Anyone know about an old Supertone amp?

shoeless

shoeless

Riffin'
So this popped up on my local CL today. It's an Ibanez lap steel along with an old Supertone amp. For $75 I figure I'd email the guy (already have, waiting to hear back).

The amp is more intriguing than the lap slide. Anybody know anything about a Supertone amp? I have a feeling it may turn into a DIY restoration project though, and might not be worth the time & effort. :shrug:

https://frederick.craigslist.org/msg/6213508012.html

Vintage Hawaiian Guitar - $75
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make / manufacturer: Ibanez

Includes:

Ibanez Hawaiian Guitar
Guitar case
Amplifier
Finger Slide

Edit: A little Googling turned this up https://dustyoldamp.wordpress.com/category/supertone/ Not sure if it's the same model or not (looks pretty close), but apparently a Sears amp prior to them going Silvertone. The one in the link is from the 30's. :eek:
 
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Definitely a Valco-made amp (the company behind Supro, Oahu and National amps).

Speaker not original and expect a tech to have to rebuild a lot of the circuit. Probably $175-250 of work. But a steal at $75. Hell, I would give that for just the lap steel...and Inhave nonclue in the quality of an Ibanez lap steel.
 
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Wyatt said:
Definitely a Valco-made amp (the company behind Supro, Oahu and National amps).

Speaker not original and expect a tech to have to rebuild a lot of the circuit. Probably $175-250 of work. But a steal at $75. Hell, I would give that for just the lap steel...and Inhave nonclue in the quality of an Ibanez lap steel.
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Yeah, that's pretty much what my research showed as well. Looks like either 1938 or '39 amp. I think they changed to Silvertone shortly after that. I found this on the Silvertone World page. Looks like the same amp, even has the same Utah speaker in it, so that might actually be original.

http://www.silvertoneworld.net/amplifiers/2310/2310.html

Probably doesn't matter though. It's been almost 24 hours and no word from the seller, so it's probably gone and he just hasn't gotten around to taking down the ad.
 
shoeless said:
Yeah, that's pretty much what my research showed as well. Looks like either 1938 or '39 amp. I think they changed to Silvertone shortly after that. I found this on the Silvertone World page. Looks like the same amp, even has the same Utah speaker in it, so that might actually be original.

http://www.silvertoneworld.net/amplifiers/2310/2310.html

Probably doesn't matter though. It's been almost 24 hours and no word from the seller, so it's probably gone and he just hasn't gotten around to taking down the ad.
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Bummer. If I thought I could restore that amp I'd jump on it for that price. It would be nice to use something older than me. :old:
 
If you do hear back and buy it and it needs repair, if you don't want to tackle it, I've used a guy in Falls Chruch (maybe a bit of a haul for you) but he does great work and is very reasonable.
 
Chad said:
If you do hear back and buy it and it needs repair, if you don't want to tackle it, I've used a guy in Falls Chruch (maybe a bit of a haul for you) but he does great work and is very reasonable.
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Thanks. Based on pictures from another site, it looks like a pretty basic design and all point-to-point wired.

1939-supertone-amp-10.jpg


I'd feel pretty comfortable replacing the tubes and caps (done that before), and then if it still didn't work I'd take it in. Sometimes the trickiest part of working on this old stuff is just finding the right parts, but filter caps are pretty forgiving as long as you're in the ballpark. The tubes OTOH, I dunno. They look to be some non-standard items, at least in terms of guitar amps.

1939-supertone-amp-8.jpg

From that same site: The preamp tubes consist of a pair of 6N7 valves while the phase splitter is a 6F6GT and the output is provided by a 6F6-G tube. Rectification duties are handled by an 80 tube.
 
If it's that old, wouldn't surprise me to have to gut it and rebuild completely. But $75 would only buy a bare chassis new.
 
Never heard back from him. It's been 2+ days. I think I won't be having to worry about rebuilding this amp.
 
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