Both are made by oxford! Nice score 
Is one cone ribbed and one smooth? If the cones are different, this would give you a nice tonal difference in a cab together. Actually, I have been planning on making a small 2x8 cabinet just for the heck of it but have not had the time yet. I mean hey, if you have the speakers, why not? Just to see what it sounds like? I'd imagine it would have a lot of punch in the 90-100hz area. These little oxfords seem to sound pretty good when driven hard, almost like a hybrid between a celestion and an american speaker! This basically means it doesn't sound harsh like a !*$%ty JENSEN, it sounds fuller and the high end is a tad rolled off. Once you get 5 watts cranking through it and the amp is beginning to compress you will understand what I mean 😀
Just for interest my speaker is labled 8HB-24-465-051. 8HB and 8JB are the model number for the speaker btw.
465 is the manufactuer EIA code ( oxford)
the 8 denotes size, and the letter is the power rating. The higher the letter the higher the power rating. I think that J is 10 watts, but I could be wrong. If I am correct, the 051 means 5th week of 1961 or 1951. Pick your decade, but the silvertone was from 1961. You generally have to figure out the decade on your own.
Is one cone ribbed and one smooth? If the cones are different, this would give you a nice tonal difference in a cab together. Actually, I have been planning on making a small 2x8 cabinet just for the heck of it but have not had the time yet. I mean hey, if you have the speakers, why not? Just to see what it sounds like? I'd imagine it would have a lot of punch in the 90-100hz area. These little oxfords seem to sound pretty good when driven hard, almost like a hybrid between a celestion and an american speaker! This basically means it doesn't sound harsh like a !*$%ty JENSEN, it sounds fuller and the high end is a tad rolled off. Once you get 5 watts cranking through it and the amp is beginning to compress you will understand what I mean 😀
Just for interest my speaker is labled 8HB-24-465-051. 8HB and 8JB are the model number for the speaker btw.
465 is the manufactuer EIA code ( oxford)
the 8 denotes size, and the letter is the power rating. The higher the letter the higher the power rating. I think that J is 10 watts, but I could be wrong. If I am correct, the 051 means 5th week of 1961 or 1951. Pick your decade, but the silvertone was from 1961. You generally have to figure out the decade on your own.
Here are the pics I promised ya 😉
Front
Back
Back Removed
Ok so I am definatly not proud of the P2P wiring in there, I did it so I could get it up and running quickly. When I redo it i'm going to use my regular tagboard technique like on my other amp
Front
Back
Back Removed
Ok so I am definatly not proud of the P2P wiring in there, I did it so I could get it up and running quickly. When I redo it i'm going to use my regular tagboard technique like on my other amp
Holy Schnieky! Both of those amps are truly gorgeous! I would give my left...well, um...small toe to be able to do something like that. OK...I'm hooked. The wifey is just going to have to understand that I will have an addiction to building these small tone monsters in the coming years. If you don't mind, I'll go off topic and share a little about myself:
I have played for 27 years - at one point professionally for six years in Colorado and have had a number of great amps that I wish I still had. To name a few of my favorites: Marshall JCM800 1/2 stack and a Peavey Classic 50 Tweed "stack" with a 4x10 cab and a 1x15 cab. The tone of running both of those "towers" in tandem (in the studio for recording) was incredible. I still love listening to those old tracks. I currently have a Budda Stringmaster 30 combo (crystal clear and punchy - but almost too clean), and an Epiphone valve junior that I had modded with a number of killer upgrades. Though it is a cheap little amp, the mods have brought boutique tone.
My playing style has changed with age from the crunchy, adrenalin pumped heavy stuff to classic blues (from Stevie to Jimmy Reed) and I am currently trying to put together a blues outfit. I played recently in an acoustic blues outfit for a local festival - with great response, but the electric guitar is my favorite.
Thanks for letting me share and though I am not the greatest singer, you can hear a few blues guitar tunes/riffs at the following link:
http://www.myspace.com/higbone1
I would like to have future communications with you to continue tube amp building discussions when I am ready.
David
I have played for 27 years - at one point professionally for six years in Colorado and have had a number of great amps that I wish I still had. To name a few of my favorites: Marshall JCM800 1/2 stack and a Peavey Classic 50 Tweed "stack" with a 4x10 cab and a 1x15 cab. The tone of running both of those "towers" in tandem (in the studio for recording) was incredible. I still love listening to those old tracks. I currently have a Budda Stringmaster 30 combo (crystal clear and punchy - but almost too clean), and an Epiphone valve junior that I had modded with a number of killer upgrades. Though it is a cheap little amp, the mods have brought boutique tone.
My playing style has changed with age from the crunchy, adrenalin pumped heavy stuff to classic blues (from Stevie to Jimmy Reed) and I am currently trying to put together a blues outfit. I played recently in an acoustic blues outfit for a local festival - with great response, but the electric guitar is my favorite.
Thanks for letting me share and though I am not the greatest singer, you can hear a few blues guitar tunes/riffs at the following link:
http://www.myspace.com/higbone1
I would like to have future communications with you to continue tube amp building discussions when I am ready.
David
Wow some nice work. I'm not quite there yet, I'm 19 and trying to get a business started making/restoring amps. My current guitars are a heavily modded squier 'tele special deluxe with a GFS humbucker in the neck, 5 way switching, refinished in blonde with a white american pickguard. Other one is a gretsch electromatic jet w/ G cutout tailpeice. I owned a junky peavey classic 30 at one time, in its cabinet now resides a cleveland "cletron" 30 watt 12" speaker. I have my two 5 watters, a 15 watt and a 20 watt pp 6v6 amp.
I like playing blues as well! Idols inlude: SRV, jimmi, muddy, halen, atkins, the king (BB not elvis!), clapton, etc etc.
My biggest problem is trying to find a band with people my age that actually enjoy playing blues- its almost unheard of.
Just got done working on a JCM800, very nice amp. clean chanel is trash though. He's coming back soon to have me mod that. How do you like the 4x10? I think 4x10's have great punch for blues, and 4x12's are better for edgy heavy rock. That has been my experience at least. The VJ's are great little amps for the money you pay, btw.
Don't worry bout your singing man, its blues all the way- a lot of blues singers couldn't sing (hey just look at jimmi!) 😀
I like playing blues as well! Idols inlude: SRV, jimmi, muddy, halen, atkins, the king (BB not elvis!), clapton, etc etc.
My biggest problem is trying to find a band with people my age that actually enjoy playing blues- its almost unheard of.
Just got done working on a JCM800, very nice amp. clean chanel is trash though. He's coming back soon to have me mod that. How do you like the 4x10? I think 4x10's have great punch for blues, and 4x12's are better for edgy heavy rock. That has been my experience at least. The VJ's are great little amps for the money you pay, btw.
Don't worry bout your singing man, its blues all the way- a lot of blues singers couldn't sing (hey just look at jimmi!) 😀
No doubt...for a 19 year old, I can understand that it's hard to find people to jam the blues. I guess the blues is too repetitious and "sounds" simple. Age doesn't matter, though. A local guitarist in our area is now 17 years old (Jamie Eubanks - Google him!) and he is quite a hit on the regional scene. He beat me out at the Guitar Center "king of the blues" competition last year. I am 41 and am just beginning to take the blues (as a style) seriously. Of course, no matter what age...most guitarists will show reverence to the greats as you mentioned in your post.
By the way...back in the 80s, I saw Van Halen seven times by the time I was your age!
From the pictures of your amps, you have a great talent...keep up the fantastic work. How does your Silvertone sound with your new wiring setup?
To answer your earlier question, "yes" the Oxford cones have a different ribbing - it might be pretty cool. Any thoughts on the positioning in the cab (diagonal vs. horizontal?)
By the way...back in the 80s, I saw Van Halen seven times by the time I was your age!
From the pictures of your amps, you have a great talent...keep up the fantastic work. How does your Silvertone sound with your new wiring setup?
To answer your earlier question, "yes" the Oxford cones have a different ribbing - it might be pretty cool. Any thoughts on the positioning in the cab (diagonal vs. horizontal?)
People playing the blues isn't unheard of in our generation–you just have to be in the right place–certain college towns, and I'm sure many of the traditional places too. I started doing the homemade amp thing to get a good harmonica amp–I hadn't played a tube amp until my friend lent me a big 4x6550 Sunn amp. Dragged that thing and a Research Labs L-5 up to the roof and we'd throw the loudest keggers! We got a noise complaint from across town 🙂 (I guess the playing wasn't too bad if it took a sample size that large to get a complaint -- everyone likes a good shuffle).
It's not easy to find good blues players out here in california, but there are a few–it's fun to take blues techniques and expand them into other music. Seems like I ended up playing blues with people from chicago anyway 🙂. Our ragtag band played behind a hip hop artist a few times, I had a great time doing basic blues stuff to the rhythms.
I'm kind of the equipment procurer for our band, but I don't have the money so I build 'em. So far I've (re)built an entirely free hammond m2 with a custom contra-rotating leslie stack, a 12w 6k6 p-p blues amp (in a 40s stand up radio cabinet), a 20w reverb-tremolo-fuzz el84 p-p (my favorite), and I'm working on redesigning an 6ca7 p-p head. I also have a bigger project on the bench, a huge dual power amp (from a giant conn organ) which originally ran 6v6s and 6l6gcs. It's going to have to wait until the semester is over though. We've got another leslie wired up to a solid state PA for making non-organ noises through. It's a time consuming hobby, but it sounds great, and it's really fun to hear other people play through it and rock out and realize it's your design/redesign. One of the better guitar players I met liked my el84 p-p better than his vox ac30, which I took as a big compliment.
If you're ever in way northern california, send me a PM and you're welcome to come on by and play some jams with us 🙂
It's not easy to find good blues players out here in california, but there are a few–it's fun to take blues techniques and expand them into other music. Seems like I ended up playing blues with people from chicago anyway 🙂. Our ragtag band played behind a hip hop artist a few times, I had a great time doing basic blues stuff to the rhythms.
I'm kind of the equipment procurer for our band, but I don't have the money so I build 'em. So far I've (re)built an entirely free hammond m2 with a custom contra-rotating leslie stack, a 12w 6k6 p-p blues amp (in a 40s stand up radio cabinet), a 20w reverb-tremolo-fuzz el84 p-p (my favorite), and I'm working on redesigning an 6ca7 p-p head. I also have a bigger project on the bench, a huge dual power amp (from a giant conn organ) which originally ran 6v6s and 6l6gcs. It's going to have to wait until the semester is over though. We've got another leslie wired up to a solid state PA for making non-organ noises through. It's a time consuming hobby, but it sounds great, and it's really fun to hear other people play through it and rock out and realize it's your design/redesign. One of the better guitar players I met liked my el84 p-p better than his vox ac30, which I took as a big compliment.
If you're ever in way northern california, send me a PM and you're welcome to come on by and play some jams with us 🙂
Man...if I could get away from Florida, work, kids and the wife for a few days - I would love to come to Cali for a jam!
There are some great California blues players, though. My favorite is Tommy Castro. I also have a good buddy from the early years that lives in California - his name is Charles Wheel. He played guitar for many years for Mark Hummel - a world-renowned harp player from Cali. Charles is now on his own and building a name for himself out West.
Sounds like both of you are well on your way to finding that elusive tone that make guys like me weak in the knees. Anything that can be compared to a Vox AC30 has got to be incredible. Keep it up!
What do you guys think about me getting my feet wet with one of the amp kits from Torres Engineering?
There are some great California blues players, though. My favorite is Tommy Castro. I also have a good buddy from the early years that lives in California - his name is Charles Wheel. He played guitar for many years for Mark Hummel - a world-renowned harp player from Cali. Charles is now on his own and building a name for himself out West.
Sounds like both of you are well on your way to finding that elusive tone that make guys like me weak in the knees. Anything that can be compared to a Vox AC30 has got to be incredible. Keep it up!
What do you guys think about me getting my feet wet with one of the amp kits from Torres Engineering?
The kits are good because they are proven designs. You *know* where you are starting, and so it becomes less of an issue of making it work at all (after it's put together right, but that's half the fun) than making it sound just the way you want. Personally I like to find semi-working tube junk and try to make it something nice, but I will tell you half of it comes out looking ugly and sounding good, and the other half ends up in the "pile". With a kit, you can pick and choose among the many manufacturers of cabinets, problems have probably been experienced by others so much easier to debug, and it'll will probably sound great off the bat. I know weber and mission amps do some great kits too. Ted Weber and Bruce from mission amps are fairly easy to communicate with as well.
I'd get your speakers out of an old organ or record cabinet though, as you've seen it's not too hard to accidentally run into utahs, jensens and oxfords that way. Unfortunately, my favorite speaker was accidentally kicked in by the guitarist while drunk, it was a 60's alnico jensen with a whizzer cone. If you are going to buy a new speaker, don't get the cheap jensens, they're just rebranded PRC mass-produced junk. I'd get an weber, an eminence, or an expensive but nice jensen. For a guitar amp, go alnico. If you're crazy, try to find a field coil speaker, especially if the kit already has a choke in the power supply. Great tone but generally lower power.
I'd get your speakers out of an old organ or record cabinet though, as you've seen it's not too hard to accidentally run into utahs, jensens and oxfords that way. Unfortunately, my favorite speaker was accidentally kicked in by the guitarist while drunk, it was a 60's alnico jensen with a whizzer cone. If you are going to buy a new speaker, don't get the cheap jensens, they're just rebranded PRC mass-produced junk. I'd get an weber, an eminence, or an expensive but nice jensen. For a guitar amp, go alnico. If you're crazy, try to find a field coil speaker, especially if the kit already has a choke in the power supply. Great tone but generally lower power.
I live about 50 miles from Ted weber 😉 I still haven't ordered one though!! I need to! I agree about the new Jensens. Their ceramic magnet ones don't sound too far from the originals- which isn't wonderful to begin with, but their alnico versions aren't great either.
My current favorite 12" is the cleveland ( a devision of CTS) speaker that I got out of an old Conn organ. It sounds good because its got a 3/4" voice coil and a light ribbed cone with little excursion. Definatly not a high watt speaker, but great for tube amps under 20 watts.
Highbone, do it vertical! thats what I wanted to do! Make it just wide enough to put your head on it, and you've got a 1/2 scale mini stack 😀 Any chance at some pics of the speakers?
Edit: The amp really isn't a 'silvertone' anymore, its a Getchell 😀
I used the transformers, tubes, and tube sockets from the original amp but all new circuitry and resistors/ caps. The sound? Like a warm champ with a little more gain- amazing! I have a rather low output humbucker in my tele and when you crank the amp its a sound you just can't describe.
My current favorite 12" is the cleveland ( a devision of CTS) speaker that I got out of an old Conn organ. It sounds good because its got a 3/4" voice coil and a light ribbed cone with little excursion. Definatly not a high watt speaker, but great for tube amps under 20 watts.
Highbone, do it vertical! thats what I wanted to do! Make it just wide enough to put your head on it, and you've got a 1/2 scale mini stack 😀 Any chance at some pics of the speakers?
Edit: The amp really isn't a 'silvertone' anymore, its a Getchell 😀
I used the transformers, tubes, and tube sockets from the original amp but all new circuitry and resistors/ caps. The sound? Like a warm champ with a little more gain- amazing! I have a rather low output humbucker in my tele and when you crank the amp its a sound you just can't describe.
Alright...after a closer look at the speakers, I noticed there is one to two small tears (1/4"-1/2") on the paper cone of each Oxford speaker. I have read somewhere that you can repair this with special compound. What is product and where do I purchase it? Will this affect the performance of the speakers?
Nail polish. Apply it around the tear and gently press it together. Reapply and let dry. Do a buzz test and reapply as nessicary. Shouldn't affect the performance really, depending on where it is. If its towards the edge of the cone in the surround then you could have some problems, but I never have really.
Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, the small tears are on outer ribbed portion (baffle?). Can I get them "reconed", or is this not the proper term?
I got my Silvertone organ amp back from the shop - all tubes intact! He gave me a brief rundown of what he did, but most of it meant nothing. I wanted to keep the vibrato and he thought it would be a good idea, but he made some changes to it by jumping one of the caps (the last one?) in the vibrato chain. It sounds better and a little more present than the original setup. He also put a vibrato "volume" to control the amount. Later he said we could try a rate/speed pot that he felt would be do-able.
All in all...he put a 1/4 inch insert and a 1/4 inch output, pilot light, volume and the vibrato volume - that's about it. He said he could do a tone knob for me, but that it would cut the gain just a little. He recommended trying it out first and if I wanted more tone control, we do it at a later time. He thought it sounded pretty cool, too.
Through one of my separate cabinets - it sounds pretty damn cool! Not too loud, nice break up starting about 1/2 way up, and sounds killer on 10! My Les Paul sounds a little thick through it, so I want to try it out on a Tele/Strat before proceeding.
Instead of messing with the (2) Oxford 8" speakers at this time, I purchased a Weber Signature 10" with Alnico magnet (8 ohm) from E-bay and am building a combo for the amp.
Are there any rules about how close you can place the tube/amp to the speaker inside the combo?
I got my Silvertone organ amp back from the shop - all tubes intact! He gave me a brief rundown of what he did, but most of it meant nothing. I wanted to keep the vibrato and he thought it would be a good idea, but he made some changes to it by jumping one of the caps (the last one?) in the vibrato chain. It sounds better and a little more present than the original setup. He also put a vibrato "volume" to control the amount. Later he said we could try a rate/speed pot that he felt would be do-able.
All in all...he put a 1/4 inch insert and a 1/4 inch output, pilot light, volume and the vibrato volume - that's about it. He said he could do a tone knob for me, but that it would cut the gain just a little. He recommended trying it out first and if I wanted more tone control, we do it at a later time. He thought it sounded pretty cool, too.
Through one of my separate cabinets - it sounds pretty damn cool! Not too loud, nice break up starting about 1/2 way up, and sounds killer on 10! My Les Paul sounds a little thick through it, so I want to try it out on a Tele/Strat before proceeding.
Instead of messing with the (2) Oxford 8" speakers at this time, I purchased a Weber Signature 10" with Alnico magnet (8 ohm) from E-bay and am building a combo for the amp.
Are there any rules about how close you can place the tube/amp to the speaker inside the combo?
Not really, although it is the worst environment for tubes to operate in thousands of combos were made that way. Its going to receive mechanical vibrations as it is, so just make sure they really have enough room to dissipate heat.
If your tech didn't do it, I would seriously consider putting at least a 25-50uf 35v cap across the cathode. This will increase your gain tremendously, and your amp will sound more musical when it compresses. It will sound a bit 'warmer' I guess you could say, due to increased gain and bass responce.
You could get the oxford reconed, but If it were me I would just repair it. See if you can get a pic of it for us and we can tell you how easy/hard it would be to fix the tear.
You will have to tell me how your signature 10 sounds! I have been thinking about getting one of those for my 5w combo.
If your tech didn't do it, I would seriously consider putting at least a 25-50uf 35v cap across the cathode. This will increase your gain tremendously, and your amp will sound more musical when it compresses. It will sound a bit 'warmer' I guess you could say, due to increased gain and bass responce.
You could get the oxford reconed, but If it were me I would just repair it. See if you can get a pic of it for us and we can tell you how easy/hard it would be to fix the tear.
You will have to tell me how your signature 10 sounds! I have been thinking about getting one of those for my 5w combo.
I will take pics soon, but the paper cone on the '51 is really soft - not sure how long it will last anyway. I will post pics of both the '51 and '62 Oxfords, but since the tears are so small I am not sure how well they will turn out.
Re: the amp positioin in the combo...How about venting...or rather, cutting a hole in the top of the cabinet and "screening" it in? Would that help to vent the tubes?
I'll mention your suggestion to increase gain to the tube shop guy and we'll go from there.
I will also update you on the sound of the Weber once it gets broken in. It certainly looks nice! Ha!
David
Re: the amp positioin in the combo...How about venting...or rather, cutting a hole in the top of the cabinet and "screening" it in? Would that help to vent the tubes?
I'll mention your suggestion to increase gain to the tube shop guy and we'll go from there.
I will also update you on the sound of the Weber once it gets broken in. It certainly looks nice! Ha!
David
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