I'm curious to hear any opinions from people who have either built or bought a 5E8A from Nik. This part of the forum is dead so I'm guessing not many have yet, probably because it is still pretty new.

I just received my head kit from the postman today so I'm mainly just looking for pointers and tips from anyone with prior experience. How well does the half-power switch work? Does it affect the tone in a negative way? How's the clean headroom at full power? When does it start to get dirty? Any potential pitfalls and hazard I should look out for before I start soldering?

The kit came with a mix of JJ & Electro-Harmonix tubes, are they good enough or should I start looking at some NOS tubes? Any recommendations?

I jumped straight into it when I saw the package waiting for me after work. I just finished putting together most of the components and will start soldering tomorrow.

This is my second Ceriatone actually, I built an 18w TMB EF86 earlier this year and I've caught the bug. I'm sure you guys can empathise with me, it's hard to stop at one once you've had a taste.

Any fellow 5E8-A owners out there?

How did you go about modding the circuit to run 6L6 tubes? I'm thinking of getting a Prinzetone very soon but is a little worried that 16w~ might not give me enough clean headroom when jamming with my mates.

If would be awesome if you could explain what you did to yours cos it sounds like exactly what I need!

Many thanks