Allen Encore OT upgrade?

[mad dog]

To all you Allen fans. I'm curious about the bigger OT option on these amps. The one I have has the standard, VR type OT. (It's a head.) It's a cool amp, lots of great sounds. Lively and warm. What would I gain tonally with the 40 watt OT, and what would I lose from the current setup?

Thanks.
MD

[sabby]

Just in general, with bigger iron you gain headroom, firmness in the low-end, perhaps an extended top, and some punch/aggression. You'd loose compression, mid-focus, and sweetness as OD sets in.

[Wayne Alexander]

I loved the smaller OT on the Encore I had. It gave me a Rolling Stones-y breakup, which I loved. If you want a slightly louder, cleaner sound with tighter bass response and less breakup, go for the bigger OT. If you like the amp for the overdrive it gets, stay with the smaller one.

[dougk]

Father in law just did it on his Accomplice after talking to David Allen about how much he liked my Pro Reverb. VERY worth doing if you want more headroom and punch.

[62Tele]

I originally had an Accomplice with the 40 watt OT and a Brown Sugar with the smaller 35 watter. I had my tech swap them around and really liked both amps better. The Accomplice got a sweeter top end and reminded me of my old Vibrolux. The Brown Sugar just came to life (and it was always great). I think it's a balance thing - the tighter blackface sound was better with the smaller OT where the cathode bias and the larger OT just get along.

[kelvinator60]

I have plenty of headroom in my Encore with the 35 watt transformer. Of course I am running it at 22 watts with 6v6s right now so I am not looking for much headroom. Tell David what sound you are looking for and he will get you set up.