Silvertone 1485 - Six Ten

This amp is by far the best i have owned. It has a very powerful heavy tone to it. If you keep it on low volume it has a very warm and rich tone, but if you crank it all the way it really overdrives nicely but still stays warm. The 6 10" cab has been long gone, so i'm running it through a marshall 2 12" cab with celestion g12-75's. It sounds great! Everything i was looking for. The reverb that everyone says is unusable isn't gonna knock you off your feet, but i find a small dose of it not too bad. Lets just say your not gonna get a fender reverb sound out of it. as far as features goes, you have a simple amp that is more hot rod and less mercedes. It offers you what you need. great tone and loud as hell if you want it to be.

I use a china strat knock off, and a hagstrom swede w/ dream90's in it and they both sound full and powerful. i have plugged in to a lot of amps and this one just does it for me. It has great attack, and has the best of the crunchy and warm tones.

never had an issue. still has the original tubes from the 60's.

I love this amp. I can't really compare it to anything. I feel the tone is better than any fender or marshall, etc., etc. that I've tried.

I used to own a Silvertone model 1485 6 x 10 amp. It was one of the best amps of its time. I was using a Vox amplifier when I received this 1485 for a birthday present.

It was one of the smoothest things I have ever played. I wish I had never traded it (20 years ago) for an epiphone guitar, and an autoharp.

If I knew then what I know now...

This was major tube blues power.

When it was new it was the best in my neighborhood and was the winner in most of the battle of the bands I was in back in the 60's.

Sears never touched this after they sold it to me. It was completely reliable right up to the day I traded it. I used it for about 10 years.

I have been playing guitar for 44 years. I own several Roland amplifiers now. I play a "Tradition" brand guitar (semi-hollow body) and I play a Fender Squire. I also use a Takemine acoustic dreadnought 6 string. I wish I had my old amp back, in the shape it was in when I traded it.

I don't know the year of this amp, but guessing early to mid 60's. Amp is stock (including the original tubes) except a 1/4" speaker jack has been added to replace the original unplugable speaker connection. Only complaint is the reverb. Totally unusable. I recently purchased this and plan on seeing if I can get the reverb fixed. I haven't checked to seen if it's a bad tube, bad tank, or bad design. The amp has plenty of power and other than the reverb, rocks!

I can see why these and the two speaker version were called the poor mans TWIN REVERB. Very similiar tones. Mine is very quiet, No noisy pots, no hum. Very nice breakup when cranked up (But really loud!). I'm playing numerous guitars through this, Gretsch 6120, Nash Broadcaster, 59' LP reissue, a couple of Danos, et460 Teisco Del Ray.
This amp sounds great with both single coil and humbuckers. Suits my style very well. I play rockabilly, garage rock, british invasion and some alt country. Other than the reverb, it would score a 10.

I've only had the amp for about a month, and haven't taken out yet. I wouldn't hesitate to gig with it. It is 40 years old and still sounds great. It seems like it should be reliable. Still has the original RCA Silvertone tubes.

Good luck trying to get Sears to service this. Actually, I have no idea, but would guess they don't have a tube amp repair division at Sears. I would just have my tech in Seattle do all service work.

Been playing for almost 40 years. I have above mentioned guitars plus a Vox AC30 (British Korg), and a Carvin Belair. Numerous pedals and A Fulltone Tube Tape Echo. If lost or stolen, I would acquire another one if affordable and in good shape. I love the tone, the look and the fact that it is the big brother of my first amp when I was about 10 years old (the little bass version of this). Very cool amps. Highly recommend!

1962. Has all the basics plus a nice tremelo. REVERB SUCKS...but they all do in silvertones.

I play with a strat and some other vintage guitars... all sound great. The amp has a crunch to it that stems from it being built so cheaply. You just cant reproduce that sound in any other amp. The jensens are pure gold... there is a reason that all the super high end amp makers are now using the same exact speakers.

Peice of crap as far as amps go. Built with plastic and cheap fiberboard and the covering is not even tolex, its more like wallpaper! I LOVE IT!! This one has never quit on me and still has the original tubes! (OVER 40 YEARS OLD!!) But I could see someone having problems with thiers due to age. I probably need to replace the caps in it, but I am afraid that I would loose the crunch, maybe I will wait till it just folds on me.

none

This amp sound better than most because I love the sound of the vintage stuff. I also have a Fender Twin Reverb and it a far better amp than this one, however you are comparing apples and oranges. They are just totally different and produce different sounds... both of which I love dearly.

Whadaya mean, who needs tremelo??? Ever play "Crimson and Clover" on a 1485? This is the only amp I ever had w/reverb and tremelo. Reverb is not all that great - not the big echo sound of my twin reverb, but ok for once in a while use. Still have a strong 80 watts coming out of it. Have a problem with crackling and popping while amp is warming up after moving it, but I'm guessing that the volume and tone pots need a good cleaning. Have been looking for the speaker cabinet that came with the amp, but like mine, most of them kinda fell apart (especially of they got damp while pushing them into a gig). I can't find anything with the same sound as this amp.

Using a Strat with two standard and one humbucking pickups. Like I said, it pops and crackles on warm up after moving. The tremelo on this thing is great. Very deep, very clear, and variable. Can crank it up without distortion (not using the original speaker cabinet - I remember mine "buzzing" at high volume from loose joints or the fiberboard crumbling.

I have never had this amp fail me. The popping and crackling on start up could be fixed with a good cleaning. And who would get complain about a vintage car because it backfired once in a while?

N/A - Never need service

I think I paid around $180 for it, but I really don't remember. But close to 40 years later, this thing just keep appreciating, and sounds great.

sears mid sixties,refrigerators,tv`s,washing machines, guitar`s and amps now that was a concept.two channels,i prefer the tremelo/rev.channel maybe because of the extra tube,the tremelo sounds great,make sure the reverb is clicked off (if not in use)it will cause a nasty little feedback.plenty of headroom,i heard 85 watts ,i use it all the time even had a speaker input installed on the head and use a gig bag to protect the tubes a bit more when on the road.

it rocks-i have to start with a good clean sound if that is cool then it goes from there,i use a ds-1,wahwah,phase shifter and a stereo delay to split the signal sometimes to run it stereo with a leslie,i play jazz,blues,funk,improv etc.,it will get loud enough to piss you off.

very dependable(i try to take care of it)even on the road ,some venues do not have enough space for the whole rig and yep i take it as an only amp to gigs quite often-i have a good friend and amp doc that i will take the amp to,i`m geeky with that stuff if it makes a weird noise i`ll get it checked out,yeah sometimes that weird noise is in me noggin though hmmm.

huh?ya gotta pay to play sometimes-it is a simple amplifier,i would be a bit wary of using it if it could not be maintained.

i have a 66 fender super reverb,68 dual showman,a polytone,70`s bassmen 10,a silvertone tv front 1-12,sure there is a lot of stuff i want but hey it aint about that i have been playing for a long time and still like to try and remain open-minded and teachable even if i am a bit cantankerous at times-yes i would try to replace it if something happened to it.

I'm guessing around `65, but it is a guess. Versatile, nope, just plug and play. It is the best sounding clean amp I ever played. Toss on a little reverb and you've got a fantastic clean sound. Pure tube sweetness, the kind of sound that makes happy to smell Tolex baking to a purple glow.

It has two channels; straight and effects. No channel switching but there is a footswitch for the reveb and tremelo (remember those?). I wish the amp had a little extra dirt, maybe a preamp stage, and who needs a tremelo?

The amp has plenty of power, but I would be afraid to gig with it. I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to it.

I found the amp in somebody's garbage, honest to God, it was sitting by the curb in a little drizzle as I walked home. I saw the Silvertone logo on the grill and kept walking, but you know how a woman's heart goes out to a stray. My wife made me take a second look, "if it's any kind of tube amp, I'll take it home", I said as I reached around and felt the quartet of 6L6s.

All original, right down to the tubes and the dolly that let me roll it the half block home. I figure it must have been in Zola's basement when she moved in. It was covered with dirt and dead spiders, but fired right up.

Again, the best clean amp I ever heard. It has one sound, sweet, just a sweet, clean tube sound. It does hum, a matter of design rather than a defect. It hums at the same level no matter what the volume, even on standby, so play a little louder. The reverb needed repair because of its poor design. The piezo elements are held in place by bare copper springs. After a few decades they will tarnish, and then no reverb. Upon taking it apart for repair the masking tape and fishpaper fell apart, oh, and did I mention the duct tape holding the assembly together...... it's a Silvertone!

No heavy distortion, just that great tube sound. Four 6l6s pushing 70W means they're working half as hard as your average Fender, so you get clean, lots of clean.

I wouldn't gig with this amp at all. The cabinet is waferboard, and the point to point wiring need some lead dress to make it stable. No leave it in the studio, that's where a great sounding museum piece like this belongs.

I had to repair the reverb, which was just a mess. You simply rebuild it, take it apart, clean the copper contacts on the piezos, and insulate the ends with fishpaper or Scotch tape and it's better than the original.

I also had to replace a resistor that had an intermittent crack. That was a little odd, but I believe it was damaged by poor lead dress when a wire rubbed against a terminal. The high voltage cracked the carbon resistor and the crack caused an intermittent open. I believe this is probably what banished the amp to the basement all those years ago.

Yeah, I'll give my Sears serviceman a call and have him take a look at my `fridge too while he's here.

I've been playing since the Seventies. The amp was old then and we laughed at people that owned them. Now I know better, it sounds great, but I wouldn't trust it even for a Weekday gig.

I'll say it again and again, It's the best sounding clean amp I ever heard. The kind of sound you should only hear when you fall in love. So you can take it out of the house, who cares, quit touring and do a studio album with your 1485

I'm just giving a final review on this amp, as when I last reviewed, I still hadn't finished the cab. The cab turned out nicely, but I didn't build it to the exact Silvertone 1485 cab measurements. The original seems to have been made of a lesser partical board, where as I made mine with birch. The size of mine's a little bigger then the original (2" taller, ~1-2" wider, and seemingly 1" deeper) as I wanted to assure I had enough room to work with. It doesn't seem to have effected the weight too much, and the original cab was open-back so the sound can't be to far from original. The original cab had a single strap handle on top, but I used Marshall-type side handles which seems to help in transport.

With the new cab, and being as close as I'm gonna get to the original cab I can say this amp sounds great with Single coil guitars, but muddy or fuzzy with humbuckers (I've tried it with Gibson 490R, 498T, and a friend's SG Supreme equipped w/ 57 classics). The single coils seem to cut through this thing just right. I'm trying to decide how I want to get the right single coil sound now. It does break up pretty well early, and sustains great when cranked. Also, for the hell of it I tried running a jumper from channel 1 to channel 2 and it seems to work fine. I ran my '74 Gibson Ripper bass through it as well, and on the first channel, it sounded rather nice. I'd say it makes just as good bass amp as a blackface or silverface Bassman. A good tube bass amp with low power (compared to my SVT stack)

I go with what I stated earlier.

I hope you don't mind me posting twice on this amp. I know how hard it is finding anything out on these things. I hope my info can help; lord knows it's useless to go to a music store/ repair shop and ask anyone "hey, what can you tell me about the old Silvertone 1485's?"

The 1485 that I'm reviewing is still a work in progress. The year is (I believe) 1965-67. It was an eBay find without the original cab(surprise surprise), so I'm in the prosess of constructing a cab for it using the same speaker configuration; 6 Jensen C10Q's. I have played through a Marshall 1960A (4x12) and liked what I heard so far. Soundwise, it's reminisant of a JTM 45. It hasn't really got a clean sound but the overdrive is wonderful, more bite then a "bluesy" sound. The layout of the controls, and having trem and reverb may lead one to believe it's a rehash oh a Bandmaster or twin, but the only thing this beast has in comon with a Fender is they're both amps. The reverb is "spacey" not at all similar to more popular amps, Hell, the reverb tank itself is rectangular tube abou 1", by 1 1/2", by 6" and is mouted an inch from the preamp tubes which explains the feedback that comes on with the reverb, and stops when you turn the reverb off. I didn't notice any real difference between the 2 channels soundwise. Each channel has 2 inputs, but I don't know if you can jump the channels; I haven't real found myself saying "how can I get more out of this amp". Power wise, it's hard to figure out the wattage. Most resorces rate at 75-80 watts, but the original listing in the Sears catalog said it was 150 watts. If they mean 75 watts per side, it would make sense. This head does have 2 power sections, the idea to double up the power of the 1484 by adding a tube section does seem to be right on the money. One thing to bare in mind when running just the head into a cab of any kind is the cab must be stereo, or you have to remove one power section from operation.

Using my Les Paul with stock 490-498's it sounds spectacular. This amp definately has that vintage sound. Ive notice the only way to get a similar sound to this amp is to invest into a botique amp like a newer Orange or a Dr. Z. The point-to-point wiring is something of a lost art it seems, and any company doing it now REALLY knows what they want for it. There's no drive control, just volume, so Mesa and Marshall JCM series fans won't like it, but for fans of amps that sound dirty, this amp is great. Not recomended for metal, great for rock, garage, punk, and terrible for clean. The tube sound is great, the tube preamp, power amp, reverb, and trem. The only thing not tube is the rectifier. This and the fact it runs on 6l6's is what keeps it from sounding exactly like a JTM 45.

This amp has lasted too damn long to say it's not reliable. The cab didn't come with it but I can only speculate what may have happened to it. It may have rotted away, the speakers could have been sold individaully, who knows. When I got it, I just plugged in a new quartet of JJ 6l6's and it went just fine. It was a little noisy, but it still has the original 2 prong power cable.

Repairs seem simple enough, parts may be hard to find. As far as customer support, does Sears even have a catalog anymore?

I've been playing guitar for a couple years now, and bass for 11. This amp is definitely worth replacing, and if you can find one, it's well worth the money, even without the cab. I love the sound and the portability of this amp. The cab I'm building has the transport compartment like the original. The only thing i will probably change about it is the power cord, I believe in keeping things original on vintage pieces, but I also believe in not electricuting myself. The reviewer at the bottom has a great review on this amp. I found that if you want to match the impedence, you should only need a stereo 4x12 like the Behringer with the Jensens.

I used one of these beauties as a bass amp back in the late 60's/early 70's. It's a simple, straightforward two-channel piggy-back style guitar amplifier with reverb and tremelo. The amplifier section was stored in a bottom rear compartment of the speaker cabinet which made for easy transporting. Since I was using this model as a bass amp, the tremelo and reverb weren't of much importance to me.

For use as a guitar amplifier, several friends also used this model and the range of sounds that I've heard them attain spanned the range from squeaky-clean jazz to down-and-dirty rock. For bass guitar, I was blown away by it's tightness of sound, a great low range definition without getting muddy. And there was enough volume to fill a medium sized club (heh-heh, enough so to make the club owner complain). I love it, love it, LOVE IT! I was playing a Gibson EB-0 with black nylon flat-wound strings.

The only problem I've ever had using one was to have one of the 6L6's fry up on me, probably due to the age of the amp. But you learned early to always keep a spare set of tubes on hand for such occasions.
If I had the occasion today, I'd depend on this baby to keep me rockin'.

Customer Support???
BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!

I am currently "retired" from live music, but if I were to re-enter the field, I'd love to have one (maybe two) of these behind me. And my old EB-0 to go along with it.
The tone, the volume, the transportability and (since I borrowed the one that I used) the PRICE!!!! Even tho I used this back 20-some years ago, my love for it hasn't diminished even a little bit.

Price quoted was for a working 1485 amp, with original speaker cab, 6x10", with reissue green-frame jensens. (the price was 450, but the cab is particle board, and had water damage...and the bottom promptly fell out of the cab when I pulled it out of the box, and I got a 100$ refund).
This is the grand-daddy of all the silvertones, close kin to the 1474 combo, big brother of the 1484 Twin Twelve. Technically, it's like 2 twin twelve amps, in the same cabinet, sharing the pre-amp stages. Sears did some monkey-math in making this amp. Instead of making a twin twelve with twice the wattage and one larger output transformer, they just put in a second set of 6L6's and a second output transformer (read on to hear the inherent problems). The twin 12's were supposedly around 35 watts (2-6L6's), the 1484 has 4 6L6's, but, because of the output transformer setup, the 1485 is more equivalent to running two twin 12's side by side, instead of one 70 watt amp **Caution, to run the 1485 normally, you'll have to have 2 separate 4 ohm cabs! If carrying 2 cabs isn't your thing, all you have to do is pull the tubes associated with one of the transformers, this cuts off that transformer, and allows the amp to need only one speaker cab...but, you're running at half capacity. Interestingly, originally, the amps were hardwired to the 6x10 cabinet. (the cab was wired technically as 2 sets of speakers to accomodate the 2 output transformers.) I quickly cut the embilical cord and wired it up with 2 ouput jacks. The amp has 2 channels, non-switchable, with volume, bass, and treble. 2 inputs per channel. Channel 2 is supposed to be beefier, but there is very little difference between the channels on mine. Somewhere I heard that the tone controls only "subtract" frequencies...meaning that with the controls on 10, the tone is unaffected. It also has reverb and tremolo. The reverb on working models is useless as a normal reverb, but cool sounding, very ghostly. My reverb on mine is broken...no huge loss. The tremolo works well...I'm not a tremolo expert...so to me, it's just another tremolo..(but I think it's the kind that "ticks" if that helps anyone). Tube compliments are 4 6L6's, 2 6CG7/6FQ7's, and 4 12AX7's. Mine still has both original 6CG7's and one original 12AX7, probably soon to be replaced.
My philosophy for old tube amps is the fewer knobs and features, the better, so this one ranks pretty high for features.

I wanted to go ahead and post my review of this amp...but remember, it's a work in progress.
I loved the tones of the twin 12's I had heard...but they were too quiet... I figured that the 1485 would just be a louder twin 12...WRONG. When I got this amp, it was loud as all get-out. It dwarfed my 68 bassman for volume. It was almost equivalent to an old 100W plexi. Bright and crunchy. The twin-12's that I have tried were alot warmer, and fatter, with more compression. Concerning the actual circuit, the only difference between the 1485 and twin 12 is the power transformer. So, I can only assume that this is the main reason for the tonal differences. A fun feature of all of the larger silvertone amps is that they overdrive early. This amp overdrives before it "fills out." It begins to overdrive at volume 3...so you can have an overdriven sound, with no sustain...sustain doesn't start until around volume 5-6. So if you want clean headroom...sorry, this ain't it. I gave it it's 35 year make-over with a cap job and new tubes. Somehow, one of the wires to one of the tubes got disconnected...screwing up the ability to bias it (running around 7 mA)...and until the tech found the problem, it sounded alot more like a twin 12...much fatter..but it didn't work properly. Now, with it fixed, it's back to bright and crunchy..and still damn loud...even when only running 2 of the 4 main tubes, it's definitely louder than the twin 12. It's moderately noisy at all times, probably due to not having self-grounding jacks in the input, but it's not overbearing. Soundwise, I have no idea what to compare it to...or even any recordings that sound like it... but it's definitely old school, and definitely close to marshalls, even with the new Svet 6L6GC's in it. It's such a strange and pure crunchy tone that I'm not sure whether it sounds incredible or crappy. Usually I'm pretty firm on this topic, but..it's like that one wierd lookin chick in school...there's something really magical about her, but you can't quite decide whether she's really sexy, or just plain freakish. So, we'll give her the benefit of the doubt and give her an 8.

I have no idea of how reliable this thing is going to be. all the transformers could fry an egg after normal use. One caution though, the silvertone output transformers were supposedly the weakest link (twin 12's also). They give out first... and there's no official easy replacement. But, they can be wired up with a fender or marshall Output, so, just expect that one day, you'll have to replace them, maybe sooner than later. But, since the 1485 has 2, if you only run on 2 tubes the whole time, you at least have a proper replacement!
I'm worried about it's reliability, but that's cuz it's had so much work done to it recently... I won't gig without a backup for a few months just in case.

everyone makes the same joke about the silvertone service department...so I won't repeat it.
but the 3 original sivertone tubes do say that they have a 1 year warranty.

Concerning tone, it's a nice difference from my normal fat bassman. It'll be great for the days when I'm just in a pissy mood and feel like having tone from hell.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the 1485. I'll be glad to give you an update as to how the amp is surviving, or not-surviving.