IMO the 50 watt can do everything from at home practice to stage gigs. These are master volume amps with separate volumes for the OD, meaning that you can get great tone without cranking it. Although they do sound better pushed. That said even the 50(42.3 watts actually) watt may not have enough headroom at times.

It all depends on your speakers they make a MUCH bigger difference than wattage. Less efficient speakers will be less loud naturally. I use alnico speakers which are both less efficient than ceramics as well as "softer" and less "in your face" I can turn my amp up to full volume ("6" on the master) and sit right in front of the amp comfortably. I should also mention im using KT88 tubes and probably pushing closer to 60 watts.
Less wattage is just going to push the speakers less and youre going to lose bass and low mid response as a result of the less power.

Also its probably worth mentioning that because these amps usually have much more midrange than marshalls and fenders they do tend to stand out in the mix quite a bit, which is one of the reasons I went with alnico speakers.

FWIW the difference between 50 and 100 watts is only 3db while speakers can easily change volume by 10 or more db depending on their sensativity, just to give you an idea.

yes i believe that is the correct resistor, mine is around 74k. My custom amp that is being built will has a switch to go from 30k/100k.

I run it "full tilt" nearly everyday. I was aware there could be problems with this settup but I did it anyway. Everything is holding up very well. The transformers barely feel warm to the touch after over an hour with the master on "6" (full volume, any higher is just PT overdrive)

The amp has been settup like this for several months.

6L6- 36-38mA
EL34- 42mA
5881- 36mA
KT88 is at 50mA right now

Ive tried a few types of tubes in my 50 watt in order of worst to best (IMO)
6L6<5881<EL34<KT88

6L6's sound loose in the bass and overall muddy low end with an overly glassy top end, sounded harsh to my ear. (Brands tried- JJ, Mesa(sino))
5881 similar to 6L6 but tighter bass and more compressed, sounded a little grainy IMO (Brand- Tung sol)
EL34 my favorite next to the KT88, tight full bass, present mids, good attack, Bright sounding but more pleasant than the 6l6's high end.(brands- Shugaung, Winged "C" SED)
KT88 huge and full sounding, overall pretty balanced sounding, not harsh at all but also not dark. (Shugaung)

Im thinking you just dont know how to tweak EQ on this amp. This amp has a HUGE amount of mid control. It uses a 250K mid pot, marshall uses 25k, fender uses 15K in the blackface. A Larger mid pot value will give you more mids and therefore a larger tweekability range. The OTS can go from a flat EQ (not achievable on marshall or fender, no matter what the mids will be scooped never flat) to a full scoop like a blackface fender.

The downside to having lots of mids means that the treble and bass controls are less effective. To get more control over this you need to scoop mids which will give the bass and treble a larger range.

Also if all that tweekability isnt enough you have a mid boost and jazz/rock switch which will further change your sound and give you more possibilities. The OTS have a very effective tweekable EQ, probably the most tweekable passive EQ in an amp today. Active EQ is the only thing that will give you a bigger range as you can boost or cut frequencies (passive only cuts) similar to a graphic EQ pedal.

FWIW I thought the JJ's were terible in my amp. Very 2D, mushy and flat IMO. Tung sol for V1 and V3 and NOS for V2 is my favorite combo so far.

huge midrange and bass with present highs. Overall pretty balanced, no harshness, full sounding.

I'll try to get a soundclip up asap.

Currently running Shuguang KT88's @ 64mA. Huge improvement over both the JJ 6L6's and Winged C, Shugaung EL34's

Pics as requested
 Sorry about the cell phone pics

go with alnico IMO they are worth it. They also allow you to open up the master volume a bit more because they will be slightly less efficient and therefore less loud and "in your face"

^^^^ niceeee checkout my Pau Ferro tele or at least the top half;D

Nik is working on a "reverblator" Its a seperate unit that will act as an FX loop buffer as well as having footswitchable reverb. I HIGHLY doubt Nik will be putting buffers or reverb in the actual amp though.

+1 the Ojai is basicly a copy of Larry's amp. Brandon at Bludo has serviced Larry's dumble a few times but now Larry uses a Bludotone

Yes about 400-1000hz lots and lots of low mids. The "scoop" in the HRM is moved to around 2K-3K and can be flattened out to sound more like a non-hrm EQ with the right settings