Soldered in the heater wires. Not a very neat job, at least compared to some of the pictures I've seen. I'm planning to glue them down a little neater.

Ok, I think at this point I have all the preliminary hardware installed.

Some observations - to persons starting one of these kits - despite what my pictures and various other picture sets I've seen show, do NOT install the front and back panel hardware first! Install all the tube sockets and little stuff that goes around the edges of the bottom first. Trust me on this - you'll thank me later. The knobs and such, especially on the back really get in the way of installing stuff, especially the tube sockets. I ended up removing stuff to make it easier. BTW the tube sockets are just a pita to intall anyway.

I highly recommend the use of Loctite Blue thread locker. While the lock washers will probably do a good enough job on their own, these amps typically get used in high vibration situations, and any extra little protection helps. The blue version of Loctite is basically a kind of glue that never really dries, so the screws are removable down the line if need be.

Got to spend some time this evening doing some of the basic assembly, plus just sorting through the parts trying to get a feel for what's going to be involved.

I've been building modular synthesizer modules for many years, so so far this is fairly similar to certain parts of that process.

Only problem so far - the hole for the slo-blo fuse on the back panel didn't line up with the hole in the chassis, so I had to do some dremeling. I wasn't as careful as I usually try to be, and managed to carve a little gouge in the back - nuts.  

And it arrived amazingly fast - shipped on Monday, arrived on Thursday.

Here are some excited unboxing photos - I'll add build pictures as I go along (if I remember!)

Edit: as of December 2011 the account where I hosted the pics is closed - if there's much demand I'll repost them here as attachments.

Edit: Here I am in February of 2013 replacing the pictures. Go figure.

Thanks - I was looking at the dead link a few posts above that one.

They don't seem to be there today - could someone check this?

Nashville, TN that is - Music City. I'd love to try out one of these if anyone has one and the time to spare. I'm seriously considering ordering a overtone hrm bluesmaster 50w kit, but would love to try out any of this series before ordering if possible. PM me - thanks!

I'd like to add my vote for this. This is my most sought after amp, but I just can't stomach the prices they usually sell for. It's got to have the reverb circuit, although I could do without the eq faders.