Wonderful job Oldpicker,
Amp cab looks just great, congrats!

My recent OTS 50 build

 Cabinets are real lacquered tweed with vintage style leather handles - done by thecabguy.com, highly recommended!
Mercury transformers, TAD 6L6GC-STR Power tubes, V1 - Tung Sol, V2 & V3 are JJ's. Celestion Gold speaker.
 I'm using a Strymon BlueSky reverb in unbuffered FX loop, no problem. That's all I use for FX.
All together an awesome Rock/Blues/Jazz-Rock Machine.

That gold looks awesome with the tweed cab...

...it's almost pity people can't see that on stage... perhaps you should bring the mirror when you play out 

Thanks for all your comments.   I'm lovin this amp. First band practice/jam tomorrow night with completed amp. I was playing it with the chassis upside down on an old Acoustic 6-10" cabinet for a couple of weeks before the cabs arrived. The celestion sure is an improvement.

I sure like that snakeskin, that's attitude for ya.

Tell us more about choke vs resistor mod...

How does it feel, which one you like best


 

Well I cant make up my mind, but I think I prefer the 10H choke. It is difficult to tell any difference at all, but my gut feeling is to stick with the 10H.

More important has been the tweaking of the PI trim, the internal and external OD trim, the HRM trims, and finding the right V1-3 tubes. I have also biased up to 44 mV @ 472v. HRM on or off with PAB makes a huge difference too

It is sounding superb both clean and OD. I can dial up a wide range of tones using the mind-numbing range of options via switching, pots and the guitar controls. I would say that it favours HB over SC, my Strat with a HB at the bridge really sounds great. Of course, at gig volumes this could be very different, so far I have just played loudly at home

I am working on two tunes at the moment, Blue Bossa to play with a trumpet/ sax player that I jam with, so that will give the cleans a good workout, and a good BT of "Some day after a while" which gives the chance to ghet some blues rock tones going.

I would say that tone without HRM is both easier to dial in and more "liquid", but I think HRM might be better for say a more Gary Moore blues rock tone.

There are a lot of options and the OTS HRM has so far exceeded my expectations.
The biggest problem is getting some usable reverb and delay into it. I have ditched the Midiverb and am just using my Hardwire RV7 for a dash of 'verb. Looks like more expense is needed to get the D'lator built, and get some better kind of rack effects into it.

For now though, I am happy just getting used to the OTS HRM and enjoying the great sustain even at low volumes.

Hi Folks!

I posted this elsewhere before I noticed this thread. Sorry about that!

After tweaking for 9 months I decided to leave well enough alone. I changed to SoZo caps of different values here & there & tried a multitude of different tubes. I finally settled on Tung Sol EL34Bs in the output.

I changed the bias resistor to an 820 ohm. That gets it right where it needs to be. I am running a Tung Sol 12AX7 in V1 and Ruby HG (JJ) 12AX7s in V2 & V3 with the Tung Sol EL34Bs in the output.
 
The T.S. 12AX7s are probably the best new production AX7s availible. They have a great clarity & detail. The EL34Bs are really great. They are the most well built tubes I've ever seen. Very thick glass & VERY well supported internally. They have more midrange than a 6L6GC and more bass than a standard EL34. Nice sparkle on the top end as well. The overdriven characteristics are like an EL34, with great presence & a little less compression than a standard EL34. The HRM is a TONE MONSTER with this tube setup.

The cabinet is made of sassafrass with a mahogany face plate. I'm running one Eminence Man -O- War & one Eminence Texas Heat in the cab. The speaker cab is partially open back with the handles cut out & left open to let it breathe a little more. I tried several sets of speakers & different cab designs but this sounds better to me. I'll try to get some sound clips soon.