+1 to all that Rane said!

I walked out to have a smoke and realized i kinda forgot about the Jazz setting, the pre amp volume, and the presence control. Doh!!

The only other things i can add are, keep the bass dialed down lower than you might on other amps, especially with the 1265's. The BM is very bass heavy, and while my Delta 12's take all the bass in stride (i can actually run the bass around 4'o clock with those) the 1265's definitely don't appreciate it! Also, believe it or not the Deep switch can be your friend. It doesn't add more bass or fatten it up, in fact, it tightens the bass up considerably. You can really notice this effect in Jazz mode, and with presence up.

Finally, here's a tip if you plan on running with the HRM bypassed. A JAN GE 5751 in V2 works very nicely with the HRM bypassed. It has a very warm, thick, fat, smooth sound, which really compliments the less compressed OD sound you get when you bypass the HRM. Also, it slightly boosts the upper mids nicely. The practical upshot of this is that your clean sound can now sound more BF fender because you can switch the mid boost off, and back the mids down. This way you can get those typical sparkly slightly scooped BF cleans and then when you switch to the OD you will have nice fat, smooth OD  with slightly boosted mids to help get that nice fat singing sustain we all want, no tube screamer required!

Gregg

Hey Strat!  Sounds like you are well on your way!!!

To answer your question, Yes the ET-65's will definitely benefit from some break in time. I have the Weber Alnico variety of the 1265, and even though they had the Pre-Rola doping and were chemically broken in, they needed some break in time for sure. I feel they are still breaking in and changing even now.

Also, as far as burning the amp in goes, you are going to want to burn it in with some signal going through it. Just letting idle isn't going to do much to help form the caps, and won't help burn the tubes in either. I used the mp3 player plugged in to the amp, turned down about half way to avoid overloading the input section and played a nice selection of jazz at moderate volumes during the day while i was awake at home on my days off (i work nights) and at night i would play it at low volumes. i would normally get about 12 hours or so at a time, and i did this for 3-4 weeks. By then the amp, speakers, and tubes were nicely burned in.

Now, for the fizzy OD i have some tips and questions for ya. Be warned, this is ALOT of info which i have gathered over the last couple of years from a lot of helpful folks here on the forum. here we go!

1)What is your Bias set at? After much experimentation, i have found that the amp will sound best with recommended 55% Bias setting. the actual current level can vary depending on the actual plate voltage your amp has (mine runs at 445 volts, specs is 450, some run as high as 470!!) Check your actual plate voltage, and then set the bias to around 55% using the formula laid out in the manual. Just doing this may surprise you.

2) What is your OD trim set at? The urge is to crank it up, but i most cases the best sounds are attained by setting at noon at the highest.

3) When you use the OD are you using the PAB as well? On the HRM and The Bluesmaster, when you engaged the OD, both tonestacks, the normal external one and the HRM are working. This can make the OD sound pretty bad, as you are now going through two passive tonestacks.  If your HRM Tonestack IS NOT BYPASSED, the way it normally sounds best is to activate the PAB as well, and then adjust your internal trimmers to get the OD tone you want. If your HRM Tonestack IS BYPASSED then your OD tone is controlled solely by the main tonestack and you can adjust your OD tone that way. Be sure to mark the original position of the HRM trimmers with a pencil or a sharpie  before you move em in case you like the default sound

4)If your HRM Tonestack is bypassed you will find that you have a lot more gain (not drive but actual volume gain) available and that it can be hard to balance the volumes. If you have a C-Lator it isn't quite so bad, because you can turn your clean volume up, the OD volume down till they are balanced, and use the C-Lator as a master. There can still be a problem, though, because now the OD volume is so low that the bright cap on the OD level is active and can make the OD sound bright and harsh. There are several options to deal with this:
a) Clip or unsolder the bright cap
b) install a push pull pot in the Level spot and use it to switch the Bright Cap in and out (the standard HRM 50 has this option built in)
c) instead of just lifting the HRM from ground (or using a 22M resistor wired to an on-off-on switch, which ever method Nik used for your amp) use a 15k-30k resistor (suggested by boldaslove) or whichever value gets you where you want as far as HRM bypass and reasonable volume (i used a 68k, because i had one laying around). This will help with the volume jump, and you can have it on a on-off-on switch so you can have HRM engaged, HRM Full Bypass (loud) or HRM Mellow Bypass (Volume more normal)

5) What kind of tubes are you using in your pre amp section I have found that since the majority of the tone of these amps come from the pre amp section, the preamp tubes can make quite an impact on tone, especially the choice in V2 as it is the tube where the gain cascades (OD part of the circuit). There are no hard and fast rules on which sound "better" as tone is subjective, but the higher plate voltages the preamp sections deliver, generally the brighter the tone will be. I actually did some testing on some commonly used tubes and their plate voltages, mainly because there were no HRM Bypassed voltage charts on the ceriatone page, you can see the tests here----> http://ceriatoneforum.com/index.php?topic=4054.0
Again, that's all just academic, and the only way to find that you like is do some tube rolling. I am currently using ribbed telefunkens in V1 and V2 and find them very well balanced and not fizzy, and a lil on the bright side, which can be good with the Bluesmaster and the 1265's. I did use and still do on occasion use late 50's early 60's GE long plates, they are nice and warm and not fizzy. Probably one of the most overlooked and important tubes in your amp is V3, the Phase inverter. It certainly works very hard, especially in the Bluesmaster due to the design of the PI, and a lot of techs will actually recommend changing it out every time you change your output tubes. A very stout long plate tube is best here, i usually use either a Sovtek LPS or a GT 12AX7R (Groove Tubes handpicked relabeled Sovteks) in V3. Speaking of the PI i have found that in regards to the PI trimmer, mine sounds best with voltage swing of about 7.5 volts instead of the standard 6 volts. Of course, the best and most proper way to set the PI trimmer is with an oscilloscope (it even says so in the manual), but you can also set it by the V3a vs V3b method, just know it isn't the most accurate. Also just as the manual states theres a lot of voltage in there so be careful!!

6) once everything is nice and broken in, try adjusting your internal HRM trimmers and see if you can get a tone that is more to your liking. Again, be sure to mark their original positions and BE CAREFUL. there's alot of voltage in there!!

Wow that is a whole lot of info i just spat out    I'm gonna stop rambling now. Hopefully this will help you a bit. If i confused you or overloaded you i apologize i was on a roll!!!

Gregg

44.5ma isnt too terribly hot for 460 volts; it's right at 70% which is nominal for most amps, a little warm for typical D Style sounds. 35.86ma is 55% which is typical D-style settings, but if you are happy with how it sounds, go for it! The blue glow is normal, especially in higher plate voltage amps. As long as it doesn't red plate and sound like crap, i wouldn't worry about for now.

Hey Nik

I guess i forgot to mention i am using a c-lator. I haven't tried them without it yet, but i can and report back to ya!

Gregg

Great playing, guys!!

To answer Indy's question:

In the front of my HRM Bypassed Bluesmaster  i use a BYOC Germanium ESV Fuzz, A Way Huge Swollen Pickle Fuzz, a Boosta Grande, and occasionally a Tube Screamer. If i'm not using Fuzz I usually use the Boosta Grande to push the front end of the amp a bit.
In the Loop I use a Roland RE-20 Space Echo and a Holy Grail Nano Reverb. I will be adding a BYOC Analog Chorus and a BYOC Vibrato to the loop soon. I'm also gonna add another Boosta Grande in the loop to push the output side of the amp as well to get a different sound.

I play Blues, Rock, Jazz, Hippe Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Fuzz Space Rock, Classic Rock, etc.

Gregg

Try backing the presence off a bit. Presence helps stiffen the attack to a degree.

I mainly play mine at home (low to medium volume) and play out once a month or so. I find that I love mine even at low volume and sounds better than any small amp and pedal combo I've ever had. Is it more than I need? Maybe. Does it deliver the sound I want? Definitely. Just something to think about.

well, i found that if mine was too dark with the bright switch off, and would turn it on i normally run mine with the bright on the pre amp on and the 2nd bright on the c-lator on. My speakers are on the warmish side, though.


Gregg

Why are you selling?? 

I agree. I got the c-lator for my BM because so many guys on here said it brought another layer of goodness to the tone of the amp, and they were right! I never really used many effect pedals in the last 15 years or so, outside of a fuzz or OD, but since getting an amp with a loop i am starting to use a few now (space echo, reverb, analog chorus) and have found that i really enjoy using them. That being said, just the benefit of using it as a global master was enough for me. I could turn my masters up a bit and control the whole shootin match with the c-lator. it comes in VERY handy on the OD channel since i get a huge volume jump with the HRM being bypassed.

Gregg

Hmm there were some clips on there, but they seem to have vanished for now. Odd.

Gregg

Yeah, prolly a lil to hot. The OTS likes to be at biased at about 55%, which is where the TAD's like to be sat as well. FWIW my plate voltage is 445 and I bias at 37.2

Gregg

the clips on ceriatone.com

Up seems to sound the best on all the OTS amps. Also make sure all your other leads coming from your tubes are nicely separated as well.

Here's a link showing how Nik built mine (heater wires up) and there is some discussion about heater wires and lead dress as well (including Nik's opinion)
 
http://ceriatoneforum.com/index.php?topic=2071.msg14358#msg14358

Gregg

Yeah, go for it!! Actially if you can find a 55 or 77 you should be happy. I found the 90 on ebay, and there's usually a few on there. I like the 120, but LOVE the 90, and it's plenty loud enough!!

Gregg