Scott 299B arrived today

My Scott 299B arrived today and what a gorgeous amp it is. Love the gold toned faceplates on these earlier Scotts & this ones about 99% perfect - the chassis looks almost mint topside and beneath. The seller said it was working fine, so I thought I would hook it up and see how it sounded. Checked all the tubes except the Mullard 5AR4 (my tester doesn't have a listing for it). Pulled the bottom cover off and checked for any overheating resisters or melted caps. Hooked everything up and turned it on - I like the way the red neon lamps come on when the B+ comes up. I put my ear up against the speaker and couldn't hear any hum or hiss - dead quiet - had to double check to make sure I had the speakers connected correctly. Cued up some vinyl and.....nice, very very nice. Lots of detail in the sound and I was hearing instruments I hadn't realized were there before!
I had always assumed my speakers (early Fisher XP-1A's) were the weak link in my previous setup but now I realize it was the Bell receiver with the dinky OPTs. Heck, the Fisher's don't even sound half bad now - not muddy sounding like before. After about 30 min running I noticed one of the output tubes was beginning to get a slight red glow on the side of the plate so I went ahead and shut it off and it'll stay off until I can do a rebuild.

Here's my plan - re-cap, replace the selenium bias bridge, check for out of spec resisters and replace the 6BQ5 output tubes with 7189's (do these need to be matched and who/what is a good source for NOS?). Sound about right - am I missing anything? Can't decide between a nice original cabinet or one from mcintoshcabinets. The new ones look to be better made than the originals.

Welcome to the Scott fraternity! Those 299s are very nice amps. Sounds like your plan is on the right track. Use the search function and you'll find a lot of info on rebuilding these.

The Russian 6P14P-EV tubes are also a good substitute for the 7189s. There are few threads about installing cathode resistors, bias pots and test points that enable each tube to be biased individually. This alleviates the need to have matched pairs/quads.

Omegaman said:

I wonder how many amps Scott produced? The production run counts

The looks alone are classic audio

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According to a copy of a VTV article I have, they estimated that less than 10,000 299B's were made - which doesn't make it rare, but maybe not as common as some other Scott models. Not sure where they got their figures, but I wonder if Scott production count records exist somewhere.

Well....it's not a 299B apparently, I think it's a 299A later version - am I right? The seller wasn't correct. I was beginning to get a little confused when searching for schematics and parts layout pictures and things just didn't quite correlate with what I had. I guess I should have noticed right off the bat that mine had the older style logo! Anyway - damn fine amp just the same! :thmbsp:

Yep, looks like a 299A type 2. I have one and finished up the refurb a month or so ago. Nice amp!!

It's a great amp - you're gonna love it! There is a schematic in the AK Database.

There are 3 or 4 different schematics for this model, good luck.
Very fine amp, I have the same one.

steveh1155 said:

Well....it's not a 299B apparently, I think it's a 299A later version - am I right? The seller wasn't correct. I was beginning to get a little confused when searching for schematics and parts layout pictures and things just didn't quite correlate with what I had. I guess I should have noticed right off the bat that mine had the older style logo! Anyway - damn fine amp just the same! :thmbsp:

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Good GOD!!!

What spectacular physical condition that 299 amp is in! :tresbon:

You lucky bastid! :drool: :thmbsp:

A couple of different schematics for this puppy. The easiest way to identify is to check the resistor coming off pin 8 of your GZ34. You'll either have a 330 ohm 10W or a single 160 ohm 20W. If it's a 330 ohm, there will be another one in parallel feeding the amp in another area as a power source.

That's the easiest way I know of to get the right schematic. But, even then, some passive components may not be an exact match.

Again, what a beautiful Scott you got.

. . Falcon

That amp definately says "restore me, listen to me, love me!" Beautiful specimen. It is amazing how good styling from 50/60 years ago can still look beautiful today and that one has it.

When I got my 299B I was intrigued as it certainly was not as heavy as some other Scott amps that I own, since I never had a Scott with the lower-powered output section (I owned only 7591 and 7581 based Scott amps at the time and man was I biased toward the more powerful offerings).

The seller surely did not pack it right but it survived the trip to its new home. So it was kinda cute. But MAN let me tell you, despite the smaller iron and lower output as compared with 7591 Scotts, this amp is like silk. It just oozes midrange like liquid. And although I am partial to a 299C, I think the 299B sounds better (sorry guys and gals - don't mean to offend) in the midrange for some reason - not sure if it's due to the different tubes, the the transformers or what. I think they call these tubes the "baby with bite" which is a great description but it does not take into account how soft a baby's bottom is. So I understand you when you say you've heard sounds or instruments that you did not before. I put the 299B on the shelf 'cause I did not want to believe it could upstage a a 299C or higher. I know.....I'm mental sometimes. This amp exceeded my expectations, unlike my 401k figures.

I am running EL84M output tubes in it. I recommend these if you need output tubes. I think mine had Telefunken 7189s in it which I still have.

So as long as the power of your 299B is sufficient, you should really enjoy this amp. So get all the bugs out of it and replace/clean what you must. Good luck with that vintage Scott eye candy. In this case, you CAN judge a book by its cover.

Oops i just read that you actually have a 299A. Funny, someone on the "electronic bay" was selling a 299B recently. But I emailed the seller and told him it was not a 299B, but a later version of a 299A, when Scott relocated the output tubes (from front to back to left to right) and transformers and some other changes. He said "Well, that is what the person I got it from told me". The model name would read 299B on the front panel if it was a 299B. Mine reads 299-B, yes it actually has a hyphen. Either way, you have a great amp!!!

getter365 said:

When I got my 299B I was intrigued as it certainly was not as heavy as some other Scott amps that I own, since I never had a Scott with the lower-powered output section (I owned only 7591 and 7581 based Scott amps at the time and man was I biased toward the more powerful offerings).

The seller surely did not pack it right but it survived the trip to its new home. So it was kinda cute. But MAN let me tell you, despite the smaller iron and lower output as compared with 7591 Scotts, this amp is like silk. It just oozes midrange like liquid. And although I am partial to a 299C, I think the 299B sounds better (sorry guys and gals - don't mean to offend) in the midrange for some reason - not sure if it's due to the different tubes, the the transformers or what. I think they call these tubes the "baby with bite" which is a great description but it does not take into account how soft a baby's bottom is. So I understand you when you say you've heard sounds or instruments that you did not before. I put the 299B on the shelf 'cause I did not want to believe it could upstage a a 299C or higher. I know.....I'm mental sometimes. This amp exceeded my expectations, unlike my 401k figures.

I am running EL84M output tubes in it. I recommend these if you need output tubes. I think mine had Telefunken 7189s in it which I still have.

So as long as the power of your 299B is sufficient, you should really enjoy this amp. So get all the bugs out of it and replace/clean what you must. Good luck with that vintage Scott eye candy. In this case, you CAN judge a book by its cover.

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Yep, I had the same impression with the sound as you did when I turned it on for the first time and played some vinyl through it - very impressed and clearly a step up from what I had before. It came with a quad of GE 6BQ5 output tubes and when I checked them on my Triplett - 2 tested fine and the remaining 2 tested well below the minimum Gm. Funny though, they sound great but I'm going to order a new set of Russian 6P14P-ER tubes which are supposed to be a good sub for 7189s and you can't beat the price - it'll be interesting to hear what they sound like. I've already begun the rebuild on another thread.

Beauty! I love good 6BQ5 sound