Thanks for your thorough response to my questions. The one thing I did not see was your method of volume control. i.e. getting  a nice OD tone at BR volumes. I use a BBE Sonic Maximizer which really sounds great, but it boosts my signal so much that I can't put my amp volume above 2 without being too loud for anything but a large auditorium or outdoor venue. I use a TC G Sharp for my reverb & delay and it has a level control that helps but it can't be turned down below 12 O'Clock with out losing some tone. So your volume control method is very interesting to me.

Last thing....what is your OD  trimmer set at?

Thanks again, I really appreciate your thanking the time to answer the above.

Thanks for that info, very interesting. But unfortunately that info has generated even more questions for me:
1. Is it the the original Mini-mix or Mini-Mix II?
2. Klein & Mini-mix are both supposed to be in the amp's effects  loop with processed effects looped to them. So are you putting the Mini-mix and Klein in series or parallel and then Nanoverb through one of those two?
3. My understanding is that the Mini-mix has to have a 100% wet signal (do you just dial out the dry signal on the Nanoverb?)
4. Why not have the L6 delay in the loop?
5. Are you using the "level" control of the Nano Verb to control the overall volume? (or perhaps the Klein?) My OTS would be much louder than "average speaking level"  with the Vol and Master at 12' O'Clock
6. Have you tried the setup without the the Klein? If so, do you still get the same tone at "bedroom levels"?

Tony D,
I was going to say: You've really got that Carlton/Ford thing going. But after listening to the whole video, I really think its a Carlton/Carlton thing. I could almost close my eyes and think I was listening to an excerpt from "Last Night". You could start an LC tribute band.

Do you mind sharing what your "bedroom level" settings were and What version of the OTS you were playing? I think a lot of it is your fingering style and phrasing, but that was the closest I have heard to emulating the LC dumble tone.

I second the motion regarding the Eminence Wizard. I originally was using a 2 x12 cab with a V30 and G12H30 which sounds very good. But I recently started using a 1 x 12 closed back cab with an Eminence Wizard to make it easier to set up in tight places. I really don't miss the 2 x12 at all. The Wizard is a very efficient (103 dB, loud) speaker with excellent response in all frequency ranges. When both cabs are combined, that OTS sounds soooo good.

Hey, I ordered a 2550 a couple weeks ago. Did find out anything interesting about the "Silver Jubilee thingy" ?

What a great experience, Thanks for sharing.

Is that Nik in the dark blue Nike Shirt?

Hi, I am not an authority on this, but after following the forum for over a year, here is my impression of the history of the OTS:

The S&M version is, in fact, the original. I purchased one that was built late March / early April 2008.  This version is the one most people heard on the Sami & Marin videos and then  purchased the OTS  based on what they heard there. However, some people felt there was a certain "harshness" (I think they are saying sort of a thinness and sharp bite) that needed to be removed. As a result, a significant amount of mods were made to the "stock" OTS  give a "smoother" output or have more fullness. There were several contributors to the mod specs, Zucker being the main proponent, with several others contributing their thoughts and/or experiences. The interest in these mods eventually got the attention of Nik, who instituted the mods in the newer OTS and also inspired him to come out with the HRM, Blues Master and 100W versions. I guess things finally came full circle and enough people thought the original OTS (aka S&M) version was not so bad after all. So it is now available again.

I am personally fascinated by the efforts people have gone to to change this amp, but beyond recognizing some people just love to tinker and want to see what they can come up with in the never ending quest for tone, I don't get all the angst.

Part of the angst, I am sure, is caused by the fact that certain people have a particular sound that they want to emulate (e.g., Ford, Carlton, etc.) which they are basing that on a particular recording that they like.  I use the OTS playing with a band that plays blues and rock & roll. There is a lot of variety in the music and I have to vary my tone quite a bit. Dialing in a perfect Robben Ford tone (although I love that sound) just isn't practical for me.

 The way I get the most "on the fly" versatility out of the OTS is to use pedals. I rarely use the OTS Overdrive on stage and when I do, it is usually to boost my leads or add a little "hair" when appropriate. The pedal that I use the most is a Visual Sound RT66. Not because it is any better than any other TS808-based box, but because it combines a compressor on the same pedal. That compressor thins my rhythm p.u. tone  for me when I need it. The other pedal on my board is the Zendrive. It truly  is a "Dumble in a box". The Zendrive sounds killer (no "harshness") through the OTS and much better than through, say... a blackface  fender. I can find a Dumble-like  tone using  just the OTS OD and other settings set-up properly, but I lose my flexibility.  The cool thing with the OTS clean channel boosted by a TS808 style pedal, is that you get that added harmonic detail that Dumbles are famous for, on top of the tubescreamer tone.  I use this set-up for the bridge p.u. on rock & roll numbers (think Johnny B. Good).  Having said that, I'll use the Zendrive anytime I can get away with it.

It is certainly possible to get the "harshness" that people complain about with the "S&M" , but it has not been noticeable to me with my normal "live" set-up. Just get your settings right to avoid it.

So what does all this rambling mean, you may ask. Well just that, IMO, you don't need to sweat which version OTS you get. They will all sound good, including the S&M. If you have a certain sound in your head, you could be disappointed with any version you have, but I am confident you can find a great tone if you work at it a little. The amp has a lot of variables that change things dramatically.

P.S. Anyone else who has a better handle on OTS history please feel free to correct anything I've written above  

My experience is that there are too many variables to make a decsion the kind that you are asking about, based soley on a formula for the volume of air pushed.. Simple speaker area proportionality does hold in the big picture. A 4x12 sounds bigger than 1x12, 4x10 sounds bigger than 1 x 10. But the speaker and cabinet designs have a lot to do with it. So, the amount of air pushed is not really a good measure of tone quality or how big you sound. Also, the size of the room and what else is in the room makes a major difference (e.g. people, carpet, etc.).  So don't worry so much about pushing air as much as finding a good match for your amp that sounds good to your ear.

Pentode/triode is totally useless, IMHO, in triode mode, everything goes to mush -- clarity and definition become mud, picking dynamics are compromised, and the distortion is just a spongy mess.
[/quote]

That seems to be the general result with most triode/pentode switchable amps. Some loss in tone quality, anyway.
Maybe there is a better tube than the one supplied for it. A long tail pair??? Might be worth looking into.

Its there at the bottom just a little left of center

Another big fan of the Silver Jubilee is Joe Bonamassa. His tone is impeccable. He mixes other amps with the 2550, but it is the one amp that is always on.
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value=""></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Check out more of Joes' music on Youtube.

I finally sold another head, so I can order my Ceriatone 2550. I am psyched and I will report back once I get a chance to play it. 

Hi John,

It's just if there fell a blanket off my speakercab with the MM OT. Hard to describe. Note separation, harmonics..., what you put in comes out very alive.   All of it can be heard real good in a band setting.
I bought the MM OT just to experiment and because they have(for most of there OT) a reputation to be top-of-the-line.
I like tweaking and building as a hobby and was planning to do a Trainwreck build. Unfortunatly I din't have the kudos to start that thing so I decided to experiment with the OT tranny. That's the story...

[/quote]

Thanks, Erwin. You are making it hard to resist. On the 17th I am going to check it out in person at gig where an MM OTS is being played. That will be the clincher I would imagine.

John

Erwin,
Your experience with the MM OT is consistent with mine. But I have only had the opportunity to hear it in a quiet room at low to moderate volume.  Despite being impressed with the MM transformer, I have been hesitant to invest because I am not convinced that it the difference can be heard at gigging levels. Can you elaborate on "sitting better in the mix"? Perhaps give an example of a situation where the OTS did not perform to your expectations, but now it does with the MM OT.

Thanks

I am going to go with the advice given above. Tubes are not your answer to a Gilmour tone. It becomes more difficult to help you when it is hard to know what you think Gilmour tone is. If you are thinking the solo from "Comfortably Numb" then that's one thing. If you are thinking "Money" that is another. But what I can say is that you will not get that sound without some delay and other studio processing. The raw guitar sound is much different than what you hear on the recording.

So, after being of no assistance at all, I will tell you that the Clean channel of the OTS takes pedals very well and you can really achieve some great tones with it.  When you drive the clean channel you get some of the flavor of the OTS mixed with that of your particular pedal. I usually use some kind of tube screamer based pedal with the OTS and I can cover  a lot of different tones.  My experience with an OD pedal and the OD of the OTS together is that you have to reduce the drive on both so much that they are useless unless they are used in tandem. Meaning less flexibility.

I have used the 3M spray for foil on a pick guard. Don't think it would work very well on wood. The adhesive back copper from  stewmac is thick and stick well inside the wood cavit of a guitar, so it should work.