telestar Lisa or Mona

No kidding. Actual guitars. Anybody ever play one? The Mona was a modern homage to the amp in case Silvertone, forget the model number. 1334? With lipstick p/us. The Lisa was more on the old dano side, with 2 minihums. I'm curious about how they sound and play.

Thanks.
MD

mad dog said:

... The Mona was a modern homage to the amp in case Silvertone, forget the model number. 1334?

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Hi Michael; can't help with the Mona but the Silvertone 1447, 1448, 1451, 1452, and 1457 were all amp-in-the-case models. John

capnjuan said:

mad dog said:

... The Mona was a modern homage to the amp in case Silvertone, forget the model number. 1334?

Click to expand...

Hi Michael; can't help with the Mona but the Silvertone 1447, 1448, 1451, 1452, and 1457 were all amp-in-the-case models. John

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Oooo! I have a 1457!

stig said:

capnjuan said:

mad dog said:

... The Mona was a modern homage to the amp in case Silvertone, forget the model number. 1334?

Click to expand...

Hi Michael; can't help with the Mona but the Silvertone 1447, 1448, 1451, 1452, and 1457 were all amp-in-the-case models. John

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Oooo! I have a 1457!

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Hi stig: Shares a schematic with the 1449? Twin 12AX7s, 6X4 rectifier, SE 6V6, and tremolololo ... similar to the 1471/1481 but 2 extra tube halves; trem and gain ... sound pretty good does it? Ever think it gives up too much without the resonance of a cabinet? J

capnjuan said:

... sound pretty good does it? Ever think it gives up too much without the resonance of a cabinet? J

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I haven't used the amp in a long time, and I'm not sure if it's working anymore. But it really is a pretty cool little amp. I used it ages ago on a recording of Psychotic Reaction with the guitar to get some good vintage garage guitar sound.
Some of the tube names I don't recognize as common guitar amp tubes. I wonder if they can even be acquired.
I'm thinking of selling the whole rig. The guitar has a wiring problem. I had to remove the concentric knobs years ago because they weren't working well. It would make a nice project for someone.
I may E-Bay it someday. It was a wedding present from my first wife. I think my current wife would love to see it gone if she knew!
(She got me a 2004 50th anniversary American Strat, by the way. Advantage - second wife!)

Hi stig; gotta remember we have some young people here at the beaver lodge ... The Count Five / Psychotic Reaction I imagine that amp would do garage grind pretty good ... Sears must have sold 1,000s of those. I'd be curious to know what you do have in there. Even if a little different than what I listed, nearly all the types commonly used back in the day are either still in production or available NOS/new old stock. But if its output is a little weak, that's likely a function of aged power supply caps, not the tubes.

Looks like I'm going to answer my own question on this. Have one of these "Mona" guitars on the way. Looks like this:

http://v8guitars.mindseyepages.com/telestar.html

Only mine is white on white sparkle, kind of, without the amp-in-case part. I love the old Danos and such, but never found one that's playable enough or will hold up. This one promises to be in the JJ zone, meaning better pickups, better built. And trashy cute, always important. So we'll see.

MD

No offense, Stig, but I would probably give the advantage to your first wife. I keep my 1448 set-up in the kitchen, and even though it would play a lot better if I had the frets done, I love playing it on weekend mornings after breakfast. "Garage" is definitely what that amp does best.

Oh, and it's a 12AU6, a 50C5, and a 36W4. Mine doesn't have trem, but the amp itself is really reliable and comes on strong every time. It's five watts of wail.

Guild Beginner said:

Oh, and it's a 12AU6, a 50C5, and a 36W4.

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Hi GB; this is the schematic for the Silvertone 1430 It isn't an amp-in-the-case model but, except for 36W4 v. 35W4, the tube line-up matches. Any chance you have a 35W4 rectifier and not a 36W4? The Duncan amps tube data sheet locater doesn't return any information on a 36W4. Not wishing to dis the amp but you probably aren't getting 5 watts out of it; the 50C5 is rated at 2.3 watts 50C5 data sheet, page 2. Pretty cool rig! CJ

You're right, it's 35. I read it wrong in the dark last night. I used to have all the specs for this memorized--I suppose I mixed up 5" speaker with the 2 watts. I don't really think there's much to dis about this amp though. It sounds great for how funky it is. I'm listening to CCR right now, and I know Fogerty got his start with this set, as well as Dylan. I believe also Hendrix, and even James Hettfield. I played a show once were I played this guitar and amp and my friend played a Magnus chord organ. It was fun.

Update on the Telestar Mona:

Just got this in. No pics yet, but it looks identical to the one Elderly sold:

http://www.elderly.com/new_instruments/ ... NA-WHT.htm

Interesting guitar. Way better in tone, build, playability than the original silvertones that looked like this. Not quite up to the Jerry Jones standard maybe, but way past the extremely modest price point. Needs a better jack for sure. I'll also throw in a setup, fret dress, maybe a new nut. Lower the action a touch. The radius is flatter than I like, but that seems to be the case with many of the oddball guitars I'm drawn to.

Aside from the appealing flash/trash look, it's the lipstick pickups that make this one worthwhile. Really nice sound. If I can get it playing as good as it sounds, this will be another low budget guitar success story.

MD