Doing Things Wrong

Silvertone 1472 Amplifier (3/3)

A recap and repair of a 1432 amp, the predecessor of the 1472. A lot of rotten Sangamo capacitors, some mis-wiring, and a tired speaker.

Although the 1432 is very different in physical design, the circuit is almost identical to the 1472, especially the pre-amp, tremolo, and power output section, which is classic auto-biased Danelectro. Nathan Daniel was a much better electrical engineer than Leo Fender (who was in fact a repairman, not an engineer.) The only difference I see at a glance is the rectifier tube.

Here is a case where you get away with not replacing all the capacitors, in an even-older Silvertone amp. Those green barrels are actually Micamold Tropicap capacitors that are better than equally-green Sangamos, but probably should have all been replaced just on principle, especially since she went to the trouble of re-soldering everything anyway. This circuit also looks very similar to the 1472, although it uses an earlier generation of tubes.

One thing you'll notice in these videos is that at no point do they use an oscilloscope. These amps can be rebuilt with just a multimeter. This is not true for amps that require re-biasing.

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A subject so simple you hardly even consider it, yet really very mysterious. Just what is the roughness of sandpaper, and the relation to the number on the package?

Here's a plot of some numbers I found online: sandpaper "grit" versus actual micron size. Interesting to see what size scratches you are taking out ( or putting in. ) The curve starts at 320, which is the coarsest grit that might be considered part of the finishing process. For final finishing like orange-peel removal, I start with 1500 and work up from there, I find that even 1000 leaves scratches that are difficult to remove.