Silvertone 1482 success

[munkeyboy]

You guys rock, I just wanted to say thanks for all who help out on this forum.   I'm really enjoying this hobby and hope one day I will be wise and patient enough to help others as well.

Though you guys have and are helping me with my other projects here, this repair was one I was able to power thru myself with the knowledge learned here in a mere fraction of the time of my past builds or repairs.

A few years ago I acquired a Silvertone 1482 in near perfect condition.  I got it super cheap and from the original owner.  I really liked the sound of this amp, but I stupidly sold it (actually I traded for a $900 guitar, so I made out).  Ever since, I've been keeping an eye out for another one.   A six months ago I found one.  Not near as cheap as the first and in much worse condition.  I let it sit until we finished moving and I had the space.

When I finally working on it, the first thing was to replace the filter caps and two other elec caps, power cord and death cap.  The amp had very low volume and distorted sound.  After ruling out bad tubes, I thought that I should just replace all caps (I suspected leaky caps). That didn't work, so I started replacing resistors one at a time starting with the area of lost power (V1). Turns out, at least 3 or 4 of these throughout the amp were down right bad, the rest had drifted quite a bit.  Just decided to replace every resistor in the amp and it only took a noob like me 3 or so hours (unsoldering is the worst part).  Just fired it up tonight and it sings!  Note I did replace the jacks with switchcraft grounding jacks as well.   No hum or other odd sounds, tho I haven't really cranked it yet.  We'll see how my paper towel speaker cone repair holds up in the next few days as well.

Things I knew, but didn't do that I should have because I'm a lazy newbie:  Make a chart of tube voltage readings and compare.  Also do not overlook resistors as a problem even if the resistors looks good. Go ahead a buy all the resistors (and caps) you could need for your project even if you don't think you'll be replacing all of them.  They are super cheap and you can reuse later.  I ended up ordering parts 3 times... the wait was horrible and spent more on shipping than needed.

[1blueheron]

Munkeyboy,

I thought it looked like it might be similar to the Airline...  Does your Silverline have a field coil speaker and pressboard cabinet?  Can you post your paper towel repair technique?  PM it too me if it is too ugly for the world to see.   I like your ingenuity for low cost repair if it works.  This one has 4 small tears in the cone visible from the back... haven't touched it yet, only seen pictures that were sent me.  I was planning to use a small amount of superglue,  varnish or fingernail polish on each tear to bond the fibers back together.   

Congrats on the restore.

[munkeyboy]

Yes a pressboard cab.  Well, calling it pressboard is being generous.  It really like a hard cardboard.  Actually the back panel was pressboard, different from the cab and baffle. When I received the amp, the back panel had apparently gotten wet.  Half of the wood was falling apart (shipping box was littered with wood chips).  I've since tried to remove the wood from the "tolex" to see if I can save the tolex (really wallpaper) to build a new panel.   Both the silvertones and airlines were cheaply made budget amps for the catalog stores.   Maybe that's the charm of these guys.   

As far as the speaker, mine is not a field coil. It is an alnico (fisher probably) 12 inch.   Looking at your pics of the airline, I'm not sure you have a field coil either.  But hard to tell.   I do have a much older Danelectro with a field coil that I also need to repair the speaker on.  You really have nothing to loose by trying the DIY repair yourself.  If it doesn't work, you've lost nothing but time and half a sheet of paper towel.   You either try again, have it reconed or replace it.  I'm not planning on keeping that speaker anyhow, the repair was just my test to see if I could.

I'll post some front pics of the speaker repair area later.  There were some large holes, like a bug had been eating the cone in spots. I'm not sure it worked.  Now that I've cranked it up, there is some buzzing happening.   With these cheap cabs and baffles, it could be anything tho.

[PRR]

> paper towel repair technique?

I prefer Rubber Cement and Kleenex.

Don't add stiff glues or any extra mass to a cone unless you want to change it.

("half a sheet" is far too much for any one speaker...)

Ask my old neighbors 4 floors up if the Kleenex fix lasts.

[munkeyboy]

> paper towel repair technique?

I prefer Rubber Cement and Kleenex.

Don't add stiff glues or any extra mass to a cone unless you want to change it.

("half a sheet" is far too much for any one speaker...)

Ask my old neighbors 4 floors up if the Kleenex fix lasts.

Great idea.

Would that work for filing dime sized holes or larger?

[munkeyboy]

Can you post your paper towel repair technique?  PM it too me if it is too ugly for the world to see.

See the repair pics attached.  PRR is right, you shouldn't need half a sheet... especially if you are just repairing tears.   I have larger spots where there were 2 or 3 irregular holes in a quarter sized area, so my spots are quite large.

I tore the right sized paper towel (single ply or toilet paper or tissue like PRR said).  To make sure I had nice frayed ends.   Then i took a thimble sized amount of woodglue (didn't have Elmer's on hand) and diluted it in about a 1/4 cup of water or less.  Pretty thin and watery stuff.   I then laid down the paper over the area and wet the edges with a qtip.   Stroke out towards the edge from the center.  Your trying to get those torned fibers to "meld" with the speaker paper.  I went over the whole repair area like that, let it dry (might have cheated an used a heater gun, but i didn't really care if i messed this up) and then did it 1 or 2 more times. Tho the second time was me trying to get the paper a little bit stiffer over the holes where there is no support under.

In retrospect, I should have brushed the underside with diluted glue as well, but that might not be needed with small tears.


I did go back thru and found the cause of the buzzing.   The bugs that ate thru the cone and made those holes left their hard cocoons right by the holes that they made on the underside.  The little buggers were near invisible because they made their cocoon out the the cone paper so it was the same color.

So, the repair was a success and the only buzzing now is the chassis.  Still, I will be replacing the speaker in the near future.  Probably with a fat jimmy or jupiter unless i can score an old jensen alnico.  But other repairs I attempt, I would like to try PPR idea of rubber cement.

[Platefire]

Glad to see another 1482 fan. It was my first amp way back in 1964 that I had only a short while but had great memories of experiences with it. So when I got into DIY amp building in 2000, I got me another 1482 and a little later another. So the first one I call #1 I left all stock and the second (#2) modded to my hearts content.
Glad your 1482 is purring like a kitten now. They cost only $68.95 back in their day. Platefire

[munkeyboy]

Glad to see another 1482 fan. It was my first amp way back in 1964 that I had only a short while but had great memories of experiences with it. So when I got into DIY amp building in 2000, I got me another 1482 and a little later another. So the first one I call #1 I left all stock and the second (#2) modded to my hearts content.
Glad your 1482 is purring like a kitten now. They cost only $68.95 back in their day. Platefire

I've seen your posts on the 1482 mods either here or tdpri.   I will probably do similar things to at least one of the channels.  It is a little dark as it is.   

[1blueheron]

Can you post your paper towel repair technique?  PM it too me if it is too ugly for the world to see.

See the repair pics attached.  PRR is right, you shouldn't need half a sheet... especially if you are just repairing tears.   I have larger spots where there were 2 or 3 irregular holes in a quarter sized area, so my spots are quite large.

I tore the right sized paper towel (single ply or toilet paper or tissue like PRR said).  To make sure I had nice frayed ends.   Then i took a thimble sized amount of woodglue (didn't have Elmer's on hand) and diluted it in about a 1/4 cup of water or less.  Pretty thin and watery stuff.   I then laid down the paper over the area and wet the edges with a qtip.   Stroke out towards the edge from the center.  Your trying to get those torned fibers to "meld" with the speaker paper.  I went over the whole repair area like that, let it dry (might have cheated an used a heater gun, but i didn't really care if i messed this up) and then did it 1 or 2 more times. Tho the second time was me trying to get the paper a little bit stiffer over the holes where there is no support under.

In retrospect, I should have brushed the underside with diluted glue as well, but that might not be needed with small tears.


I did go back thru and found the cause of the buzzing.   The bugs that ate thru the cone and made those holes left their hard cocoons right by the holes that they made on the underside.  The little buggers were near invisible because they made their cocoon out the the cone paper so it was the same color.

So, the repair was a success and the only buzzing now is the chassis.  Still, I will be replacing the speaker in the near future.  Probably with a fat jimmy or jupiter unless i can score an old jensen alnico.  But other repairs I attempt, I would like to try PPR idea of rubber cement.

Doesn't look too bad considering the size of holes and extent of the damage.  I think you did well.  From what I have been able to see initially, the tears in
the airline won't be as challenging.  Wouldn't surprise me if it was some sort of moths that ate your cone.  I believe some of the old "paper" speakers were actually wool fibers, felt fiber and wood pulp emulsions. 

I like PRR's rubber cement idea if applied really thin.   

[Platefire]

I noticed your rear picture didn't show a back plate. I thought I would show you what I did to my #2 with an open back-plate. Really didn't have much choice because the depth of the new speaker would not allow a regular back plate.
The advantages though is that you can now store your power cord and other stuff(trem foot-switch) in the cab where as before you couldn't. Open back also increases the highs that helps as the standard 1482 is actually closed back and the opening at the chassis could be considered a sound pressure hole.

On most of my mods I made them switchable so when you turn them off it defaults back to stock 1482 operation. Something that might be important to those who want to maintain stock 1482 integrity. Platefire


 

[munkeyboy]

Thanks Platefire, I've been thinking about adding those mods.  I'll let you know how it goes once I get to it.

I did put in another speaker, jensen P12RJ.   Taking a risk as it a low watt speaker, but it sounds good.  I made a back panel and the speaker fits with just a small dimple made for the screw on the end of the magnet.  But with the back on, it's a little too much low end (causes more rattles than with off) like you said.

[Platefire]

I see you changed out the original speaker baffle for real wood. Good move. That helps the sound a bunch. Platefire

[jjasilli]

Glad to see another 1482 fan. It was my first amp way back in 1964 that I had only a short while but had great memories of experiences with it. So when I got into DIY amp building in 2000, I got me another 1482 and a little later another. So the first one I call #1 I left all stock and the second (#2) modded to my hearts content.
Glad your 1482 is purring like a kitten now. They cost only $68.95 back in their day. Platefire

I've seen your posts on the 1482 mods either here or tdpri.   I will probably do similar things to at least one of the channels.  It is a little dark as it is.

I too had a problem with darkness.  It arises from the low plate voltages and large plate resistors on the 1st stages.  I modded mine per the attached schematic.  The 2 input channels can be jumpered.


I too made a "real" baffle board & squeezed in an Emi Patriot in place of the stock speaker.

[munkeyboy]

So I was able to save the back panel "tolex/vinyl wallpaper".   Surprisingly sturdy.   I pulled the covering off the rotted wood as gently as I could.   Left behind a lot of wood chips still glued to the covering, so I let it sit in "safe" orange paint stripper for a few days.   Still had a hard time. (i tried various different chems).  I finally got all the chips off, but had to let it sit for weeks to finish drying off the softened glue.

Here it is on the new panel.  Ugly, but not any more warn looking than the rest of the amp.


Was anyone able to address the chassis rattle issue.  Do to the way this is mounted, the front panel side rattles.  I had this problem with the amp both times I've owned it.  Maybe weather stripping on the front corner?

[jjasilli]

I used strips of rubber or foam insulation to deaden cabinet rattles.

[Platefire]

Good Job! One thing for sure, no chance of buying new gray Silvertone covering anywhere that's exactly like that. Makes you wonder where they got that from?

I never have had any rattle noise problems on either of my 1482's or either I'm Deaf. Platefire

[jmccanna]

If I may add by way of suggestion to repair paper cone tears. I have successfully used Liquid Electrical Tape that comes in a little can and has a brush.  If the tear is pretty neat, I dampen the tear edges a little and smooth out the paper fibers with my finger tips and then apply a smooth coat of the Liquid tape on the back side. Putting a little pressure on the visible side I then rub the Liquid tape into the fiber.

That works well for me and hope it adds to the ideas here.

James
Kingston, WA