Earlier this year I bought an out-of-warranty 3B off ebay. It arrived pretty beat up by USPS - amp literally hanging out of the side of the box. As a DIYer, I had intended to do some work on it, but I ended up going overboard. I won't go into the complete list, but I did a complete recap using Blackgates and main filter caps from a 4B obtained directly from Bryston; all new transistors; other signal cap upgrades; silver plated a bunch of connection parts; etc, etc, etc. Anyway, after some initial troubles I finally got the amp working properly this morning and let it run for 5 hours on my bench before taking it upstairs to listen. It was running nice and cool, no funky smells or fuses blowing. Just got done giving it about a half-way serious listening on one of my favorite test recordings (the first two tracks on Cowboy Junkies Trinity Session). Ok, now I have played these two tracks a million, frequently in critical listening sessions. I know 'em pretty dang well and thought I had already heard everything there is to hear on 'em. The 3B proved me wrong!!! There is much more going on in the background of Misguided Angel than I had heard before. The male harmony was astonishingly clear - it had always been an unintelligible drone before - I was almost convinced it was an instrument rather than a voice. I could hear string bends on the guitar parts and could tell that the bass drum had been muffled to deal with the acoustics of the cathedral the band recorded in.
And this is well below proper listening levels.
Wow. And to think there is less than 30 minutes playing time on the new parts, when it breaks in, it will be unbelievable.
Holy cow - you oughta here the deep melancholy sweetness of the lap steel on "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" that is playing as I write this.
