Silvertone 1484 OT & tonal change?

[Jonny toetags]

I was just wondering if swapping out the original OT to the Mojo/Heyboer 1484 OT would change the tone of the amp?
The reason behind this is I have lots of 8ohm speakers I'd love to try with the 1484.

[Resonator Guy]

The current stock speakers are both 8 ohm, are they not? Why change the OT, just change the speakers, or am I missing something in your post.

[Jonny toetags]

The current stock speakers are both 8 ohm, are they not? Why change the OT, just change the speakers, or am I missing something in your post.

Sorry...forgot to mention this is the head only, with the old speaker cable removed and a jack in it's place.

[Resonator Guy]

You can safely test any 8 ohm speakers you wish with the current OT. The original speakers would have been wired as 4 ohms or 16 ohms so a test should be okay. I have read that the original OT isn't extremely robust so don't try it flat out. Here is a downloadable manual and schematic. Silvertone World - Amplifiers - 1960s - Model 1484

[Jonny toetags]

You can safely test any 8 ohm speakers you wish with the current OT. The original speakers would have been wired as 4 ohms or 16 ohms so a test should be okay. I have read that the original OT isn't extremely robust so don't try it flat out. Here is a downloadable manual and schematic. Silvertone World - Amplifiers - 1960s - Model 1484

That's what I've been doing, but i want to get it setup so I can play it loud.
Like you said, what I read is that the OT is really fragile.
All the cabs (and most of my speakers) are wired up for 8ohm.

[soundmasterg]

You can run an 8 ohm speaker load on the 4 ohm tap on these output transformers and they will hold up to that just fine. That said the stock OT is pretty undersized and they do blow, that is why there are several suppliers of OT's out there for these amps. The stock OT has a stock 4 ohm tap, and also a 2.6 ohm tap that was used in the 1485, which used a pair of these OT's. My brother's 1484 that I modded about 6 years ago used to run on the 4 ohm tap with an 8 ohm speaker and it worked fine and still uses that original OT. It was often played full up with that setup too. That said, the tone does change....when running a mismatch of that nature, the sound gets more midrangy and focused, with less highs and lows and more compression to the notes. Even at low volumes, there is a bit of grit with this setup that doesn't go away. You could almost describe it as a low level hash to the sound. It works great for leads but can be a little muddled with rhythm playing.

Greg