Hmm, they look nice, but the one thing I was wondering was if the the areas that need exposed were pre-scraped clean. I guess it doesn't look like the powdercoat is too thick and is easy enough to sand down with a dremel or similar. The fact that they're steel is a good thing I suppose.

  Ha, ha....that's a good post 212Mavguy. Lot's of good points.

Man, I need to get some of those 6bg6ba's before they're gone and I'm regretting not jumping on them. I guess I've put them off due to the adapter. But it's not really a big deal. I built my cabintet extra tall so it won't be a problem fitting them.

I forgot to mention that the LNFB switch goes a long way to getting Marshall tones. I wonder why a LNFB isn't applied to all D-style amps with a switch to lift it if wanted? I wonder if the Bluesmaster guys would appreciate this mod. I actually play more with LNFB, but will go the other direction often too.

Also good point about letting the amp warm up for awhile before messing around.

Sounds like you have a nice supply of tubes to roll with. Do you play both amps in a dual amp setup? If so, that must be quite the wall of sound. 

Yeah, I think the OTS/HRM's for a while now are being built with the "fender" above the sockets style.

Yeah, get done work and then play it and let it break in for a good while.

Maybe then down the road redoing some of the leads will be a way for you to get your feet wet with working on amps.

Before you do, get back to us. There's a few little things to know before desoldering tube sockets, etc. that can be helpful.

As far as the HRM goes. Pretty darn Marshall. Now, the question should be, which Marshall? Since I'm not a life long Marshall player it' hard to say. I'm thinking more along the lines of Plexi/JTM/JMP later 60's and early 70's. more than the 80's JCM stuff.

A lot of different sounds can be squeezed out of the Ceriatone HRM. I think alot of it has to do with the second tonestack and the vaious ways to adjust the gain stages. The Ceriatone HRM has an internal OD entrance trimmer, the rear OD control and then of course the front panel controls. All this combined and using the power amp stage (meaning cranking) can get some great sounds. I'll tell you this, it might be debatable by purists about how "Marshally" it is, but it's for certain that it is very "non-Fender" like OD.

Then there will always be those that wouldn't be happy unless it's a real Marshall amp.  

I don't want to set off alarms, because it looks like a good build, but I see some non-dumblesque lead dress issues. How important it will be is hard to tell. Most importantly power it up and let us know how it sounds!!

From what I can tell it looks like it was built well. If you go and look at some pictures of real Dumbles http://www.roblivesey.com/dumble/ and the Ceriatone shots you'll notice that the leads are laying against the chassis for the most part. Especially lead dress for V1, V2 & V3. Also, the heater wires are up above the sockets instead of down against the chassis. All these things are very likely very debatable issues by many amp builders. But by some, they're considered a must have. Even Nik use to build them with the heaters down, but has changed to above.

are the insides coated also? Anybody have any photos of these new chassis?

Sounds like TGP is still the wonderful place of open-minded thought it's so well known for. :  I was probably one the original members there, but haven't actually deliberately gone there in years. I've linked a few times from other places every so often, but just can't bring myself to sift through all the BS.

In fact I think at one point they did a server change or something and my account/username became inactive and I had to go through the hassle to rejoin and then never went back. I wonder if I can still login there?

Cool. I'll be interested in what you think of it.

That's right kcanostubes, thanks.

So, are you still liking the Sovtek 12AX7 LPS for the PI? or, is there something else you've been using?

Thanks

Yeah, me too. There's something about "His Royal Majesty" that seems a little egotistical, or something.   I guess I'm too self-conscious, and no one has ever made any comments about the name, but I feel it makes it seem I think my "stuff doesn't stink". 

Wow, Thanks for the review. This is ironically just in time. Friday night I cranked the amp up and noticed for the first time that I think my power tubes are getting tired. The first thing I heard was little bit of crackling when I first filpped the stand-by. But also they seemed a little dull. It did seem to get better as I played, but I think a new set of tubes is going to be needed.

That's pretty impressive that you like them better than the TAD's. I think you mentioned it in another thread, but where did get these? I took your advice on the TAD's a year or so ago and was really happy, so I'm gonna take it again.  

Now, I wonder if I should mess around with new preamp tubes? The ones I have should still be OK, but it's always fun to do the whole amp. Anyway, let me know where you got the Tung Sol's. Thanks!

I honestly don't think there's enough owners of these two amps that frequent these boards that your going to get a good answer. I would really send Nik at Ceriatone an email asking your specific questions. He's really cool and will get back to you quickly. I don't think I have ever heard of someone not getting a reply back from Nik!!

Here's a link to something I'd like to check out sometime. There's a few key pieces of equipment needed. Like a color laser printer for one, (if you really want to do all kinds of stuff) and quality laminator, that make it a bit out of reach for me right now. Might be worth checking out.

http://www.pulsarprofx.com/decalpro/Vertical/1_MENU/1b_Overview/Overview.html

As Gregg mentioned, the thing that would make me think that trying to mask prior to power coating could be difficult would be the fact that it is baked and once that is done it's hard as a rock. Trying to remove delicate lettering could be a real pain.

I didn't vote, but here's my $.02. From the first clip, I would say go towards the HRM or HRM BM. I only have ever played a 50watt HRM so I can't speak specifically about the BM or other OTS's for that matter, but have listened to tons of clips and read tons of posts about the other amps. From what I have gathered if you're just looking for that creamy overdriven Dumble sound then a regular OTS is the way to go. If you want an amp with some more balls on the clean side and bit more hair on the drive side than either an HRM or BM is the way to go. From the video clip I would think that he's using more of a HRM type amp. I guess it looks like a TR Custom Reverb which I think is based around an HRM. I might be wrong about that.

I personally have seen too many people complain about the BM being more difficult to tame that I would suggest an HRM. I'm probably biased and I'm sure the BM owners will take exception to that statement.  

Basically, I can hear my amp all over that clip. I will say that the pickups in his guitar are playing a big role in sounds. My guitar's single coils are not has big and open sounding. They're part of a humbucking/single coil setup and I believe some compentation was made to balance them in humbucking mode. You still can't beat a perfectly wound single coil all by itself.

P.S.
Also, if you're wanting to eventually get to your own voice, I think the HRM is way more capable of going in so many directions that it is the best amp. I mean, I can be sounding like Robin Ford/Carlton at one point and then grab some AC/DC type marshall stuff the next and even get a really nice Jerry Garcia Twin tone after that. That's pretty cool if you ask me.

edit: to make the satement say "owners will take exception" (I type too fast)

You want to make sure you have clean connections to the chassis for the grounds. So, if there is any coating/paint on areas that need grounded it's best to sand/grind them to the metal. If fact I usually sand any oxidation off regardless of paint. It would best to have them mask the inside of the chassis so it doesn't get any paint. Every amp has, or should have a specific ground scheme, but generally things like pots and switch bodies are grounded. Certain jacks are sometimes isolated from the chassis to avoid ground loops.

As far as lettering, the powder coating may be setup to do that stuff, but I doubt most powder coaters are. Yes, most labeling is done with silk screen. Silk screening is still the best way to do it.