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I have a 1965 sears silvertone 1485 100 watt 6x10, it is very, very
loud. I've used this thing many times in blues clubs but it was too
loud for power tube saturation so I had to keep the volume low and use
a marshall guv-nor. I want the natural sound of the amp without a dirty
pedal but again, it's just too darn loud. I can't use an attenuator
because there are two transformers powering 3 speakers seperatly and
running in stereo. I'm thinking of swapping out the 12ax7's for 5751's
and replacing the solid state rectifier with a tube. Does anyone have
any suggestions as to wich type of 6l6 would give me a quieter sound or
any other ideas? Yeah I know, buy a smaller amp.
Ralph
Hi Ralph:
Have you thought about using Yellowjackets? Using four EL84's would
lower you to about 30 RMS. Also check with THD, I believe you could
use 2 6L6's and 2 EL 84's in your configuration. So you'd have 30, 65,
and 100 watt options depending on the gig.
Check out Dave Wronski's recording setup for "Into the Blue Sparkle"
posted somewhere on this site. I believe he used Yellowjackets (EL84's)
on a Tweed Bassman as part of his setup, as well as an AC30 (more
EL84's)as well as the usual 6L6 suspects. Point being: EL84's can fit
quite well into the surf sound.
Dave
--- In , "octavianrnr" <octavianrnr@y...>
wrote:
I have a 1965 sears silvertone 1485 100 watt 6x10, it is very, very
loud. I've used this thing many times in blues clubs but it was too
loud for power tube saturation so I had to keep the volume low and
use
a marshall guv-nor. I want the natural sound of the amp without a
dirty
pedal but again, it's just too darn loud. ...Does anyone have
any suggestions as to wich type of 6l6 would give me a quieter sound
or any other ideas? Yeah I know, buy a smaller amp.
Ralph
Ralph,
> I want the natural sound of the amp without a dirty pedal.
What is the 'natural sound' of an amp? From your statement
above, I infer that your definition might well be:
"that sweet, singing, vocal-like sound you get when you
turn it all the way up - you know, where it sustains forever,
and sounds like a voice that's been drowned in whiskey and
cigarette smoke for the last 6 decades."
You reinforce that by saying don't want to use a dirty pedal,
yet your amp gets too loud while, presumably, remaining too clean.
Do I have that correct, so far?
First thing I'd do is pull one pair of those 6L6's, and let
the other pair drive their 3 speakers. Should cut your power
in half (each pair is putting out 50 watts into 3 speakers),
and therefore your overall volume level should also go down.
But tell me, my fine young friend, what Surf tune do you have
in mind that requires a dirty tone? I sure can't recall any
at the moment, but then again, I haven't yet had my daily dose
of Ginko Biloba. <lol>
unlunf
--- In , "octavianrnr" <octavianrnr@y...> wrote:
>
> I have a 1965 sears silvertone 1485 100 watt 6x10, it is very, very
> loud. I've used this thing many times in blues clubs but it was too
> loud for power tube saturation so I had to keep the volume low and
> use a marshall guv-nor. I want the natural sound of the amp without
> a dirty pedal but again, it's just too darn loud. I can't use an
> attenuator because there are two transformers powering 3 speakers
> seperatly and running in stereo. I'm thinking of swapping out the
> 12ax7's for 5751's and replacing the solid state rectifier with a
> tube. Does anyone have any suggestions as to wich type of 6l6 would
> give me a quieter sound or any other ideas? Yeah I know, buy a
> smaller amp.
>
> Ralph
>
Thanks for the compliment, that is if you consider 42 to be young. I've been
playing for over 25 years, I'm an old man. Gerold Weber from Kendrick told me
not to pull 2 tubes out, he said I would damage the amp. When this amp is turned
up to 6-8 it's incredible, but I will blow the windows out of any club with this
thing. I love this amp and I want to use it but I can't. I wasn't very clear
about the dirty pedal thing. I've used a Marshall Guv-nor with the level cranked
and the gain low to try and emulate the sound of this thing at full volume but
I'm not crazy about the tone. In my younger days I had two full Marshall stacks,
If you set this thing next to them they'd melt. Way back in the day Lonnie Mack
would let me borrow his Twin Reverb to gig with and I got a great tone without
being overbearingly loud and that was 100 watts. This is just the killer amp
from hell! I'm going to get something else, like a Twin Twelve or a bandmaster
and just keep this thing in case I ever play
Madison Square Garden.
Ralph
unlunf <> wrote:
Ralph,
> I want the natural sound of the amp without a dirty pedal.
What is the 'natural sound' of an amp? From your statement
above, I infer that your definition might well be:
"that sweet, singing, vocal-like sound you get when you
turn it all the way up - you know, where it sustains forever,
and sounds like a voice that's been drowned in whiskey and
cigarette smoke for the last 6 decades."
You reinforce that by saying don't want to use a dirty pedal,
yet your amp gets too loud while, presumably, remaining too clean.
Do I have that correct, so far?
First thing I'd do is pull one pair of those 6L6's, and let
the other pair drive their 3 speakers. Should cut your power
in half (each pair is putting out 50 watts into 3 speakers),
and therefore your overall volume level should also go down.
But tell me, my fine young friend, what Surf tune do you have
in mind that requires a dirty tone? I sure can't recall any
at the moment, but then again, I haven't yet had my daily dose
of Ginko Biloba.
unlunf
--- In , "octavianrnr" wrote:
>
> I have a 1965 sears silvertone 1485 100 watt 6x10, it is very, very
> loud. I've used this thing many times in blues clubs but it was too
> loud for power tube saturation so I had to keep the volume low and
> use a marshall guv-nor. I want the natural sound of the amp without
> a dirty pedal but again, it's just too darn loud. I can't use an
> attenuator because there are two transformers powering 3 speakers
> seperatly and running in stereo. I'm thinking of swapping out the
> 12ax7's for 5751's and replacing the solid state rectifier with a
> tube. Does anyone have any suggestions as to wich type of 6l6 would
> give me a quieter sound or any other ideas? Yeah I know, buy a
> smaller amp.
>
> Ralph
>
.
Visit for archived messages,
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Yahoo! Groups Links
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Music Unlimited - Access over 1 million songs. Try it free.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Ralph,
I just picked up an older (black big box) Marshall Bluesbreaker as
substitute for the Boss OD1 I was using, to get a mild edge to the
sound - works way better. still, nowhere near tube saturation of
course, tone-wise.
have you considered changing speakers - these might be very
efficient, I found that speaker efficiency does more for your volume
then wattage rating. e.g. a 30 watter with a very efficient speaker
will blow away a 100 watter with unefficient speakers. perhaps
running an inefficent speaker with the silvertone will quiet it down.
of course it will also affect the tone.
Have yellowjackets been suggested yet?
Sounds like it's two pushpull amps (2 6L6 each) in one and you should
indeed not pull any (pair) of those tubes, your amp will fry
pronto.
WR
--- In , Ralph Senese <octavianrnr@y...>
wrote:
>
> Thanks for the compliment, that is if you consider 42 to be young.
I've been playing for over 25 years, I'm an old man. Gerold Weber
from Kendrick told me not to pull 2 tubes out, he said I would damage
the amp. When this amp is turned up to 6-8 it's incredible, but I
will blow the windows out of any club with this thing. I love this
amp and I want to use it but I can't. I wasn't very clear about the
dirty pedal thing. I've used a Marshall Guv-nor with the level
cranked and the gain low to try and emulate the sound of this thing
at full volume but I'm not crazy about the tone. In my younger days I
had two full Marshall stacks, If you set this thing next to them
they'd melt. Way back in the day Lonnie Mack would let me borrow his
Twin Reverb to gig with and I got a great tone without being
overbearingly loud and that was 100 watts. This is just the killer
amp from hell! I'm going to get something else, like a Twin Twelve or
a bandmaster and just keep this thing in case I ever play
> Madison Square Garden.
>
> Ralph
>
> unlunf <unlunf@y...> wrote:
> Ralph,
>
> > I want the natural sound of the amp without a dirty pedal.
>
> What is the 'natural sound' of an amp? From your statement
> above, I infer that your definition might well be:
> "that sweet, singing, vocal-like sound you get when you
> turn it all the way up - you know, where it sustains forever,
> and sounds like a voice that's been drowned in whiskey and
> cigarette smoke for the last 6 decades."
>
> You reinforce that by saying don't want to use a dirty pedal,
> yet your amp gets too loud while, presumably, remaining too clean.
> Do I have that correct, so far?
>
> First thing I'd do is pull one pair of those 6L6's, and let
> the other pair drive their 3 speakers. Should cut your power
> in half (each pair is putting out 50 watts into 3 speakers),
> and therefore your overall volume level should also go down.
>
> But tell me, my fine young friend, what Surf tune do you have
> in mind that requires a dirty tone? I sure can't recall any
> at the moment, but then again, I haven't yet had my daily dose
> of Ginko Biloba.
>
>
> unlunf
>
> --- In , "octavianrnr" wrote:
> >
> > I have a 1965 sears silvertone 1485 100 watt 6x10, it is very,
very
> > loud. I've used this thing many times in blues clubs but it was
too
> > loud for power tube saturation so I had to keep the volume low and
> > use a marshall guv-nor. I want the natural sound of the amp
without
> > a dirty pedal but again, it's just too darn loud. I can't use an
> > attenuator because there are two transformers powering 3 speakers
> > seperatly and running in stereo. I'm thinking of swapping out the
> > 12ax7's for 5751's and replacing the solid state rectifier with a
> > tube. Does anyone have any suggestions as to wich type of 6l6
would
> > give me a quieter sound or any other ideas? Yeah I know, buy a
> > smaller amp.
> >
> > Ralph
> >
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> .
> Visit for archived
messages, bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Yahoo! Music Unlimited - Access over 1 million songs. Try it free.
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
Ralph,
> Gerold Weber from Kendrick told me not to pull 2 tubes out,
> he said I would damage the amp.
A mono amp (of higher power) may have as many pairs of tubes as
needed to achieve the designed power rating. Usually, 4 6L6's
running through one output transformer (mono) will yield 100 watts
(at an astounding 5% distortion rating). But your amp is in stereo,
and as you noted, each pair feeds one transformer, which in turn
feeds half of the total number of speakers. That's the definition
of a stereo output stage. So, pulling one pair of tubes (from one
amp only, not one tube from each amp) means that that entire stage
is cut out of the picture. The other side is still kicking along
just fine. There is nothing in any tube amp that says pulling all
of the output tubes is harmful to any of the remaining components.
This means that you should get the full output of that one side
that's still operating (50 watts), and no danger should present
itself to the amp in general.
A tone nazi might think that pulling some of the power tubes is
bad for the sound, but Gerald did say that he was fearful for the
amp's life. In your case, you can disregard that particular advice,
and pull one pair. If you're not sure if you got the correct pair,
just turn on the amp, warm it up, and play. Did muddy sound come
out of all six speakers? Place one of the remaining tubes in one
of the other sockets. Try again, you had a 50/50 chance of hitting
the right socket. <g> When three speakers are dead, you've done the
job correctly.
Now, get out there and win one for the Gipper!
unlunf
WR,
> Sounds like it's two pushpull amps (2 6L6 each) in one and you
> should indeed not pull any (pair) of those tubes, your amp will
> fry pronto.
Care to share with us exactly what will be fried? Please refer
to my post to Ralph of a few moments ago (possibly right before
this one).
unlunf
unlunf -
i stand corrected, i was typing from the idea to pull the speakers -
which can be done in SS amps but not tubes. my mistake.
i cant say anything from what happens in this scenario, without
looking at the particular schematic. on face value you seem to be
right, but all the same i for one would in this case rather take the
safe advice of Gerald Weber then the potentially harmfull advice of
someone anonymous. not meant in a negative way, just call it as i see
it.
WR
--- In , "unlunf" <unlunf@y...> wrote:
>
> WR,
>
> > Sounds like it's two pushpull amps (2 6L6 each) in one and you
> > should indeed not pull any (pair) of those tubes, your amp will
> > fry pronto.
>
> Care to share with us exactly what will be fried? Please refer
> to my post to Ralph of a few moments ago (possibly right before
> this one).
>
>
> unlunf
>
---Yes, I was told about the yellowjackets. Can I really put
something other than 6l6's in the amp? The speakers are Jenson
goldbacks and I'm not sure about the wattage. Your the 2nd person to
mention the yellowjackets so I think I will look into that, thanks!
Ralph
In , "mono_tones_1" <rockverb@h...>
wrote:
>
> Ralph,
>
> I just picked up an older (black big box) Marshall Bluesbreaker as
> substitute for the Boss OD1 I was using, to get a mild edge to the
> sound - works way better. still, nowhere near tube saturation of
> course, tone-wise.
> have you considered changing speakers - these might be very
> efficient, I found that speaker efficiency does more for your
volume
> then wattage rating. e.g. a 30 watter with a very efficient
speaker
> will blow away a 100 watter with unefficient speakers. perhaps
> running an inefficent speaker with the silvertone will quiet it
down.
> of course it will also affect the tone.
> Have yellowjackets been suggested yet?
> Sounds like it's two pushpull amps (2 6L6 each) in one and you
should
> indeed not pull any (pair) of those tubes, your amp will fry
> pronto.
>
> WR
>
> --- In , Ralph Senese
<octavianrnr@y...>
> wrote:
> >
> > Thanks for the compliment, that is if you consider 42 to be
young.
> I've been playing for over 25 years, I'm an old man. Gerold Weber
> from Kendrick told me not to pull 2 tubes out, he said I would
damage
> the amp. When this amp is turned up to 6-8 it's incredible, but I
> will blow the windows out of any club with this thing. I love this
> amp and I want to use it but I can't. I wasn't very clear about
the
> dirty pedal thing. I've used a Marshall Guv-nor with the level
> cranked and the gain low to try and emulate the sound of this
thing
> at full volume but I'm not crazy about the tone. In my younger
days I
> had two full Marshall stacks, If you set this thing next to them
> they'd melt. Way back in the day Lonnie Mack would let me borrow
his
> Twin Reverb to gig with and I got a great tone without being
> overbearingly loud and that was 100 watts. This is just the killer
> amp from hell! I'm going to get something else, like a Twin Twelve
or
> a bandmaster and just keep this thing in case I ever play
> > Madison Square Garden.
> >
> > Ralph
> >
> > unlunf <unlunf@y...> wrote:
> > Ralph,
> >
> > > I want the natural sound of the amp without a dirty pedal.
> >
> > What is the 'natural sound' of an amp? From your statement
> > above, I infer that your definition might well be:
> > "that sweet, singing, vocal-like sound you get when you
> > turn it all the way up - you know, where it sustains forever,
> > and sounds like a voice that's been drowned in whiskey and
> > cigarette smoke for the last 6 decades."
> >
> > You reinforce that by saying don't want to use a dirty pedal,
> > yet your amp gets too loud while, presumably, remaining too
clean.
> > Do I have that correct, so far?
> >
> > First thing I'd do is pull one pair of those 6L6's, and let
> > the other pair drive their 3 speakers. Should cut your power
> > in half (each pair is putting out 50 watts into 3 speakers),
> > and therefore your overall volume level should also go down.
> >
> > But tell me, my fine young friend, what Surf tune do you have
> > in mind that requires a dirty tone? I sure can't recall any
> > at the moment, but then again, I haven't yet had my daily dose
> > of Ginko Biloba.
> >
> >
> > unlunf
> >
> > --- In , "octavianrnr" wrote:
> > >
> > > I have a 1965 sears silvertone 1485 100 watt 6x10, it is very,
> very
> > > loud. I've used this thing many times in blues clubs but it
was
> too
> > > loud for power tube saturation so I had to keep the volume low
and
> > > use a marshall guv-nor. I want the natural sound of the amp
> without
> > > a dirty pedal but again, it's just too darn loud. I can't use
an
> > > attenuator because there are two transformers powering 3
speakers
> > > seperatly and running in stereo. I'm thinking of swapping out
the
> > > 12ax7's for 5751's and replacing the solid state rectifier
with a
> > > tube. Does anyone have any suggestions as to wich type of 6l6
> would
> > > give me a quieter sound or any other ideas? Yeah I know, buy a
> > > smaller amp.
> > >
> > > Ralph
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > .
> > Visit for archived
> messages, bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> > Yahoo! Music Unlimited - Access over 1 million songs. Try it
free.
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
>
--- Ok! I'll give her a shot! Keep yer fangers crossed!
Ralph
In , "unlunf" <unlunf@y...> wrote:
>
> Ralph,
>
> > Gerold Weber from Kendrick told me not to pull 2 tubes out,
> > he said I would damage the amp.
>
> A mono amp (of higher power) may have as many pairs of tubes as
> needed to achieve the designed power rating. Usually, 4 6L6's
> running through one output transformer (mono) will yield 100 watts
> (at an astounding 5% distortion rating). But your amp is in
stereo,
> and as you noted, each pair feeds one transformer, which in turn
> feeds half of the total number of speakers. That's the definition
> of a stereo output stage. So, pulling one pair of tubes (from one
> amp only, not one tube from each amp) means that that entire stage
> is cut out of the picture. The other side is still kicking along
> just fine. There is nothing in any tube amp that says pulling all
> of the output tubes is harmful to any of the remaining components.
> This means that you should get the full output of that one side
> that's still operating (50 watts), and no danger should present
> itself to the amp in general.
>
> A tone nazi might think that pulling some of the power tubes is
> bad for the sound, but Gerald did say that he was fearful for the
> amp's life. In your case, you can disregard that particular
advice,
> and pull one pair. If you're not sure if you got the correct pair,
> just turn on the amp, warm it up, and play. Did muddy sound come
> out of all six speakers? Place one of the remaining tubes in one
> of the other sockets. Try again, you had a 50/50 chance of hitting
> the right socket. <g> When three speakers are dead, you've done
the
> job correctly.
>
> Now, get out there and win one for the Gipper!
>
>
> unlunf
>
WR,
> i for one would in this case rather take the safe advice
> of Gerald Weber then the potentially harmfull advice of
> someone anonymous.
Ouch! <g> Guess I deserve that one.
Hey Jeff(tikidude), here's the part where I eat my words! <lol>
unlunf
Have you thought of using an attenuator??? (They are also
called "power brakes", "power soaks", "muzzles", and other names.)
THD, Allesandro, Dr. Z, Marshall, Gibson and others make them. They
allow you to really crank the amp and saturate the power tubes, while
holding the volume down. Some guys love them, but I've also heard
horror stories of burning up transformers and blowing up amps with
them. Make sure you use the correct resistance (ohm rating) for your
amp. I don't have any experience using them because I favor lower
wattage amps. Maybe other folks in the group have some experience
with attenuators????
Bob S.
--- In , Ralph Senese <octavianrnr@y...>
wrote:
>
> Thanks for the compliment, that is if you consider 42 to be young.
I've been playing for over 25 years, I'm an old man. Gerold Weber
from Kendrick told me not to pull 2 tubes out, he said I would damage
the amp. When this amp is turned up to 6-8 it's incredible, but I
will blow the windows out of any club with this thing. I love this
amp and I want to use it but I can't. I wasn't very clear about the
dirty pedal thing. I've used a Marshall Guv-nor with the level
cranked and the gain low to try and emulate the sound of this thing
at full volume but I'm not crazy about the tone. In my younger days I
had two full Marshall stacks, If you set this thing next to them
they'd melt. Way back in the day Lonnie Mack would let me borrow his
Twin Reverb to gig with and I got a great tone without being
overbearingly loud and that was 100 watts. This is just the killer
amp from hell! I'm going to get something else, like a Twin Twelve or
a bandmaster and just keep this thing in case I ever play
> Madison Square Garden.
>
> Ralph
>
> unlunf <unlunf@y...> wrote:
> Ralph,
>
> > I want the natural sound of the amp without a dirty pedal.
>
> What is the 'natural sound' of an amp? From your statement
> above, I infer that your definition might well be:
> "that sweet, singing, vocal-like sound you get when you
> turn it all the way up - you know, where it sustains forever,
> and sounds like a voice that's been drowned in whiskey and
> cigarette smoke for the last 6 decades."
>
> You reinforce that by saying don't want to use a dirty pedal,
> yet your amp gets too loud while, presumably, remaining too clean.
> Do I have that correct, so far?
>
> First thing I'd do is pull one pair of those 6L6's, and let
> the other pair drive their 3 speakers. Should cut your power
> in half (each pair is putting out 50 watts into 3 speakers),
> and therefore your overall volume level should also go down.
>
> But tell me, my fine young friend, what Surf tune do you have
> in mind that requires a dirty tone? I sure can't recall any
> at the moment, but then again, I haven't yet had my daily dose
> of Ginko Biloba.
>
>
> unlunf
>
> --- In , "octavianrnr" wrote:
> >
> > I have a 1965 sears silvertone 1485 100 watt 6x10, it is very,
very
> > loud. I've used this thing many times in blues clubs but it was
too
> > loud for power tube saturation so I had to keep the volume low and
> > use a marshall guv-nor. I want the natural sound of the amp
without
> > a dirty pedal but again, it's just too darn loud. I can't use an
> > attenuator because there are two transformers powering 3 speakers
> > seperatly and running in stereo. I'm thinking of swapping out the
> > 12ax7's for 5751's and replacing the solid state rectifier with a
> > tube. Does anyone have any suggestions as to wich type of 6l6
would
> > give me a quieter sound or any other ideas? Yeah I know, buy a
> > smaller amp.
> >
> > Ralph
> >
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> .
> Visit for archived
messages, bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Yahoo! Music Unlimited - Access over 1 million songs. Try it free.
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
---I have thought of using a power attenuator but I have heard the
same horror stories that you have. Also the speaker cable is
connected directly to the head and cannot be removed and it's a
stereo cable. Even if I spliced it and put quarter inch plugs on the
ends they would have to be stereo and I don't believe they make an
attenuator to accept stereo plugs.
Ralph
In , "Bob Steingraber"
<bobsteingraber@y...> wrote:
>
> Have you thought of using an attenuator??? >
> Bob S.
>
>
> --- In , Ralph Senese
<octavianrnr@y...>
> wrote:
> >
> > Gerold Weber
> from Kendrick told me not to pull 2 tubes out, he said I would
damage
> the amp.
> >
> > unlunf <unlunf@y...> wrote:
> > Ralph,
> >
> > > I want the natural sound of the amp without a dirty pedal.
> >
> > What is the 'natural sound' of an amp?
> >
> > --- In , "octavianrnr" wrote:
> > >
> > > I have a 1965 sears silvertone 1485 100 watt 6x10, it is very,
> very
> > > loud.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> > Yahoo! Music Unlimited - Access over 1 million songs. Try it
free.
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
>
