Saturday, February 25, 2023
Friday, September 10, 2021
Bill's Build - Part Final!
Bill has finished his Silvertone 1484 project!
Grill cloth has been added.
Speakers have been installed and wired up.
The amp is in the cabinet.
Let's take a look, shall we?
Front view with home-brew footswitch. |
Rear view with those vintage 10" speakers. |
Amp head tucked into the speaker cabinet. |
Monday, September 06, 2021
Summer Project
I finally slapped everything together yesterday, so let's take a look, shall we?
Front View |
Sexy Angled View |
I managed to staple the burlap to the baffle board with my new stapler. The next step was to mount the speakers. I decided to use the original screws from the P.A. column baffle board. They were wood screws, so I drilled pilot holes for them. Can you see where the drill went right through the plywood and snagged the burlap? (Note to self: Next time, get actual speaker cloth, maybe? If there even is a next time!)
Rear View |
Sunday morning I was back at my buddy Bill's house to install the 1/4" jack on the rear panel. (Thanks for the jack, Bill!) Somehow I ended up with a 1/32" inch miscalculation when I installed the cleats for the panel.
Friday, September 03, 2021
Bill's Build - part 2
Here's an update on my buddy Bill's Silvertone twin-twelve project.
Looks like he had the amp and speaker cabinets all covered:
Wowzers! |
Impressive from any angle! |
Looks like he'll be ready to put the grille cloth on the speaker baffle when it comes in. Then all he has to do is mount the speakers & wire up the output jack.
Sunday, August 29, 2021
Taking Shape!
Update on the speaker project.
My goal is to end up with a facsimile of this:
An actual Silvertone 1484 cabinet. |
Bill and I managed to glue on the remaining vinyl covering last week. He was kind enough to give me a handle he scavenged off a Cordovox tone generator unit. Here it is with the speaker baffle:
Baffle in box, y'all. |
I took a shot at putting on the burlap I bought for the grill cloth, but...
Not done, but I wanted to see how it would look. |
I found my crappy, old staple gun and some 1/4" staples that wouldn't fit! I had a handful of 5/16" staples that would, so I took a stab at it. The staples are sticking up too far and I don't have enough to finish the job properly. I went to Harbor Freight this morning and picked up a new stapler that will theoretically take the 1/4" staples (T50 Style). I'll take another shot at it... later.
Friday, August 13, 2021
Bill's Build
My friend, Bill, is the one with the tools and know-how for my "Fantasy Project."
Somehow this planted the seed in his noggin that blossomed into his own case of Silvertone Fever.
The first step was to track down a vintage 1484 amplifier:
Amp delivered! |
Amp unboxed |
This was a raw chassis, with no tubes or even the case. He set about grabbing a schematic off the internet and going through the 50+ year old components. Capacitors and resistors were replaced along with the power cord, fuse holder and filter condenser.
No case? No problem!
Tricky front trim pieces were made. |
Two of these RCA 400 speakers donated for the cause. |
Look at that sweet 10"! Is it a Weber? |
The amp stores in the back of the cabinet, natch! |
Boy, oh boy! Much left to do: rout out the holes in the speaker baffle, cover the boxes with that sweet grey vinyl, stretch the speaker cloth and the like. But it's coming along pretty great, don't you think?
Monday, August 09, 2021
Covering the Cabinet
Got together with my friend, Bill, in his workshop on Saturday to tackle the first phase of covering the cabinet.
We painstakingly measured and cut the two side panels, ensuring that the pieces were square and of equal size.
We marked the centerline on the vinyl and on the cabinet to make sure everything was positioned just so.
The fun started when it was time to brush on the contact adhesive!
Silvertone 1484 Amplifier with schematics |