SF Bandmaster Reverb (w/BF mod) - VVR? Vari-Watt? Weber kit? Recomendations?

[Blues Lyne]

I'd like to try some sort of variable B+ Voltage control in my SF Bandmaster reverb. It has been modded to be pretty close to BF specs, and has had the MV/Boost changed to a PPIMV that Bruce Collins had posted somewhere.

I've been trying to get a handle on the different votage regulation mods available. I'm not looking for something that gets me cranked amp tone at bedroom volumes. I'd just like to be able to open the amp up a bit while still being at an appropriate volume for the venue. Currently I'm using a BFSR with volume around 6.5 and a weber mass dialed back to 5 or 6.

I've been doing a lot of searches and reading. I haven't found much in the way of comparisons between the different designs. The London Power and Maven Peal seem like they may be a little more invasive than I want to get into with this amp. I've tried to e-mail Maven Peal to get an idea of how extensive or invasive their mod is, but haven't heard anything back. I guess you have the pay the $50 bucks for the booklet to get any info on it. From things I've read, he's talked about a complete redesign of the power supply, so I'm assuming it's a pretty big change to the amp.

I have come across Hall Amplifications VVR kit and Skips Vari-Watt kit. These both seem less invasive. And Weber has a B+ Voltage Control Kit, but there isn't much info on it. Does anyone have experience with the Weber kit?

Is there any difference between the VVR kit and the Vari-Watt? Any recomendations of which to go with? Any reason to go with London Power or Maven Peal's designs instead? Is there a need for a sag control? Do certain designs work best with certain types of amps? Any info is appreciated.

[SyncTronX]

My take is this.

Leave the amp alone and get a mini amp for the bedroom.
I know it is not what you want to hear. But much less invasive
and you can play your big amp while you fool around and get your
rocks off on electronics the easy and fun way without hacking the Fender.

Get something like this:

Low Watt Guitar Amp Kits for Recording or Bedroom Use

You will be mucho glad you did.

Sync

[Blues Lyne]

My take is this.

Leave the amp alone and get a mini amp for the bedroom.
I know it is not what you want to hear. But much less invasive
and you can play your big amp while you fool around and get your
rocks off on electronics the easy and fun way without hacking the Fender.

Get something like this:

Low Watt Guitar Amp Kits for Recording or Bedroom Use

You will be mucho glad you did.

Sync

Thanks, the link looks cool, but as I said before,

I'm not looking for something that gets me cranked amp tone at bedroom volumes. I'd just like to be able to open the amp up a bit while still being at an appropriate volume for the venue.

I ended up going with Skipzcircuits Vari-Watt. Mostly because Maven Peal never responded to my e-mails and my e-mails to Hall Amplification kept coming back saying that their inbox was full. Skip made a good case for his product, it looked good and the price was reasonable.

The kit wasn't too hard to install, the most difficult part was figuring out where to mount the boards. And, it wasn't invasive. The amp can be returned to it's previous state quite easily with no evidence that mod was ever there.

When we first put it in, we scaled only the power tubes. This worked great and offered up a lot of tonal options between the volume pot, PPIMV and Vari-Watt. However, because the power tubes distort easier when the vari-watt is turned down and you have to also adjust the master, it seemed like it wasn't the best option for my purposes. It would have taken some tweaking to get it dialed in if changes in volume were needed to adjust from venue to venue. I think this would be a great option for studio work, or to get more dirt at lower volumes.

For my purposes, scaling the entire amp seems to work better. It keeps the same relationship between pre and power amp portions and lets you adjust the volume with little change in tone until you get down to very low levels. So far I'm very pleased with the results. Although I haven't had a chance to use the amp in a band setting, or with my usual speaker cabinet.