No it's not like an attenuator. In respect to its ability to control level, it acts as another master volume. The main purpose of the C-lator is to create a buffered effects loop for the passive loop of the OTS amps. But, either due to purposeful design or not it has a really nice added effect (by itself) on the gain structure of the OTS amps and can be very useful in taking the amp further in it's tone nirvana. IMHO.

Complicating it a bit further is that some of the OTS amps that Nik designed benefit from it more than others. I think the FM is one of them.

Whether or not you would like what it does is hard to answer. When you say you don't use effects it makes a even harder to answer. If you ever use any effects in the loop that are not impedance matched very well it is going to degrade tone.

If you like to play with the amp over driven very much, I think it is a great addition. I love having it with the HRM.

That's great news. Must be something special, because Nicky gets to play through a bunch of great amps. (well aside from the rented gear)

Dual Niks...Coool   

Nice last photo of all you guys.

Nicky is a super player. He's a fixture at the PRS Experience open house every year. Great guy to talk to and listen to play. A man who has a purpose for every note he plays.

So what did he think of the SSS?

If anyone should have the right and authority to play Franks music without being criticized I certainly hope it is his son. I also don't think anyone else could do it with more authenticity. Seeing classic Zappa played live is a great experience. 

I was born in the 60's and never got to see FZ live.

This will probably piss you off even more, but it's honestly not my intention.

This is the problem. You still really haven't spelled it out very clearly. You've been much more specific in you retorts to what others have said, but still haven't asked something plains and simple, like....."Is a Divided by 13 JJN50/100 better than a Ceriatone JTM 50?" That would be a question that someone could attempt to give a thoughtful answer. Yet it still leaves many open areas of discussion.

You could not have been more specific here. This is what is needed elsewhere.  

I'm not sure I agree that a Lexus will outperform a Toyota or is "Night and Day" 100% of the time. Keeping in mind this is just my opinion and the criteria for the comparison has barely been set. 

It's a statement like this that will make ever getting an satisfactory answer out of me just about impossible.(I don't know about anyone else)

If you just wanted to know from people that have experience with other brands of amps whether Ceriatone is of a high quality you should have just asked that. I can say with all the confidence in the world that Ceriatone amps are excellent quality. It only took owning one to know this.

If the amps you have are producing the sound you want and have all the features you want than stick with them. Unless you get bored quickly (like me) and like to try different things. 

Are you certain that your soldering is solid? I only ask not knowing how skilled you are.

I've started doing more repair work on pedals pedals (some DIY, some modded name brand stuff bought off ebay) and I'm totally shocked at some of the awful soldering work that I'm guessing someone thought was acceptable. (little crumbly balls of solder barey melted onto the contact, etc.) These are all problems waiting to happen. Something could work for any length of time until it finally fails due to vibration, thermal cycling, etc.

Hard to say. The first and easiest thing would be to check the tubes and make sure they're secure in their sockets and no visual signs of problems. Beyond that, a faulty capacitor or bad connection somewhere would be a suspect, especially if it continues. Do you have anything else in the loop? Did you build the amp? Without being able to reproduce the same symptom makes it hard to troubleshoot. But if it's a component like a cap, connection or even transformer it very likely will continue to get worse.

Also, what's the chance of voltage spikes in your practice room? Although it would have to be a heck of one to cause that kind of reaction.

Seems like a sane approach. I think you'll love your choice. Plus like you, I want to find my own sound. Relax, it will be great! 

Now the $100 question. Did the OP get this information in time to change what he already ordered, or did we just cause him a crap load more anxiety? 

All in all, what it seems to me is that you can get there a mulititue of ways and unless you got super $$$ like JM it will be a good approximation in the end no matter what you get.

So, it looks like a nice OD pedal is part of the process too. That's what I've been doing.

Stratultra, Congrats on the new amp. 

Yes, sometimes I think naming the deep switch with the term "deep" can be misleading. It definitely is more of a tightening of the lower frequencies than boosting them.

I guess I still can't quite get my head around your logic. I guess since you posted in the 18watt British section that is the type amp you own and are referring to. But you use the term "Ceriatone as if it's a style of amp instead of a brand or builder. So I would think you would want to pick a specific Divided By 13 to a specific Ceriatone amp so we can make an useful response.

If lots of features is something you're looking for that can only be reasonably implimented with PCB's than very likely another amp company is what you need to look at.

Also, you compare Lexus with Toyota as if Toyata is just always inferior. But if you are someone who works in construction or on a farm then a Toyota Tundra is going to blow away a Lexus LS in a muddy, rocky, crap filled enviroment. It's making a proper comparison that is what is needed which you haven't asked yet.

All that said, the amp companies you mentioned make really nice stuff and I'm sure you will be able to find something from them that will blow you away. But as you said, it will cost you.

Since it was never mentioned in this thread, just what speakers is the OP using?

While I agree for the most part with everything Homesick is saying, I will say that my HRM50 is like no other amp I've played. The interaction between all gain stages is not like other tube amps. The OTS in some ways is not a two channel amp, but a cascading of clean gain stages into the OD stages with the master volume.

Just to repeat, but in a different way what the others I think are saying. It will be necesarry to adjust the tone and pre-master gain levels somewhat as the the master volume is increased.

Also, are these observations when you are playing in a small room (bedroom) by yourself or live with other instruments? Because, I feel my HRM "seems" a little harsh when all by myself and cranked, but when I listen to it recorded live with other insturments (drums, guitars, bass) it's incredible how it just cuts through everything yet sounds so full and smooth compared to other guitars and amps.

I say this only because I tend to play more by myself in a small room than anything else and have been realizing more lately, the huge difference between live and this and the misconceptions I may have about what sounds good in a given situation and what doesn't.

Cool, cool, cool...have fun with the build. 

Yeah, Nik is wild with his response time to emails. I remember a couple times I was up late (2:00AM) my time building and would shoot an email and sort of forget about the time difference, but still wouldn't expect to get an immediate response, but would anyway.

And then there's something like this done with a freaking POD. We are here all concerned about tube amps and specific gains on clean channels and this guys is recording a digital modeler direct into an iPhone.   

Sounds pretty good IMO. But actually more important the guy is a pretty good player or atleast practiced.

http://youtu.be/a0bjIdUo0D0