Silvertone 1482 Necessary Mods?

[Toshiro]

I picked up one of these Silvertone 1482 off ebay a few years back and finally figured I would start modding it when I had time. I was wondering if you guys knew what mods were essential to fix this sucker up. Definitely has a bit of an old appliance that might catch fire vibe on when turned on...

[deaconque]

The only "mods" I would do with that one is install a 3 prong power cord, if it doesn't already have one, and maybe replace the electrolytic caps. Those amps sound great without modding the circuitry though so I would leave that as is and crank it up.

[Keyser Soze]

Three prong is a must.

And there is no maybe on replacing the electrolytics - that amp is at least 40 years old - it needs new ones. While the chassis is pulled add an artificial center tap on the heater wiring.

Also consider replacing your rectifier tube (a couple NOS replacements should prove a lifetime supply) and possibly replace the power tubes. Tremelo tubes take a beating, so that may need replacing too (or not if you don't use the trem.)

After all that the next steps I'd suggest would be a stiffer baffle, followed by a newer higher sensitivity speaker.

Only then, if I wasn't satisified would I consider modding the circuit. It's true point to point in a cramped layout, and old and fragile, so not exactly easy to work with.

[zook]

The main problem with the 1482 is the shallow cabinet.

Installing the amp as is into a 9-10" deep cabinet would make a huge difference in tone,

The simplest fix is to install a speaker out jack that defeats the internal speaker when it is used.

Through a larger speaker cabinet those amps sound positively amazing.

Winnie

[Toshiro]

Thanks for all the tips. Would you say doing any of this would help make it a bit safer. Definitely gives off that off appliance burning smell after a few minutes when turned on.