I must admit I was surprised to see how much circuitry there is in the chassis.
The red filter caps are Lyticap dry electrolytics and they look to be original. No dimpling or bleeding is evident.
Yellow General Instrument capacitor is completely encased in wax.
The paper in that choke is soaking with oil and bleeding. Like the filter caps, must be replaced.
There are two pairs of brown mica capacitors coupled together by black electrical tape. Have never seen that before.
Lots of tubes in this beauty. The tall silver object to the left is a cap can but to the right is an 6CG7, three shielded 12AX7’s and another 6CG7.
Why didn’t all amp manufacturers print the tube requirements directly on the chassis like this?
Output tube and phase inverter sockets.
Sylvania made 6GC7, RCA made 6L6 and Phillips made 12AX7/ECC83 tubes. Simply beautiful.
The cabinet come loaded with two 12 inch Jensen speakers. The fairly large negative space at the bottom of the cabinet accommodates the amp’s head.
Lots of markings on the Jensen speakers. Do the 98 and 96 denote SPL ratings?
It’s a wonderful feeling to look for the first time at the back of an amp one is considering buying and seeing this label. I love the sound of Jensens.
Jensen C12Q speakers, dated from the 22nd week of 1965. These were used in a lot of Blackface Fenders and came as the stock speakers to the 1484.
The nice clean lines extend to the back of the 1484 as well.
Hard to believe these were manufactured for Sears, kind of like if they were made today to be sold in a Walmart.
Ingenious how the head was designed to be slotted in below the speakers; bravo, Danelectro!
This beautiful example of Valco engineering is now 46 years old, and despite numerous dings and scratches, she’s still a stunner.
I love the graphical design of the 1484, from the small nameplate on the grill to the script and markings on the face of the amp head.
Best of all, she still works!
The next amp featured is a 1965 Silvertone 1484 Twin Twelve. This mid-sixties beauty is the largest device in the Dustyoldamp collection, putting out a full 40 watts.
Stay tuned for a full overview of this classic part of many guitarist’s formative years.
While I wait to get the Orpheum to a location where I can turn it up louder, here’s a clip of the Silvertone 1470, all the way up.
Time for a bit of a left turn as I try to sort the fuse issue on the Lafayette amp. Here’s a video of me playing a 1980’s Harmony strat copy through the Silvertone 1470.
The volume of the amp was 75% up and even though the Silvertone is only a few watts, it was still loud enough to get me yelled at, lol.
Today we bring this look at the 1966-7 Silvertone 1470 to a close. It’s a good little bedroom practice amp, especially if you live in a place where you can’t crank even a five watter. If you’re into playing jazz, early rock and roll or classic Chicago blues, you’ll probably dig this little one watt silver box. For any “modern” styles of guitar playing, it’s doubtful the 1470 would make a player of such genres happy. It’s just too clean and too quiet. Yeah, you can stick a dirt box into it but with so many small amps that play that game better, what’s the point?
I’m really glad that I happened to walk into that little music store on the day that I did and managed to walk out with this for $119 USD. As soon as possible, I’ll throw the lowest power rated vintage Alnico speaker I can into it and that should be a big improvement over what’s in there now. They’ll have to pry this amp from my cold, clenched fingers before I’ll ever give it up.
The tubes in the Silvertone 1470 reflect the primitiveness of the amp’s design. The trio consisting of a 12AU6 preamp bottle, 50C5 power valve and 35E4 tube rectifier was a feature of suggested Western Electric amplifier circuit manuals going back to the 1930’s. Many pre-war radios used this setup and it’s remarkable that the amps’s manufacturer, Danelectro, would pick this tube lineup as late as the mid 1960’s and even more remarkable that it sounds so good amplifying a guitar.
There are a few other amps at the time that used the same tubes; Harmony 303a, Vox Student (distributed in America by Thomas Organ and not made by JMI of England) and a Gregory 007. Could they have been the same basic amp, made by Danelectro and simply rebranded?
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The tubes from this 1470 are labled “Silvertone” and “Japan”. Are they the originals that shipped with the amp?
Dusty Old Amp 
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