[jrebman]

After several months of contemplating a vintage, EL-84 based integrated amp for my office system, I'm finally taking the plunge with a Scott 222-C.

I had considered lots of alternatives but then narrowed it down to one of the Scotts - 222 or 299, an Eico, and possibly a Heathkit, and then a 222-C came up on AC and I bought it as it looked to be in reasonable condition and the price was fair.  Since then I've been pestering several AC members about their 222's and their experiences with restorations/mods, aand a few other members who had vintage gear restored and modded, but not Scotts.  Anyway, many thanks to Brad, Don, and Zack in particular for all their assistance.  I also interviewed many of the folks who do rebuilds and mods and while I'm quite sure they are all extremely compentent and would a fine job, I finally decided on giving the job to Craig Ostby of NOSvalves.com.  As tempting as the offerings from Mapleshade and Sam's were, I felt they were a bit too radical and would result in a fine amp to be sure, but ultimately not really a Scott with that Scott sound I heard as a kid when I'd visit my uncle's home.

The bottom line is that I think Craig's philosophy most closely matched my own, and what I would do if I were still capable of doing the work myself.  In other words, a more or less wholesale replacement of everything that is, or could go bad, making some very minor tweaks to the circuit along the way and using vintage parts where appropriate, and modern ones, also where appropriate and trying as best as possible to preserve the Scott sound. Adding individual bias controls for each output tube was also something I wanted, and Craig has had a lot of experience with this and highly recommends it.

At first I'll be using a modded SB2 as a source, but will eventually add a TT, and/or R2R, depending on how much gear I can squeeze in my small space.  The speakers will be Omega Revolutions with Mapleshade cones and 4" custom timbernation platforms.  The Revolutions will be using the Planet-10 modded Visaton B-200s (which I think are going to sound just great with PP EL-84s driving them) and eventually, the Omega High-Q hemp drivers when they become available, and from all accounts, this mating of hemp drivers with EL-84s is to die for.

One question I'd like to ask about that though is, Louis will be having the hemp drivers made in 16-ohm only and I'm not sure how well the Scotts will work with a 16 ohm load.  I'm guessing there won't be a problem because the Scotts have a very nicely engineered output section, and since there were probably still a good number of 16-ohm speakers floating around when these amps originally came out.

If anybody knows a more definitive answer to this, and even what the power into 16 ohms would be, I'd appreciate hearing what you know.

The only problem with this whole thing is that I'm going to have to wait a few months for my place in the queue to come up, but I don't mind as I'm sure the wait will be well worth it.

Ah, now if I only had enough room for those L-300s .

-- Jim

[nodiak]

Hi Jim, that sounds great and I'm sure Craig will do good things to your 222c. I can attest to the fact that 222c with Hempcones is a wonderful combination. I imagine with B200's would be great too. I have almost 100 hours on my rebuilt 222c and it has great clarity, 3D soundstage, and projects what I think of as an "atmosphere" of sound (haven't found a better word for it yet). It's very satisfying to the senses - never feel any fatigue after long sessions. Scott amps are some of the very good deals out there I've learned.
It will be nice to hear how the rebuild goes for you.
I'd like to be more computer savy like you guys that use it as a source, bet that would be great. I'll work on it this year.
Take care, Don

[jrebman]

Thanks Don, and yes, I think no matter what driver, or speaker, this is going to be really wonderful.  I've been wrong before, but my latest upgrades and configurations are really working out fantastically -- beyond my expectations in fact.

I'm going to be watching how you progress with the Rythmic sub as I may consider building one sometime this summer for use in my main system.  I'm also going to give this AV123 ULW-10 sub and R-DES combination with the Revolutions a try in my office and just hope it isn't too much for the room.

And then maybe one day when I have the Scott back, I'll drag it upstairs and hook it up to the Adagios just to see what happens.  Something tells me that that may end up being a bad idea too -- not because it will sound bad, but just the opposite .

Thanks again for all the back and forth on the 222 -- it was really helpful to talk to an owner, especially one who has some other similar gear inn his system.

-- Jim

[Scott F.]

I've used my 299 with 15 ohm Lowthers nad it sounds marvelous. One of the other guys here in town (Alex) uses his 222 with 15 ohm Lowthers too. I haven't had a chance to hear his system but he says it sounds great too. I don't think you'll have any issues running the Hemps at all.

[jrebman]

Thanks Scott!  Just what I was hoping to hear.  Oh man, EL-84s and hemp single drivers... can't wait to get that going.

Really enjoy your posts and especially your articles in ETM.  Keep 'em coming .

-- Jim

P.S. -- my fiancee hails from St. Louis, and we'll be back there next christmas so I may have to pay you a visit -- you don't mind people slobbering all over your gear do you?

[2wo]

Hi Jim,

I have a LK-48, still works fine but needs to go under the knife, one of these days.
 
By using the 16 ohm tap, you will be using the entire secondary. A very strong case can be made that this is better than leaving part of the winding "flapping in the breeze" so to speak. Go for it, don't be afraid to try the 8 ohm tap for a diffrent flavor. It will not hurt a thing...John

[nodiak]

Jim, the center channel out on the 222c works great for line level to a mono sub. Tighter and deeper than speaker level sonically, if you can live with mono sub.The Rythmik is working out good for me, clean and very deep. Easy to adjust also. My room has alot of bass lift and I've been working on bass traps which are helping as well. I'm still mid stride with these changes so haven't reported in yet, but the new sub, treatments, and 222c are big improvements in the right direction.
Don

[Brad]

I'm using the center channel out to drive a plate amp into a pair of Augies. (Scott 222c)
Very good bass this way - thanks to Don for the idea a while back.

[Scott F.]

Thanks Scott!  Just what I was hoping to hear.  Oh man, EL-84s and hemp single drivers... can't wait to get that going.

Really enjoy your posts and especially your articles in ETM.  Keep 'em coming .

-- Jim

P.S. -- my fiancee hails from St. Louis, and we'll be back there next christmas so I may have to pay you a visit -- you don't mind people slobbering all over your gear do you?

Hiya Jim,

Absolutely, when you hit town, just drop me a note. You guys are welcome anytime. 

[jrebman]

Don,

Yes, that's what I plan to do as we had dicussed via PM.  I'll be using the Rocket sub with the 222 in a room that's 10.5 x 16 x 7.5.  The sub has it's own mic input for it's built-in one band parametric EQ, but I also have a Rocket DES which is more programmable and has 5 bands of EQ.

If I go with the Rythmic it will be for the main system upstairs.

Brad, glad to hear you are also using the center channel outs -- this makes it almost too easy.

Scott, cool, we'll definitely look you up.  I have no idea where my future in-laws live except that it is not far from the airport.  I might even bring an audio goodie or two that you don't have just to see what you think of them, and that would also fall into the less is more category of the world of high-efficiency.

-- Jim