Thanks for the great replies. Good to know this forum is active! I actually am currently going into an open back 112 celestion V30 setup, very loud and sensitive speaker. No question, dimed out in 'tweed' mode this thing can handle a little gig, but the blackface cleans or even clean-ish tones are not going to work live even in a real quiet setting, and that's what I'm really needing. I'm just wondering if I can get close enough using this baby and avoid buying a bf deluxe or something. I'll investigate that thread further, thanks!

Hi, I have an ultra champ, it's a great amp, but I just need a bit more clean volume for it to be usable at gig levels (we are just a little duo, no drummer). I've been exploring different options, but one possibility I know is to mod it to a 6l6, which I believe brings it up to about 8 watts and gives a firmer bass response. That may be all the bump I need.

Could someone please point me to an explanation of just what's involved with this mod? If it's just changing a cap / resistor or two I would be super tempted, biasing is something I don't have the gear to do (as far as I understand it), and if it is going to require new trannies I'd probably be better off shopping for another amp, I guess.

If this is covered elsewhere or at another forum, a link or direction would be much appreciated.
Thanks.

Bump! Cmon I know there are a few people who use this board!

Looks great, congrats on doing it yourself. My ultra champ is on the way, but I ordered the completed chassis. Not quite ready to assemble from scratch yet.

Hi, I'm really new to custom amps and just ordered my first, the ultra champ complete chassis. When I get it, I'll probably slap together a head cab out of pine boards I have laying around. But eventually I'd like to put it in a 1x12 combo cab with a nice weber speaker, preferably a tweed deluxe type. How can I know what will fit into what, or am I definitely going to have to get a custom cab? Is the orientation of the trannies and tubes ('above' the controls) going to be a problem?
Thanks!

Bump! Anybody out there?

Hi, I'm strongly considering getting a ceriatone. I'm going back and forth between a Fender-type (5e3?) and one of the 18 watters. However I have the typical 'too much volume for my apartment' problem. Even with my Blackheart Little Giant (5 massive watts) I need to use an attenuator to get well into tube breakup territory. I wonder if either of these amps can be had with a 1/2 power switch to turn off one of the power tubes? Or is that only possible with a quartet of tubes? Alternatively, does Ceriatone do power scaling mods? Ideally I'd like to get a bluesbreaker tone out of a 10 or so-watt amp in a nice 1x12 combo - a mini JTM45.
Also, is there some place I'm missing that has complete descriptions of each amp? The 'original' models like the Creme Brulee seem to have no info about them beyond the user community - I don't even know what circuit that would be, and I don't think you can get a good sense of tone from Youtube.