JV> There's one (mildly amusing) bias-setting method that goes like this:
 JV> 1. do it in the dark  (applicable to most things, except surgery) 2.
 JV> advance the bias til the plates glow cherry red 3. back off a bit
 JV> til they don't glow
       Wow... Can we say "idiocy at its best"? :) Even at that point, they're 
probably still biased too hot. 
 JV> This can also result in:
 JV> 4. buy some new tubes and go to #1.
       Hmmmm... Yummy... Well, that's all fine and good if you have a ton of 
cash and a stockpile of tubes. :)
 JV> There's a range of `acceptable' values.  Whatever sounds good without
 JV> glowing tubes is a pretty good solution.  But get the real range first,
 JV> so you have somewhere to start off.
       Well, all I know is that whoever biased my amp made it sound great 
even though it's an all Sovtek power section. I'd prefer some Svetalana 
6L6GCs, but these overdrive nicely with the 'bucker in my Tele and the Texas 
Special in my FrankenStrat. :)
 JV> P.S.  They are reputed to sound WONDERFUL right before they blow up.
       I could imagine!
 JV> Leo:  build a good amp CBS: we have to take all that nasty distortion
 JV> out of the circuits
       What's wrong with a litle distortion? Didn't they understand that 
almost everybody was playing with a slightly overdriven sound, if not 
outright distorted, back then? Look at Jimi, the Who, Pink Floyd, the 
Beatles, and countless other bands that did some rocking distorted stuff. :)
 JV> Output wattage, I believe, is a function of (among other things) B+.
 JV> You'll get more of a `brown' tone from less B+
       Didn't Rich say something about modding the power transformer section 
with a couple diodes to drop the B+? What I'm waiting for is the Peavey 412MS 
4x12... This thing sounded BBBBBBBBROWN with that cab. :) WOW!!!!!
...This copy of ProBoard has been unregistered for 911 days!
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