A Closer Look At The Lafayette LA-35B

Looks like a few components have outlived their service lives by a few decades…

Tracing the circuit of the amp right now prior to changing out bad components and tubes.

Lafayette Bass Amp Confirmed As LA-35B

Needing a reliable bass amp, I removed the chassis from the old Lafayette bass amp and was surprised to find the model number stamped on the circuit board.

I’ve seen other photos online of similar circuit boards in amps made by Univox for Lafayette.

Huge transformer really gives the chassis a lot of weight! Next up, I’ll be replacing all 10 capacitors in the circuit and re-tubing it as well in hopes that it results in a usable bass amp for recording.

Mystery Lafayette Tube Amp: LA-35?

It’s a rare occurrence when I run into an old Lafayette tube amp and I just had to pick this one up last year when I saw it in a music store. The picture below shows it in the store.

At some point in it’s life, someone had bolted a homemade wheeled stand to it’s bottom. Looks pretty bad but comes in handy.

With the 15 inch Jensen and a horn handling speaker duties, I think it’s a bass amp.

There is no model number anywhere on the amp. Research has led me to believe it may be a Lafayette LA-35?

Silvertone Twin Twelve Video Two

Silvertone Twin Twelve Video One

Silvertone Twin 12 Circuitry

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.

Silvertone 1484 Twin 12 Tubes

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.

1484 Twin 12 Speakers

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.

Silvertone 1484: Peek At The Backside

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!

Inspecting The Silvertone 1484

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!