wish i had the $$$ right now. that's a sweet deal

As far as Stevie's use of SSS amps,i attached a PDF file i found which claims to show all of his amps used (Dumble or not) and how he had them setup. Of course it is the internet, so it may or may not be accurate. hope this helps a lil bit

if i'm looking at the layout properly, there is only one set of filament secondarys, center tapped as per normal, and one set of HT (High voltage) secondary taps center tapped as per usual. I attached an image to better explain...

i've done it. I have a Bluesmaster so it is a lil different from the standard HRM when bypassed (a lil warmer less smooth), but it defintely makes a difference and makes more gain available. all you do is add a switch to the ground wire coming off of the HRM board running to ground either via the middle pot or directly to the buss bar. i've attached a photo to make it more clear.

very nice! i'm thinking about building and attaching a little enclosure to the top of my combo for my c-lator. i like the one built in the head, though

So my pre built BYOC ESV Germanium Fuzz from Axe and You Shall receive arrived yesterday and I played thru it most of the night, and it sounds pretty killer. It doesn't clean up as nice as some other Germanium fuzz boxes, but it is quite wooly and thick on most settings, and has some nice old school overtones and octave vibes goin on. All in all pretty damn groovy!! I dubbed it "The Wooly Mammoth" and decorated it appropriately!

I agree! Mine sounded awesome with JJ's and Sovteks, I just like a lil warmer sound, which is why I swapped out for what I have now. There are probably literally hundreds of OTS amps running new production or non boutique tubes that sound fantastic! What it comes down to is finding what YOU like, if that comes from "cheap" tubes, so be it.

I have a Bluesmaster and I'm using ANOS GE 12AX7 long plates in V1 and V2 and a Mullard CV4024 in V3. I use either TAD 6L6WGC's or JAN Phillips 6L6WGB's in V4 and V5

I use a 7025 (low noise 12AX7) in the C-Lator

That is awesome!

That is very true. Ironically enough mine crapped out today. Pretty sure the PT is fried. Switched from standby to operate and the whole unit started physically vibrating, smoking and blew the fuses. Time to give it a proper burial.

Very cool and encouraging! Once i get over being sick i will have to drop the chassis again and take a look and see how difficult it would be for me to do. Most likely i will take it to the tech, though. I know just enough to mess an amp  up 

Hey Nik!!

I  bought mine brand new in the late 90's for around $200 or $300 or so. I've seen em going for between $300-700. I don't think they are worth that much, due to the lack of QC (the one I have is actually the 2nd one that I have owned, the first one the volume pots both died after a month). Since I see how easy it is to mod one of your bassman amps to spec, I think that may be the route to go.

I don't think that it is a mod that Nik would do, it wouldn't hurt to ask, but i doubt it. I can tell you that the Bluesmaster, the way it comes is simply awesome. I think I can safely say the same about the rest of the OTS series, or any of Nik's amps for that matter. I am simply trying to make the amp more versatile because 1) i can't afford to buy another amp at the moment and 2) even if i could, i don't like carrying two around Right now I carry My Bluesmaster 2x12 combo, and my Ampeg Jet II, which has to be mic'd up, of course. I'm still debating on whether or not to do it, but i probably will, or i will have my tech do it, most likely, and i will let ya'll know.

Does anyone have an opinion on whether or not to eliminate the bypass capacitor from the circuit? The reason i am even considering eliminating it is that it would provide the most drastic difference between the tight d-style fixed bias sound, and a more round, mellow cathode bias sound. Any opinions?

First of all, thanks for all the info, Wyatt, this community is awesome!

The last time i changed tubes here at home, I got 562 v on the plates, and set for 70% dissipation so i biased for 37 ma.

That being said, doing a little research and testing revealed that variation in plate voltages was a result of both poor QC AND a change in wall voltages over the years. The amp's PT was originally designed to run on 110 VAC in the US, nowadays, of course, wall voltage is around 120-125 VAC. I took the amp down to my uncles' shrimp trawler (yup he's a shrimper and i used to be to) and did some testing since, due to generating our own shipboard power, i can control the voltage and cycles. Thru a power conditioner at 120 VAC i got around 560v on the plates, at 115 VAC I got around 500 v on the plates, and a 110 VAC i got around 475 on the plates. After some reading around i discovered that amp techs were getting 7 volts on the filaments at 120 VAC as well, which can't be good for tube life. That being said, yes i agree, that Nik selling a design like that would not be a great idea

After that little bit of testing, i carried the amp down to my local music store where i bought it from back in the late 90's and a/b's it with a tweed bassman and found that there was really not that much difference between them. The main difference between them was that the Sovtek was louder,  tighter and snappier, presumably due to the high plate voltages, but tone wise they were pretty close.

I think my love for the amp is more of a nostalgia thing, kinda like how one would feel like an old girlfriend and i know there are quite a few guys like me that feel the same, and would jump at the chance to have a handwired version of a Sovtek, but in the end, it seems like that it's probably better to move on.

Again, thanks Wyatt!

Darn iPhone I wasn't done yet as I was saying, do you reckon that if I modded the bassman as you describe (thanks for that, by the way), and swapped in sovtek spec trannies it would get me close?