Ceriatone OTS HRM 50.... need help with getting it set up

[wirezz]

Hi I am really new here but I'd really appreciate some help if possible.

I recently purchased a used ceriatone ots hrm 50 (built by nik himself).

While it is a nice amp and all... it doesn't sound as amazing as some of the clips I've heard on youtube. My main beef is that the overdrive tone is really very harsh and grating.

I have tried it with celestion creambacks, eminence red white and blues, cannabis rex etc and nothing helps much. I currently use all JJ tubes in my amp.

Some reading around has lead me to consider a treble bleed mod. I also read about snubber caps but I understand that they are not used in the HRM amps.

Finally I also read about how the voltages in the amp needs to be perfect and lots of tweaking is required to achieve that. I am handy with a soldering iron and own a multimeter. I was wondering if someone might know what these magic voltages are, at what test points I should measure and what fixes there are available to remedy a wayward voltage ?

Sorry if all these has been discussed before but the sheer volume of info here and the numerous dumble variations have left me quite confused.

[Synchu]

See here:
https://tubeamparchive.com/viewtopic.php?t=26519
that is how I tweaked the very same amp (transformers are not Ceriatone ones though) - there are couple of sound samples in the thread so you can hear how does it sound.

While voltages are important - I wouldn't worry about few volts off.
I dislike JJs in this particular amp - they are quite dark sounding tubes to my ear and Bluesmaster itself is a dark sounding amp. YMMV.

And most importantly - according to my experience with this amp - you do need a Dumbleator for it to get that sweet no shrill tone.
That is only my experience though.

Niki

And the obligatory safety note
Do note that working on a tube amp requires certain experience and extreme caution as it does contain voltages that might be lethal, even when switched off.