Silvertone Treml-no

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54Chevy
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2010 5:00 pm
Location: TN

Silvertone Treml-no

Post by 54Chevy »

Can anybody help me out with the tremelo circuit on a silvertone 1484? It sort of works, almost non noticable effect. I have tried the following: new tubes, new 100k pot, new 1 meg pot, replaced every cap in the trem circuit. The multi stage filter cap has been replaced with individual caps. All of the resistors meter out correctly.


Everything else functions fine, including the lousy reverb!
10thTx
Posts: 1872
Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2006 1:13 am

Re: Silvertone Treml-no

Post by 10thTx »

IF you look at the schematic, you have one of those opto-isolator circuit.

http://www.el34world.com/charts/Schemat ... ne1484.pdf

You can replace that with something similar to this (which is a bias vary tremolo):

http://www.el34world.com/Forum/index.php?topic=604.0

With respect, 10thtx
54Chevy
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2010 5:00 pm
Location: TN

Re: Silvertone Treml-no

Post by 54Chevy »

Thank you for the quick response! That amp is not mine, and I can not alter it. However, making it perform at it's best would be great. I have read every article and schematic I can find. Safe to say that I am stumped!

What would you say is the most likely reason it doesn't work?

I'd love to repair it, and then never see it again!
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Kagliostro
Posts: 549
Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:09 am
Location: Italy

Re: Silvertone Treml-no

Post by Kagliostro »

Have you try an other tube ?

Kagliostro
54Chevy
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2010 5:00 pm
Location: TN

Re: Silvertone Treml-no

Post by 54Chevy »

Yup. I've tried a new tube.

Can anyone give me data on the photo cell, light bulb thing? Can you swap it out for the Fender version? Do they actually die?

If I shine a flashlight into the photo cell, it kills the output of the amp. So I assume it is working. However, the neon bulb will not light except when metering for dc across the trem tube. Also lights if you put meter on the bulb lead. So, the bulb works, but it's not getting the power in the correct manner. And, when you touch a meter lead to pin 1, the amps makes a high pitched oscillation.

Pretty sure it is the fact the little lite doesn't turn on and off.

Any ideas?
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Phil_S
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Joined: Tue Oct 23, 2007 10:12 pm
Location: Baltimore, MD

Re: Silvertone Treml-no

Post by Phil_S »

I think you might have an opto-isoloator that uses an incandescent bulb. If you do, the Fender part won't work, as it has a neon bulb.

The part is obsolete and I've looked high and low for one for my Gibson. AFAIK, they simply can't be found. It is easy enough to build one, but the problem here is finding the right bulb. The good news is you have a working LDR. For starters it is difficult to know what is the correct bulb. CMI makes a variety of bulbs and you might find a suitable one. As I recall, the application calls for a bulb that has a rather low mA rating, but I'm not sure. Anyhow, if you are careful, you can retain the LDR as you proved it works, make a small tube of plastic or cardboard, insert the bulb with some sort of putty or epoxy to keep it in place, cover it all with black heatshrink, and that's all there is to building one of these. If you are really lucky, you might be able to change the bulb on the existing opto, but these things tend to be rather delicate.
10thTx
Posts: 1872
Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2006 1:13 am

Re: Silvertone Treml-no

Post by 10thTx »

OR you can simply rewire it to NOT need the opto-isolator and use bias vary tremolo like the Fender.

With respect, 10thtx
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