So I understand that there are possibly no 2 Standel 25L15's that are identical; I am going with my take as an experimental 25L15 with many tone options, bias select, etc. Then it will be possible to be very versetile to to emulate say, Grady Martin or Chet. Even Grady sounds different on every session so even if I am getting close it is possibly good enough.
It's probably true that possibly no two are alike. But the amp is also very transparent; every guitar you plug in sounds different, and like that guitar. Therefore, I'd recommend sticking close to the original preamp schematic, as least as a starting point. Then if you plan to modify, leave some extra places for new components to be mounted.
Here is my modified Bob Crooks schematic, with additional adjustments on the first preamp section, and a full Baxandall tone control on the second. I am going to use 6L6's for now, as there are no 807 available in Western Canada
Please feel free to comment and suggestions, before I start drilling holes.
6L6's will work fine. 807's are available from ebay or various tube dealers that sell things other than new production tubes.
Antique Electronic Supply sells old stock 807's at $20.80/ea, as well as new Chinese for $15/ea. I bought 14 RCA and G.E. 807's off ebay for less than $10/ea.
Other comments:- Looking at my notes, I have ~412v on the 807 plates and 318v on the screens. That rules out ultralinear operation because the screen voltage is very different than the plate voltage. If you try UL connection without making a major bias change (as I tried when I overlooked this originally), plate current will soar and you risk melting your output tubes. Regardless, the 25L15 wasn't ultralinear.
- Since it was operated in pentode mode, and used cathode biasing, the idle current is fairly high. I regularly idle my 25L15 at ~60mA. The cathode voltage for my amp is generally around 26.5v, so idle dissipation is 412v-26.5v = 385.5v * 0.06A = ~23w.
- Since the amp is operating class A, there is not much of anything to be gained by fixed/cathode bias switching. There will basically be no sonic difference. You might get an extra watt of output because the 26.5v across the cathode resistor is no usable by the plate, but that's not enough to hear a difference.
- I've posted a snippet of the 25L15 output stage I found somewhere on the internet, which appears to match the original output tube circuit. The 100Ω pot shown balances the current in the 2 output tubes; I added a 100Ω pot between the 68Ω resistor and the tube cathodes (the pot is shared by both tubes like the 68Ω) to offer a current adjustment in addition to the current balance original present.
- Your C23 is useful, and I have a Cut control in its place in my amp. However, the value is way too small to do anything. I personally used a cap from plate and cathode of the phase inverter to either end of a pot wired as a rheostat. Both caps are needed because you have 2 different d.c. voltages to block. With that, the cap values are surprisingly large, because 1) the output impedance of the inverter is so very low compared to 12AX7 inverters; and 2) with the Cut control set for maximum treble cut, the blocking caps are in series and are effectively a single cap of half their individual values. I used a 1MΩ pot and I think I settled on 0.047uF blocking caps. I started with something like 0.01uF each and kept altering the cap value after listening tests because the control wasn't effective with the smaller caps.
- You'll probably want a Cut control for single coil guitars like Strats or Teles because the D130 has treble that extends very much higher than normal guitar speakers. I promise you your guitar's tone control will become useful, perhaps for the first time for you.
- I don't think the Master volume will be any use for you. I haven't had a chance to crank this amp wide open, but the entire architecture is loud and
clean. The whole reason to use 12AX7 -> 12AT7 -> 12AU7 is that each successive stage has less gain and accepts larger input signals, so the guitar signal stays clean throughout. If you recall that Chet got his Standel from pedal steel player Jimmy Day, you'll get the idea.