Hidden super valuable secret in a Silvertone Solid-State 150

[BoomTexan]

Just picked up a Sears 1465 Solid-State 150, with the original 6x10 cabinet, all for $300. It sounds amazing, and is super good for 60's SS "garbage." The reverb is super lo-fi and really powerful, and the tremolo is deep and swampy. I hate (another good word would be loathe) saying this because it sounds so cliched to say about Silvertones, but it totally has the Jack White sound. That, however, isn't the reason it's a phenomenal deal. The main reason is the speaker cabinet.

The 6x10 cabinet is awesome! I've always loved weird cabinet shapes, and this one is a doozy. The reason they needed 6 speakers on this amplifier was that each channel on the 1465 is 75 watts. So, what vintage speaker needs a 6 speaker configuration to handle 75 watts?

That's right, it has 6 matched Jensen P10Q speakers, all from batch 110, all from the 39th week of 1967, all in fantastic condition, and all without any tears on the inside. Every speaker outputs sound and that sound is beautiful. I'm thinking I'll put one in a project amp Princeton and sell the rest. If anyone on TDPRI is interested, contact me and we can work something out. I'm leaving this purchase with $600-900 worth of speakers on top of the already awesome amplifier.

If you ever come across a vintage Sears/Silvertone cab, or an amp with cabinet combo, check the cabinet for the speakers. You might just strike gold.

 

[schmee]

Yeah, I bought a terrible Gibson Medalist amp once cheap. It was a tube amp, but more sterile sounding than any SS I've ever had!. BUT, the good news was 2 Jensen C12N's inside!
Nice find.

 

[BoomTexan]

Yeah, I bought a terrible Gibson Medalist amp once cheap. It was a tube amp, but more sterile sounding than any SS I've ever had!. BUT, the good news was 2 Jensen C12N's inside!
Nice find.

Well, it's probably good that I took a rain check on getting a Gibson Medalist for cheap. What was the problem with it? Low bias?

 

[loopfinding]

Those Ge solid state amps have their own charm. When you clip them they have almost a fuzzy quality. Different from tube, but not bad.

 

[schmee]

Well, it's probably good that I took a rain check on getting a Gibson Medalist for cheap. What was the problem with it? Low bias?

It's been a few years, but I didn't try the bias as I didnt have a bias adaptor for 9 pin power tubes, and mostly wanted the Jensens so didnt mess around. Ended up selling the amp without speakers for more than the original price, so got the Jensen's free. Whatever they put on the speaker studs was stronger than the screws, so broke them getting the speakers out!

It might have been a Super Medalist, tall amp. Most the Medalist's you see are 1 x 12. This was 2 x 12 and had 9 pin power tubes. Some of the medalist's are larger bottle power tubes, some are SS! go figger.

 

[BoomTexan]

Those Ge solid state amps have their own charm. When you clip them they have almost a fuzzy quality. Different from tube, but not bad.

I haven't dared to clip them yet, it's very loud and I didn't want to blow or damage the speakers at all. The $ that I make on selling them is actually going towards a Torpedo Captor, so maybe once a few sell I'll be able to get a good distorted sound out of it.

The cleans are what I love though. Super lo-fi, almost woody sounding. Add some tremolo and reverb and it can nail swampy blues and surf simultaneously. It's also a great pedal platform due to the immense loudness.

 

[Wally]

Just picked up a Sears 1465 Solid-State 150, with the original 6x10 cabinet, all for $300. It sounds amazing, and is super good for 60's SS "garbage." The reverb is super lo-fi and really powerful, and the tremolo is deep and swampy. I hate (another good word would be loathe) saying this because it sounds so cliched to say about Silvertones, but it totally has the Jack White sound. That, however, isn't the reason it's a phenomenal deal. The main reason is the speaker cabinet.

The 6x10 cabinet is awesome! I've always loved weird cabinet shapes, and this one is a doozy. The reason they needed 6 speakers on this amplifier was that each channel on the 1465 is 75 watts. So, what vintage speaker needs a 6 speaker configuration to handle 75 watts?

That's right, it has 6 matched Jensen P10Q speakers, all from batch 110, all from the 39th week of 1967, all in fantastic condition, and all without any tears on the inside. Every speaker outputs sound and that sound is beautiful. I'm thinking I'll put one in a project amp Princeton and sell the rest. If anyone on TDPRI is interested, contact me and we can work something out. I'm leaving this purchase with $600-900 worth of speakers on top of the already awesome amplifier.

If you ever come across a vintage Sears/Silvertone cab, or an amp with cabinet combo, check the cabinet for the speakers. You might just strike gold.

congratulations a good find. I find it odd that there are Alnico Jensens in a solid state amp. Of course, I don’t know when Sears started selling solid state amps, but the general time frame for solid state guitar amps does not fit with Jensen Alnico production. I have never seen a Jensen Alnico with a production time that late. Pictures,,please? And….do you have date codes from components in the amp?
generally, Jensen speakers in Silvertone amps have a reddish-orange marker on the speaker label. This mark…imho…lowers the value of such a speaker compared to a Jensen that has a Fender factory inventory number and is without said reddish-orange mark.

 

[Shango66]

Pics?

 

[echosonic37]

I have 6 of those same speakers from a '67 cab. Mine are C10Q ceramic mags. I just bought these from a local guy here in St.Louis this past April for 30 bucks each. 180 for all 6. I just installed 4 in a 66 Super Reverb project amp and the other 2 in a 74 Vibrolux Reverb project amp I have. They sound really great but I have not pushed them too hard.
Of interest is the speaker frames and the date codes. The 1st pic on the left is the Super Rev with 4 matching C10Q from the set of 6. Note they have triangular, I'll call them "cheese wedge" cutouts in the frames and all have the date Jensen 220 code with a date code of 713. The next 2 pics are of the Vibrolux Rev with the remaining 2 of 6 speakers from the same Sears cab. The left speaker matches the other 4 (in the SR) but the right speaker has the traditional/familiar "hot dog" cutouts in the frame with the code 220712 one week earlier. I don't know who made the baskets/frames for Jensen but here we have clear evidence of the change that occurred. All other codes are the same and the cones are the same and they sound identical to me. I'm sure some don't give a rats axx but some (me) love these kind of details and minutia!
Also of interest is the red Magic Marker? numbers I have seen I think on every ceramic Jensen gold/brown label that were original to Silvertone amps made by Danelectro and no other amp manufacturers I have seen.
These Sears solid state amps IME never carried the Silvertone branding. I also have a Sears 40XL all tube amp with no Silvertone branding and they also made another 40XL that looked virtually identical except for cosmetics. They were both PC board amps unlike earlier Dano made point to point amps.
I have seen quite a few C10Qs with both style frame but I don't remember the cheese wedge frame on any other Jensen.

 

[echosonic37]

Got the pics in the wrong order from my prior reply. The Super Reverb is pic 2.

 

[BoomTexan]

I could look up the total production run of these Jensen C10Qs, but I would assume that they were in fact produced through 67. I haven't found any 68 C10Qs though.

It's kinda pathetic that the Danelectro Jensens are less valuable than Fender ones simply because they're from a Danelectro. They're literally the same speaker.

 

[echosonic37]

I really don't believe Fender ever used a ceramic C10Q as the stock speaker in any amp. C10NA yes in Vibrolux Reverb and Princeton/Princeton reverb amps circa 1966.
Alnico P10Q were used in the last 5F6A Bassman, brown Concert Amp, 3X10 Bandmaster and Brown Super Amp. The C10Q is a really good, nice sounding speaker be careful how hard you push it. The C10NA is an awesome speaker.

 

[gridlock]

Congratulations. I’d love have two of them in my ‘67 Vibrolux Reverb.

 

[Wally]

It's kinda pathetic that the Danelectro Jensens are less valuable than Fender ones simply because they're from a Danelectro. They're literally the same speaker.

The higher values for certain vintage speakers are tied to the value of the amplifier which those speakers could make “correct”. The only Fender amp that is shown by the ‘Dating Fender Amps’—Article III—-as using Jensen C10Qs as OEM would be the Vibrolux Reverb, and those marks on the labels affect any ‘pull’ those C10Qs have in the market…other than their sonic qualities. Ime, C10Qs are very good speakers.
I have a pair of C10Qs that are unlike any Jensen I have seen in that they have metal dust covers.

Dating Fender Amps By Serial Number, Part 3

 

[InstantCoffeeBlue]

Nice score, OP. I wouldn't get too attached to the idea that you're sitting on a gold mine, but they do look to be in great shape, so you should have no problem making a few bucks with them if you choose to part them out.

These look to have the Rola-made baskets. Part of me wants to see them stay in the Sears cabinet, especially since as you say, it sounds awesome. These will sound best in a multi-speaker array IMO, and as others have mentioned, the power handling is going to be low, probably 15W/speaker or less. Either way, best of luck.

 

[BoomTexan]

Nice score, OP. I wouldn't get too attached to the idea that you're sitting on a gold mine, but they do look to be in great shape, so you should have no problem making a few bucks with them if you choose to part them out.

These look to have the Rola-made baskets. Part of me wants to see them stay in the Sears cabinet, especially since as you say, it sounds awesome. These will sound best in a multi-speaker array IMO, and as others have mentioned, the power handling is going to be low, probably 15W/speaker or less. Either way, best of luck.

I agree, and I wish that they could stay around, but I'm moving to a dorm in a month and no way am I fitting a 6x10 cab in there. At most I'll be using a 1x12, and maybe not even that.

 

[bparnell57]

Just saw this. I just scored a Silvertone 1485 100 watt tube piggyback setup with the same speakers in it's hardwire attached 6x10.

They really sound amazing.

Good luck with the dorm move-in!

 

[cyclopean]

You should keep it intact. That’s way cooler than putting into some fender amp.

I love playing through a 4x10. I’d love to try a 6x10.

 

[schmee]

I really don't believe Fender ever used a ceramic C10Q as the stock speaker in any amp. C10NA yes in Vibrolux Reverb and Princeton/Princeton reverb amps circa 1966.
Alnico P10Q were used in the last 5F6A Bassman, brown Concert Amp, 3X10 Bandmaster and Brown Super Amp. The C10Q is a really good, nice sounding speaker be careful how hard you push it. The C10NA is an awesome speaker.

Some Super Reverbs had them. Like 67 ? I played one that was said to be stock anyway, and looked to be.
Some BF Vibrolux also had them.

 

[bluesfordan]

Just picked up a Sears 1465 Solid-State 150, with the original 6x10 cabinet, all for $300. It sounds amazing, and is super good for 60's SS "garbage." The reverb is super lo-fi and really powerful, and the tremolo is deep and swampy. I hate (another good word would be loathe) saying this because it sounds so cliched to say about Silvertones, but it totally has the Jack White sound. That, however, isn't the reason it's a phenomenal deal. The main reason is the speaker cabinet.

The 6x10 cabinet is awesome! I've always loved weird cabinet shapes, and this one is a doozy. The reason they needed 6 speakers on this amplifier was that each channel on the 1465 is 75 watts. So, what vintage speaker needs a 6 speaker configuration to handle 75 watts?

That's right, it has 6 matched Jensen P10Q speakers, all from batch 110, all from the 39th week of 1967, all in fantastic condition, and all without any tears on the inside. Every speaker outputs sound and that sound is beautiful. I'm thinking I'll put one in a project amp Princeton and sell the rest. If anyone on TDPRI is interested, contact me and we can work something out. I'm leaving this purchase with $600-900 worth of speakers on top of the already awesome amplifier.

If you ever come across a vintage Sears/Silvertone cab, or an amp with cabinet combo, check the cabinet for the speakers. You might just strike gold.

what? No pics? I thought it was the law, you know?