Category: Amplifiers

Sears Silvertone 1484 Amp & Head Piggyback

Posted on Categories Amplifiers, Feature

Made in the 1960’s by Sears as part of their Silvertone music equipment range,  the 1484 Amp and Head combo was fairly popular in it’s time and was now a classic contender for a vintage repair job at Open Ear Audio.

Like any old valve amp repair like this one,  this guy needed a lot of valve socket cleaning and retensioning. For a fairly cheaply made Sears amp, they have a pretty cool character, and with some love from our resident amp doctor Riah, it now has heaps of play left in it.

Goldentone Amplifiers

Posted on Categories Amplifiers, Feature
We see a lot of these appropriately named Goldentone amplifiers, built right here in Australia in the 1960’s. When running properly, these things sound absolutely stunning! With old tubes that were at home in TV’s and not seen in any other brands, these have a unique yet very musical tone. Not the cleanest of amplifiers, but certainly some of the sweetest! We see these in all sorts of states – at times modified detrimentally – and we know how to get them singing again.  Some will need minor servicing and some new tubes, and others will need all the old electrolytic capacitors replaced to get the power supply operating as it should. We do this work and everything in between. Many current Melbourne acts are using these amps on stage and on record to great effect – you have probably heard these things at least once in your life!