So I"m about ready to order either a 50w HRM-BM or The OTS 183.I like the versatility aspect of the BM and the fact it"s got a great clean platform to work with and an aggressive Marshally style od.The OTS 183 would have that thick meaty sustain I"m really interested in.I play alot of SRV Clapton to GNR blues on steroids type of music.I guess that kind of answers my own question so I guess I"m asking if the BM will do the "thick meaty sustainy"style od the 183 would do. Thanks

The Bluesmaster and 183 are polar opposites but equally as versatile. The Bluesmaster has a fat bass artifact in both the clean and OD that makes it sound huge. 183 (Or most Non-HRm's) has a very focused OD and very chimey/sparkly cleans. The Bluesmaster has separate Master Volumes which is nice to dial in and balance both channels. 183 has 1 master Volume but its very balanced already. If you're using a D-lator with either they are both great circuits.

 You really have to ask your self what guitar you play the most (Strat with single coils or Les Paul style with buckers. In all honesty I was primarily a Strat player when I first got my Bluesmaster and I soon changed to a Les Paul with Humbuckers right after.

A strat with Single coil pups sounds steller with the Bluesmaster cleans. 183 sounds killer with a Les Paul and Tele's alike as well as a very Eric Johnson'ish type OD tonez reminiscent of his song "ZAP" which has a very focused and horn like Midrange.

I agree with Greg. When i was younger, i played a fender princeton and a sovtek mig 50 with a les paul almost exclusively. When i sold the paul, i picked up a dano dc59 and a strat and played thru an ampeg Jet and a fender blues jr, along with the sovtek. I have a BM and whereas the strat and the dano sound phenomenal on the clean side, i'm not as happy with the OD side with single coils. If i am usinv my single coil guitars with the BM and plan on having overdrive sounds i will usually throw my tube screamer or a fuzz face in front of the amp and use the clean channel or augment the OD channel with the pedals. My two humbucker guitars sound good through both the clean and OD channel. I have a switch on the HRM tonestack so i can either have the OD channel raw and have a little more gain with it switched out or switch it back in to tighten it up. That being said, as others have said, listen to some clips, talk to Nik and the guys on here, both of whom were/are a big help to me and go from there!

Hope this helps!
Gregg

So did you make any changes to the amp to use the EL34's?

I agree 100%. I have the HRM 50 w/LNFB mod. I can tell that with the LNFB on it gets much closer to the traditional D-style sound. Don't tell anybody, but with the LNFB on the clean channel with a Xotic BB preamp in front, I can get it to sound almost identical to a regular OTS. 

It quite easy to convert a #183 to a BM and vise versa, so you can always try both platforms. My guess is you're gonna want one of each :-)

@soundperf

No changes to the amp are needed to run el34's, it comes ready to go either el34 or 6l6.  How could a Hot Rodded Marshall NOT be able to run el34's??   Well, Hot Rubber Monkey, anyway...

I think I can get it to sound like traditional OTS pretty easily.  When negative feedback is employed, it sounds very OTS-like.  With it lifted, add more gain to OD trim and OD gain and you get to Marshall territory pretty quick, and it's pretty fantastic either Dumble-y or Marshall-y.  It does this running el34's or 6l6's.  YAY!

I think that I'm going to leave it with el34's for a while, but if I get to play some outdoor gigs I will stick the 6l6 Sylvanias back in for the added girth they provide, perfect for an outdoor stage.  Then there's the pairs of 6bg6ga's and adapters I had done up for it...  6l6gc Sylvania tones in the Sylvania 6bg6ga for a fraction of the price.  Similar guts, different pinout.