Ceriatone Forum

Hey guys! After about 2 weeks of emailing Nik, I just placed my order for a HRM Bluesmaster 50 watt chassis with a few mods. I just want to say hello and say this is a great forum, and really helped me decide on which model to get and what mods to ask Nik to put in the amp. i'm truly excited about acquiring this amp and look forward to sharing my adventures in tweaking it and building cabs for it!

Rock on!

Gregg

welcome.
What made you decide for the Bluesmaster?

Steven

well, Nik's descriptions of the tone via the website and via email for one. i told him that i loved OD tone of the OTS, but that i wasn't really into the clean town. he remembered that i said  i like old blackface amps for the clean tone, and he told me that the clean channel was alot like a blackface. after listening to the sound clips, i agreed and it instantly sold me. up to a few weeks ago i had been communicating with Nik about building a JTM 45 with some mods and the prinzetone, now i can't hardly think of anything but the HRM BM. i will prolly still be getting the JTM45 and the prinztone, but i think the HRM will keep me busy for a while

If you like Fender BF tone, than you will love your bluesmaser.
 ;)

you will love the bluesmaster. Not quite as clean as my twin (breaks up after 3 with single coils), but proper fendery. Then the OD on top is a treat, but it's personal preference on how to use it - I have both knobs straight up. The PAB boost gives a nice breakup too.
Make sure you use it with Alnico speakers, or turn the presence right up.
And set your HRM trimmers after getting your clean settings right. Don't kill yourself doing it though!

Ask Nik to do it with the Deep switch the right way up
& Ask Nik to put a trimmer on the BM's PAB resistor. The standard boost is too much of a jump, I think it's more usable to be able to set it lower (like a Fuchs ODS), unless you want a dramatically much louder PAB tone

I got a JTM45, and is worth getting in addition to the BM

So far I have Nik installing a 1/2 power switch, a resistor across the HT Taps to add a lil sag into the amp, which was Nik's idea, and i am adding a toggle switch to the PAB to switch between the stock 68k resistor that attaches to the mid pot and a 2m resistor that should allow for MEGA PAB lol. I may add a pot to those later to dial them in. I want to figure out how to switch the post OD tonestack out completely. Nik said that he wouldn't do that but it shouldn't be hard to do so. I think i figured out looking at it on the diagram. If i clip the X wire going into the Level Pot for the OD channel it should bypass the OD Tonestack out. Am i right in thinking this?

The half-power is well-done (doesn't add loads of noise), but still sucks tone (triode mode always does), I don't use it. You lose headroom and need to change all your settings. Master vol works better on this amp.

Is the sag resistor switchable?

I think the PAB is too much boost with 68k. I don't know what you 'd use more than that for, it would be more like a heavy metal sound than a blues thing.
I thought most people bought the BM to play blues and bluesy rock
Personal taste I guess, but I always hate it when a player kicks in a boost that changes the sound too much using the same amp (sounds very disjointed to me) - remember you can't tweak the sound with the PAB, it's just middy and very boosted. Not like a separate channel at all.
It's like that demo for the trainwreck Express, where Glen Kuykendall does very clean then dirty
http://www.youtube.com/user/GlenKuykendall#p/a/u/1/Y2_12Ler9B8 (http://www.youtube.com/user/GlenKuykendall#p/a/u/1/Y2_12Ler9B8)
it's like you switched channels on the TV, and were listening to something different entirely

here's one where it works for him  (crunchy to distorted - similar tone):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3VhCRFoFYk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3VhCRFoFYk)

on the HRM bypass idea:
I assume you have been reading that some people prefer to have non-HRM. I am not certain whether simply bypassing some of the HRM circuit will get you the non-HRM tone. Are you sure the remaining active circuit will be the same as the non-HRM circuit? I doubt it.

In any case, you'd need to solder in a switch. The HRM board is near the front. If you put the switch on the back, that would add a cable run to and from the back. This may affect tone even when not in use.

Most people just use the HRM to dial in their preferences for OD. For me that means rolling off the treble. It's set and forget, I will always prefer that sound. On my Fuchs ODS, there is no HRM, but the OD sound is right for me anyway. I am not sure you will be able to get non-HRM tones from a BM, I'd leave it a few months and decide if you think you are missing something.

yes, the sag resistor is switchable.  1/2 power switches always change tone, but not necessarily for the worse, sometimes it can yield an interesting tone.  I play all different styles of music, and just like to have the most "options" available out of one amp than i can get, saves my back at my age! my idea of having the post od switchable may not be a new one, but it interests me as it just gives another tonal dimension to play with.

love that video! with regard to the PAB, i've been kinda brainstorming , and i came up with the idea of having pots on the two different resistors Nik is intalling for me to adjust the level of PAB a bit, if i i can find room for 'em. what do ya'll think?

Do you mean for the PAB and the SAG?
I'm not certain, but I thought resistors to induce sag were in line with the transformer, and are pretty high-current rating, so a pot version would be less practical.
I have 2 amps with switchable rectifiers: SS/ tube/ tube+ resistor, and that's all I need for variation, in fact SS/tube would be adequate, so I'd assume on/off would be OK for the sag resistor

I'm getting a pot fitted for the PAB this week if I can get to the tech

Cheers
Tone

Hi there, congratulations on your upcoming amp. I know the feeling once you have decided to order an amp or an amp kit you can't wait for delivery....for me it's like having your 5 years birthsday all over. (although; i didn't get a 500 volt tube amp kit at my 5 years birthsday :-))

However, I'm a firm believer in playing the amp for at least 20 hour, preferably 50 hours, before you get into modding considerations. Perhaps you are jumping too fast to conclusions about how the amp should be set up.

Like I said, I know the feeling of exitement in relation to awaiting an amp, but don't consider modding the amp, before playing it intensively.
And during the 20-50 hours break-in period. I tend to get dissapointed with a new amp. My first Dumble style amp was a standard 50w OTS. The first time I played the amp after building it, I thought it was a waste of money, because it didnt have the Robben Ford sound at all.

I read a series of posts by user 'jzucker' and started modding the amp over a period of 3-4 month, after which I arrived at a '#124' design with 100k preamp plates, that I found sounded great. However, the real reason the amp sounded great was because I had played it a lot during the modding period. So in reality I had broken the amp in. I could have saved at lot of worries and effort, if I had simply spend my time playing the amp instead of modding it.

Therefore, enjoy your new amp and don't expect it to sound great before you have broken it in. One idea is to connect a CD player to the amp and a large dummy resistor to the speaker out and let the amp play a lot. You have to keep a watchfull eye on the amp, though. It's still a tube amp with high voltage, so don't leave it on when you go to work. Only do the CD/dummyLoad when you are at home perhaps playing another of your amps.

All the best.

Thanks, Blues, you are absolutely right, i am totally jumpin the gun, and should just play it and enjoy it, and let it break in. i love the cd player break in, i have done it before, and it does work! To be honest, i'm not looking for any particular artist's sound out of this thing, i love making my own tone/sound, this amp will be part of my arsenal in that goal, and will be added to my "wall of sound" :) i can't wait, though  :chairdance:

Tonemaster

Did you ever get the Pot installed on the PAB? if so how's it workin out?