Smolder,
First, thanks for sharing your PR/P-non-R knowledge. I think this is wandering off the make-it-Jerry-like question I initially asked, but you seem to know your shit with this amp and I appreciate the dicsussion we're having here, so I don't want to move this thread to TGP. I hope the mods are OK with that.
I've been spending some more time w/my recently acquired 1977 SFPR and I am totally digging this little amp -- it's so damn playable, lol. I had the chassis out last weekend and mine looks to be a 100% virgin board, untouched by anything other than time. Part of me wants to mod it "for the sake of modding it", because that's what I typically do, but I'm a bit worried that fixing some of the amps's known short comings will spoil some of its charm, so I'm hesitant. Still, I have a new set of NOS power tubes coming today or tomorrow, and then I am going to drop it off with a tech to have the amp biased, a bias pot installed, and the caps and coupling caps checked. And probably the Paul C mod, too.
So, I guess my question is, how much does the Paul C. mod alter the feel of the amp? I'm not really looking for louder, as I have that covered with other amps, but a less farty bass and (somewhat) chimier or more focused top end would be nice.
FWIW, I've tried it with a few 10" speakers I had around, and so far it seems to shine best with a Celestion Gold G10. I tried it with a D110 and it became more brittle, and lost some of its "feel." I think something similar to the Gold G10 but a little brighter/chimier would be even better, but the Gold G10 is a pretty good all around speaker for this amp. I also plugged it into a K120 I have in a 1x12 cab, and I was surprised at how much fuller that sounded. I may get a 12" cab made for it down the road, but for the moment, I think I'll be keeping it in the stock cab, heavy though it is.
Dilettante - sounds nicer than "hack"