Here's a thought. I have 2 OTS head shells and an OTS combo waiting to be finished. I'm wondering if I could shoehorn the 36watt into a DC-30 chassis since the Dc and the OTs chassis are only different in depth and only by ¼" I believe.

I've looked at the layouts and it looks doable but the problem is the transformers. On the DC-30 both are throug the chassis whilst on the 36watt the OT is above it.

Might have to talk to Nik about this.

LOL  Just notice the warning on the back of the amp.

"Warning Shock and Fire Hazard...Do not expose to rain or beer"  :-)

Well, neither the TMB nor the EF86 channel were designed for clean.  Those were both preamp designs adapted to the 18-watter over the last decade or so.  The TMB was invented by 18-watt cloners who wanted more plexi-style drive and crunch, and the EF86 option, which Nik was the first to offer that I saw is obviously the C30 dirty channel, based on the late '50's AC15, which was one of the earliest amps ever designed for distortion.

Both are a far cry from the real 1974x circuit, which does allow for some cleans, and a nice "sweet spot" tone.

No, a quick search says its based on the 20-watt 1917x, that's the early-'70's PA brother to the 2061x (Nik's 20-watt Lead & Bass).

I think the 20-watt PA may be the most common of the small Marshall amps here in the US, and still isn't common at all.

Well, I don't know.

The 18-watters used to nothing more than legend here in the States.  People always said the 18-watt was better than the 20-watt, but I had never met anyone who ever played or owned an 18-watt Marshall.

Sometime around, around the turn of the last century, Graydon Stuckley (GDS Amps) pretty much single-handedly launched the 18-watt clone craze.  He helped distribute the schematic, got transformers and chassis made, etc.  Then the 18-watt.com forum started up and just exploded.  It's hard to believe now that as recently as the '90's, there weren't any 18-watt clones on the market, not even the Marshalls.

The 1974x really has a unique thing going.  It is not a low-power JTM45 or JMP Plexi, but is its own beast with its own tone.  It's just a great, lo-gain, touch-responsive small amp that is very bluesy and early classic rock, it really has a great warm clean tone and "sweet spot," that moment when the amp just starts to break up.  The 1974x peers are NOT the Plexi, JTM, JCM, or anything Marshall, they are the Tweed Deluxe, Supro, Gibson GA series, AC-15, etc.  It shares a lot with these amps, and how they "react" to the players picking nuances, but has its own tone. 

But people instead wanted it to be what it isn't, a low-powered Plexi, so they invented the TMB, and then dozens of other preamp variations.  It's a great platform for mods and people take advantage of it, but all of them make the amp stiffer and it's clean tone is never quite as bell-like.

The 20-watters are another thing all together.  They ARE truly low-power versions of the '70's JMP's.  Very clean way up the dial (more clean headroom than the 18-watter, but a little less warm and complex) and then they crunch, but very little preamp gain, and big Marshall amp tone in droves.  For hard rock, I would easily prefer the 20-watter over any of the 18-watt variations., but it isn't as "reactive" a small amp as the 18-watter for more expressive, intimate playing.  Original 20-watters were NOT common, but they weren't super rare here in the States either, and until the vintage marekt went totally out of control, they were rather affordable (after all, no one in 1993 wanted a small Marshall).