn it up too far or hit the strings to hard, but that's fine. I usually leave the reverb on at a minimal setting, just to fill out the sound a bit. The tremolo is fun to use now and then. I?m glad it?s there for when I feel like using it.

I use it in my room, with a fender 2x12 cab loaded with Traynors, and it's quite enough power.

I'm giving it a ten, because it's very LACK of fancy shmancy onboard effects is what makes it so great. You can change the sound just by changing how hard you hit the strings.

I play a 70s vintage Klira strat-copy from Germany. It's got single coil pickups, but they're bigger than strat single coils. It's a bit noisy, but that's not the amp; it comes from one bad speaker and bad guitar grounding.

It suits my style fine; I actually started making use of clean sounds more because of it. With a few effects you can get infinite tonal possibilities out of it...run it thru a big muff then wah for a smooth fuzzy sound, wah then big muff for something rougher and harsher, but still cool.

The clean sound is smooth and rich, lots of harmonics. You can get a sound from squinty bright to muddy and dark. The good stuff is somewhere between the two, and easy to find. I LOVE the clean sound of this amp. I hardly use distortion anymore, that?s how great it is.

Put a wah wah between channels for a thick, chewy funky wah sound (or use the pedal slowly and listen to the singing harmonics.) Put a big muff between channels for a layered clean/distorted sound (fun to put the clean sound all bass w/ no treble, then layer on a trebly dimed tone and sustain sound), or crank the mother up for some rumbly bass-heavy natural overdrive rhythm tones (w/ the neck pup) or some more trebly, cleaner (because my guitar?s bridge pup is weaker) sounds better suited to solos, on the bridge pup.

There?s no clean or dirty channel. One channel has no trem and reverb and one channel does. They both overdrive when you crank it.

The natural overdrive is very harmonically rich and good for rock?n?roll. Definitely not an amp to bring to practice with your Deicide cover band.

Hmm...This amp was broken once, and the cabinet still isn't completely solid...maybe I'd gig with it, but I'd be extremely careful.

Customer support? Yeah, right. It's forty years old.

Pick this amp up if you can. They're pretty cheap, and sound like God. IF it were stolen I'd mourn for a while, and try to get another tube amp as soon as possible.

1964 Silvertone Twin Twelve. My dad played though this for 30 years (as his PA for awhile), and I've been using it for the last two. Dad plays country, rockabilly, classic rock and mountain music. I'm playing straight-up rock 'n roll. It's got two channels: channel one is clean, and channel two has reverb & tremolo control. The spring reverb feature isn't functioning on my amp, but I get most of my sounds with pedals so it's no big deal for me. Originally it was coupled with a Silvertone cabinet with Jensen 12's. I don't know at what point my amp went solo, but I've paired it with two Celestion Greenbacks in a vintage Bassman cabinet and they seem to get along great. This is just a straight forward sweet sounding amp. No frills, no limitations.

I've gotten so many different sounds out of this amp. I play a Les Paul Custom, 335 Firebrand, & a Nashville Delux Tele. They all positively sing through this amp. My bass player runs a line from his A-B-Y box through a big muff into my clean channel, so that when I'm not playing he can kick in a nice crunch without compromising his clean bass tone. I've even had other Nashville cats rent my rig for some variety in the studio.

I really trust this amp. When I acquired it there were a few problems. Some buzzing, feedback, and a nasty shock from time to time. I took it to Paul at Tusculum Music in Nashville. He gave it a cap job, new tubes and a three-prong power chord. I gig with it regularly now, and haven't been using a backup. That's probably not the best choice given the age of the amp, but I've been pretty fortunate with it so far. I'd love a hard case to protect it on the road, but for now I just take it in the van with me instead of trusting it to the trailer.

I've never dealt with Silvertone customer service, but I'll give a rating to Paul, the tech in Nashville that overhauled it for me. He turned this beat up heirloom into my main workhorse.

I've been playing for about 10 years, touring for the past two. At one point I had a Marshall 2X12 combo, but the tone didn't compare so I traded it for my Tele. I use the Daddy-O, DanEcho, Cool Cat, FabTone, Boss BF-2, & Boss SD-1 through this amp. They all sound fantastic. My bandmates play through top-notch gear, but people always want to talk about my old amp. If anything happened to it I would definitely want another one to replace it.

I think the speakers are 35 watts each. I tried to take them out to look at them but couldn't get them out (though they might be damaged -- nope, just bad power tubes). to detach the speakers you'd have to take a couple of pieces of wood out of the cabinet, or painstakingly unscrew them with vice grips, pliers and wrenches (tried this, not fun, gave up)

well, it looks like the bright channel mod is not neccessary, but I still love it. the silvertone preamp tubes sounded pretty good, but they were very dark, maybe because they're 40 years old? I took out the original silvertone tubes and put in some mullards and the unmodified channel brightened right up! gives both channels a nice sparkly clean sound. the stock channel is still heavy on the mids though, especially at low volumes. I much prefer the bright (modified) channel for practicing. It sounds american. the stock channel sounds like recordings of some british amps I've heard, pretty middy. I might try some JJs for a slightly "warmer" tone, but not as dark as the silvertones. also, the original RCA silvertone 6L6s sound great. I had some SED/svetlanas in there that were good for a while, but went bad very quickly. I would reccomend you stay away from svetlanas as I've heard from others that they are unreliable. I'm going to try some JJs next from www.eurotubes.com and save the RCAs for backup/recording, until I'm rich and can afford NOS tubes all around, that is.

I've found that to get that really overdriven jack white tone, you have to use a clean boost. I use a Reverend Drivetrain II with the gain turned down and the volume cranked. Jack uses an MXR Micro Amp. also, with the volume at about 9 oclock, the clean boost will increase the amp's volume instead of making the preamp tubes clip, so you can get more volume out of your amp this way

This amp is just barely loud enough to play with a loud drummer with a clean tone, which is perfect for me since I have sensitive ears even with earplugs, and my bandmates don't wear earplugs, so I guess I'm not killing their ears as much as I could with one of my other dream amps (twin, victoria double deluxe, AC30, selmer Treble n Bass).

I still love this amp, 10 for its clean sound. Played some Fender tube amps in the music store (Deluxe reissue, Hot Rod Deville) and they didn't sound nearly as good. I bet they'd sound fantastic with new tubes and speakers, though, so it's not a fair comparison. Keep in mind I'm using this almost exclusively as a clean amp. I don't really like the white stripes crunch in my music. For a cranked amp, I'd much prefer a Selmer Treble n Bass or an AC30, which I plan to own someday. I especially like recordings of cranked AC30s I have heard. But for a lot less money and a lot easier to transport (when head/cab are split), this thing does a great job as a clean amp.

prices have gone up recently on these, although I think they're still a pretty good deal.

two demos made with this amp are currently available at www.duke.edu/~drw5/ and www.12quality.com there will be more added in the next few months as they are recorded

This is a 1963 Sears Silvertone Twin Twelve that I bought from the original owner in 1974...I thought it was so LOUD! It basically does one thing: sound like a Twin Twelve. Unusable reverb, boingy tremolo, limited EQ. Inputs are not grounded so it hums if you haven't plugged a guitar into it. It comes with an attached cord to the speaker, which sucks. I added a standard 1/4" jack to mine for a removeable cord. I don't know if anyone has mentioned: the head nests inside the speaker cabinet for transport. Grey imitation elephant covering, over particle board, so it's heavier than it needs to be. Someone mentioned bent chasis: it's thin aluminum. Real minimal box.

It was my first amplifier. I play a Les Paul DeLuxe and a Gretsch Country Gentleman (1963, same year), mostly "honkytonk", country, country rock, early rock, through it. It makes everything sound good. I used it for recording with a Strat I had, and it sounded great. Very meaty, not thin like some amps sound with Strats. It's noisy and hissy at high gain; as noted it doesn't have grounded inputs, but that's not a problem when you're playing. At one time it was my PA! It's smooth, and buttery, and very responsive. It would be a waste to play heavily distorted music with it, but about around 12 o'clock on the volume knob it gets a sweet distortion unlike any other amp I've ever played. Not sawtooth-sounding, not annoying. Very nice. I have used it for a harp amp with a Shure green bullet. It's not a trick channel-switching brown sound monster...it's a Silvertone. Read the reviews: everybody who owns one likes to talk about it!

I actually got the service manual with it, which has disappeared over the years, but this amp is Tube Circuit 101. I have had it worked on at tv repair shops and boutiques specializing in tube gear. The caps go every few years, and from time to time I have to re-tube it.

When I bought it Sears searched the SN and told me it was made in 1963. That's the last contact I had with them.

I've been playing since 1970 and this was the first amp. I answered an ad in Austin Texas offering "your choice: dishwasher or amplifier. $40". A real cheap Japanese solidbody came with it...which I eventually traded for a tube reel-to-reel. I tried it out and asked Sterling Morrison (of Velvet Underground) about it and he told me he recorded the first Velvet album through one, and if I wasn't going to buy it, to tell him where it was so he could! I also play a 1983 Carvin X100 with a Torres tone kit, a borrowed '67 Super Reverb, an early '70's Musicman HD130 Reverb, and a '63 Ampeg B15N. I ain't retro, just old. If it were stolen I'd die. I love the sound: I judge every other amp by whether they can make me smile like the Twin Twelve. It has been my constant companion through 2 marriages (2nd one still going strong) and innumerable guitars and bands. When people visit my studio it's the one piece of gear everyone wants to talk about.

features: hate the ungrounded powercord and unmodified low volume tone. the umbilical cord also sucks (see below) volume/treble/bass on each channel (which works great for me), 4 inputs, 2 channels...pretty nice feature to have...perhaps you could use an A/B switch to swap channels for an EQ/volume/overdrive change. would be a simple volume boost. reverb sounds crazy and feeds back nastily, don't know if tremolo works...but good thing since I don't care (get the Voodoo Labs 4 knob tremolo, the finest tremolo in a thorough and technical shootout I read online...the Danelectro Tuna Melt is also a fine tremolo for a lot less money, tho less sturdy) 4 ohms output, 2x8 ohm speakers in parallel (4 ohm load), Jensen C12Q gold label speakers Silvertone schematics (including tube layout) can be found at http://www.doctoraudio.us/Silvertone/schematics.html ... my amp came with a dented rear panel, which from what I've seen is common on these amps for some reason and nothing to worry about, so don't fret if the one you're looking at is a little bent

man I love this amp. some serious mojo ... the coolest damn amp I've ever seen (best looking, I can't stand most new amp aesthetics, no matter how great they sound). really love this thing. clean channel is just fabulous after a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED MODIFICATION (had an amp tech solder a capacitor across some terminals on the volume pot to let highs pass through at low volumes, he said this is what a "bright" switch on a fender does) without the mod you have to crank the treble at low volumes and it's still to dark and just sounds bad. I was depressed by this sound and thought I would have to sell the amp...very glad my tech recommended this. GET THIS MOD DONE TO ONE CHANNEL OF YOUR SILVERTONE AMP! it's a pretty cheap mod...cost me $76, but he also replaced the power cord with a three prong grounded one (also another HIGHLY RECOMMENDED MOD...before this the amp would shock me if I had the ground switch in the wrong position...not deadly but UNPLEASANT) I might later cut the umbilical cord (the head is permanently wired to the speaker cab from the factory) just to try some other speakers (the jensens sound great) and to make it easier to carry (pretty heavy, about 60 lbs)

you can jumper the inputs, which could be useful to me since I now have a bright and a dark channel (only modded channel 1)

it makes some noise, a bit of hiss/sputtering...could be the tubes, I still have the original silvertones in it...another reviewer said grounding the input jack fixed the noise

also it just smells really nice...especially when you let the tubes cook for a while. a nice smelly antique that sounds really sweet. this amp sounds really great when you crank it, a lot like Jack White (he uses 1485s, the big brother...the biggest baddest silvertone) Greg Brown formerly of Cake and currently of Deathray uses this exact amp. (listen to the first two Cake albums for a sample...I highly recommend Fashion Nugget, one of my favorite albums) He runs his clean, using a Rat for medium overdrive (any good OD will work...I currently use a Reverend Drivetrain II that gets very close to the Fashion Nugget tone, Vox V810 valvetone is also good). All of my pedals sound great through this amp (big muff, marshall shredmaster).

ONLY PERFORM THE BRIGHT CAP MOD TO ONE CHANNEL...I just cranked the amp and found out this mod decreases the breakup by a fair amount...in other words you can't get that white stripes crunch out of the modified channel. It's also a few decibels quieter, which is not very significant. So now I have a bright, low gain channel (extremely useful to me, sounds good from 7 to 9 on the volume, after which it breaks up a bit but doesn't get louder) and an awesome crunch channel (only good at high volume (9 o'clock and up), and treble at about noon and bass full on). the broken up sound only sounds good on the BRIDGE pickup, in my opinion of course. I'm going to try some Smicz TADs www.smicz-amplification.com 1-2 watt tube adapters in this amp (request the TAD 2-HV model) for some low volume tube distortion, and for a smoother 6V6 breakup flavor. It's loud enough to be heard over a drummer. When I cranked it it hurt my ears even with earplugs.

for all you White Stripes fans trying to nail Jack's tone, I've found that lipstick pickups work best (Danelectros are also hollow on the inside like Jack's guitar) If you can't or won't buy a Danelectro (they're cheap! Pick up a U2 on ebay for under $200) use a bright single coil, or an exceptionally bright humbucker (filtertron? low inductance Bill Lawrence L-450). I think a tele would work pretty well too. Jack's guitar is pretty twangy. You will find it difficult to not sound like a White Stripes impersonator with this setup and the amp cranked, which you may or may not like. sometimes I like it.

some clips of this amp will probably appear at my WEBSITE eventually (www.duke.edu/~drw5/ OR www.geocities.com/fender686/)...you will find a list of my other gear there if you

just fine

all you need with an amp like this is a good amp tech.

my favorite amp of the ones I've owned and tried (fender deluxe 85 and 112 and 90, mesa boogie rectoverb, vox valvetronix)

I think the twin twelve was made in 1966. It is very versatile. 2 channels, channel switching could be done with an A/B box but isn't necessary. Wish the reverb was better. Enough power

Single coil and hb guitars; it is a little noisy; but the great tone helps me overlook that. guitars are responsive; warm ; highs and lows are pronounced. like a boutique amp almost.

The amp has broken down but luckily a small problem and not costly one. I might want back up if playing a hard long gig because of its age. I don't take it out because it's rather a rare find.

I wouldn't take a mesa or dr z in trade for it. I wouldn't take anything for it (I don't think) wish it had a gain in channel 2
I used one as a teen in bands playing out and wanted one for nostalgia and it was great then and is great now. Have played over 30 years.

Basic, Mid 60s, no modifications, original except for tubes. Two Channels, with Bass/Trebel cuts each and dual inputs per channel. Verb and tremelo, my verb available on one channel. Ruby matched 6l6GC pwr tubes and "EI" 2xa7 preamp tubes, and ove original Silvertone.

What a tube amp is supposed to sound like. What you put in is what you get out, but better. Different tubes will get you different sounds. Mine starts to break up nicely at about 4, at 3 you get nice loud clean out put, after 5 you get very loud useable tube distorsion. I run this through an Avatar 2x12 upright cabnet, sound wonderful through it. This is a fairly loud amp, with two pwr tubes it rated at 40 to 60 watts, but reality is it sounds like 80 to 100 watts. Will easily handel full band situations.

This thing is 40 plus years old, it needs to be treated as such. Should keep working as long as it's no abused, like any other piece of equipment.

It's 40 years old!

I use this as basicaly a guitar power amp, I run peadls to get different sounds, and will get an EQ pedal soon. If you want EQ you'll need a pedal for it. I use a Whirlwind A/B/Y splitter into so I can switch between channel 1&2, ch 1 for rythem and ch 2 for a lead sound, and both together for a unique sound (don't mod the amp to do this). I'll be using this for recording and live situations.