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First, the pics... sorry about the size on some, but you can see detail better. If you're on dialup, sorry. Get DSL, Cable or Satellite Internet, willya? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
This is a full shot of the chassis. Note that the preamp tubes are mounted on the circuit board, but the power tube sockets are chassis mounted. Pots are mounted on the circuit board, but they look to be pretty high quality. The two 'holes' on the power supply where there should be filter caps are there to use the board with the 100 watt amp. All in all, a pretty clean layout, but a double sided circuit board is interesting.
Here's a better shot of the back of the guts - the choke, output jack/slave out/fx loop wiring, etc.
Here's a pic of the bias pot - near the power tubes.
How about a shot of the plate voltage? A healthy 510v. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
I haven't had the amp long enough to give it any substantial review - but it sounds really good. Not as tight as my VHT was, but it retains clarity with full overdrive cranked. It has a little bit of sag when you solo, as the notes just POUND out of the amp when you pick them, or they ooze out when you hammer and pull off notes. It has a nice balance between articulation and sponginess - I hate to say something about it this early, but I love the way that it responds to my playing.
Clean channel has a tiny bit of crosstalk from the lead channel, but not nearly as bad as an old JCM 800 2 channel amp. At gig or recording levels, I doubt it would be heard. Also, there is a bright cap on the clean channel preamp volume to give it more high end at lower settings.
Now to fill her belly with TungSol 5881s, rebias and see how that does. Clips coming in the next day or two... and I'll also try to record clips of this HR 50+ XL and Harmony Central Forumite BrentSPs SLO. If the SLO sounds much better than this, I'm going to crap my pants.
Pete
This is a full shot of the chassis. Note that the preamp tubes are mounted on the circuit board, but the power tube sockets are chassis mounted. Pots are mounted on the circuit board, but they look to be pretty high quality. The two 'holes' on the power supply where there should be filter caps are there to use the board with the 100 watt amp. All in all, a pretty clean layout, but a double sided circuit board is interesting.
Here's a better shot of the back of the guts - the choke, output jack/slave out/fx loop wiring, etc.
Here's a pic of the bias pot - near the power tubes.
How about a shot of the plate voltage? A healthy 510v. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
I haven't had the amp long enough to give it any substantial review - but it sounds really good. Not as tight as my VHT was, but it retains clarity with full overdrive cranked. It has a little bit of sag when you solo, as the notes just POUND out of the amp when you pick them, or they ooze out when you hammer and pull off notes. It has a nice balance between articulation and sponginess - I hate to say something about it this early, but I love the way that it responds to my playing.
Clean channel has a tiny bit of crosstalk from the lead channel, but not nearly as bad as an old JCM 800 2 channel amp. At gig or recording levels, I doubt it would be heard. Also, there is a bright cap on the clean channel preamp volume to give it more high end at lower settings.
Now to fill her belly with TungSol 5881s, rebias and see how that does. Clips coming in the next day or two... and I'll also try to record clips of this HR 50+ XL and Harmony Central Forumite BrentSPs SLO. If the SLO sounds much better than this, I'm going to crap my pants.
Pete
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