added a clip of my HRM after some tweaks...

[heisthl]

"The proof is in the pudding" - I was a big mpp fan and previously had tried some A/B comparisons that seemed to lead me towards the MPPs as having more clean harmonic overtones. Yet the best sounding "live" amp I have produced uses the PS series Orange Drops exclusively in the signal chain. I have a lot of MPPs on hand but I bit the bullet and stocked up on PS's again. SO my new philosophy is to use MPPs in supporting roles but anything in the preamp signal path of the amp will be an Orange drop.

[Darkbluemurder]

One would think that would be a valid comparison, but alas, things are not always so simple. I think most builders whom I've spoken with have experienced the same thing: sometimes an amp turns out to be superior sounding, or kind of dead sounding... and that's pretty much regardless of what one does to it. I had two amps I built which were identical in every respect, yet one was great sounding compared to the other. I tried changing everything in both, and they pretty much stayed the same: one sounded great, the other was OK. Gil

I fully agree. While it may improve or impair an amp, parts swapping never made or broke one of my amps. My Deluxe Reverb II sounded good with the ODs in the clean section but I like it even better with the Xicons. Same goes for the Lead channel where I made the change months earlier.
FWIW I discovered the same when I experimented with Marshall amps. My best 100 watter sounded great regardless of the circuit that was in it (4 gain stages, 3 gain stages, more XTC elements or more SLO elements). This amp simply sounds killer. I tried the same circuit tweaks in my 50 watter, changed tubes, filter caps and signal caps, the output transformer with a Marstran, the choke with a Mercury Magnetics, even the original PCB to a Hoffmann turret board, improved the wiring and guess what - nothing made it sound close to the 100 watter which still has all the stock transformers and tubes in it. The only thing I haven't changed in the 50 watter is the power transformer but I never read or heard that the power transformer makes a lot of a difference.
That is exactly why I like this forum so much: my - limited - experience with amps so far showed me that in the world of electronics there is a good reason if something is not working right. Therefore there must be a reason for phenomenons like Gil described and I - and apparently others, too - experienced.
Geeze - I hope this didn't get off topic.

[Bob-I]

I fully agree. While it may improve or impair an amp, parts swapping never made or broke one of my amps. My Deluxe Reverb II sounded good with the ODs in the clean section but I like it even better with the Xicons. Same goes for the Lead channel where I made the change months earlier.

I agree, it's about the subtleties of tone. Once you get a good sounding amp, swapping out components make small subtle changes, that all add up to a great sounding amp.

BTW, your 715 OD caps are not the favored OD's. The one's you want to seek out are the 6PS series. They sound far richer and smoother than the 715's. Personally I like the more aggressive sounding MPP's. Scott and I agree on the tone, but our playing styles are very different, he's a very subtle touch and more jazzy phrasing where I just choke the damn thing till music comes out. I'm more blues/rock oriented.

[mikeyg]

that last clip reminded me of EJ, also the Renegade Gentleman tones by Larry Carlton .... very very nice..... loved it.

[toneman]

BOB- I...that is the best phrase I've read so far ]I just choke the damn thing till music comes out[/

[TimS]

I am having an extremely difficult time restraining myself from ripping Sven a new one...