hh scott 399

funkenaround

Active Member
Just got my HH Scott 399 receiver running this evening, this after many hours of work, after running for a few hours hooked up to my Kef C'40's ( what a great speaker they are), I have become more and more impressed with it listen minute , after being comfortable that everything was stable, I buttoned up bottom and top, moved her over to my main speaker stage, Gemme audio Katana's and wow, sweet sweet sweet.

the 399 is a compilation of HH Scotts all famous 299 B amplifier section and a 330 D tuner section all together in one. Operating at 20wpc, 23 tubes in all, output section calling for 7189's and 12ax7's for audio af

Seeing as the called for 7189 is an over glorified 6bq5/el84 running close to temperature of the sun and as scarce and expensive as platinum, I've decided to make a simple modification in order to allow the receiver amp section to run on the more common, easily attainable, cooler running and affordable EL84. I've dialed it down to just a tick over 300 V at the output stage and with onboard D/C, AC and Bias Adjust capable circuitry, it was a no brainer.

sounds wonderful at most levels, just not sure if the JJ's were the best choice, just is that the JJ's came down to the only choice, I wanted a matched Quad in a new issue EL84, the JJ's were the only ones that would fit in the sub chassis mounted tube socket design here, I originally picked up a matched quarted of EH's, but they would fit and anything else I was told by the tubestore were larger in diameter hence the JJ's I ended up with.

it has some bumps and bruises, not a perfect specimen cosmetically, and the AM section is out to lunch but who listens to that anyhow except while driving in the car. The FM section is so incredible awesome, it rivals the FM section in my Macintosh MX-110, not sure why, but it just seems to. ....

I just love the presence of the dual tuner dial in this Scott design, the 399 is a rare beauty any in any condition I was a taker.

I'll post some pics later
 

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The JJ's seem to be tougher than the average bear EL84. I have a matched quad that I bought back in 2001 that have been running daily in my Scott 299(a). That unit runs ~370V on the plates....no problem. The tubes are still good, although I've seen some stories about JJ quality issues starting to affect the EL84 as well...

The 399 you have is hands-down one of the coolest looking receivers ever made. I love the twin EM84 indicators. I have a 340(a) but the 399 is the one I would love to get someday.
 
Indeed the dual tuner dual em84's add a touch of #$$* that is few and far between

from the first time I was exposed to tube components, and my first was a scott separate consisting of 299 and a 330 d, I was hooked and always in my minds eye was the daddy of them all, the 399 receiver

the 399 being a 299b amp section, direct off the rectifier is 460 v which is stepped down to roughly 420 to the plate, tubestore guy suggested that the JJ could handle the 360 of the 299/a amp which I thought the 399 was based upon before I got into her, then when I came to realize it was a "B" at 420v based circuit I knew the 84's would be in a losing battle up against 420v so I dropped it down with a 2700 ohm 25 watt resister and voila 310V

at ~305-310v plate right now, the JJ 4's are not even gonna break a sweat and should last a lifetime if built they came from a good batch, I've heard some bad ones are out there, but these I got were a matched quartet so I should be ok...I'll test after 5 hours playtime and see how things are

Now I have this 399, a pair of scott lt240 mono blocks, a HK citation V, a fisher SA300b and Macintosh Mx-110 not to mention a mint like new scott 330d am/fm tuner and a very nice Scott factory built lt110 fm tuner

before I got the 399 I was in need of letting go one of the amps, now with this being so nice, I mean down the hall three rooms away sweet sound as I type away sooo nice

what to do?!?!?!?!?!?

somethings have to go, I hate to let sit idle any of the amps
 
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Believe me, I understand that the 7189 is priced way too high. But there are alternatives that allow you to keep everything as original. The 6pi14pi-ev (6П14П -ЕВ) tube from the Soviet Military is an excellent tube. Reasonably priced though getting somewhat more scarce and spendy.

For that matter, I don't use my 7189/7189/A tubes. I put these in and save the rest.

Just my 2¢...
 
I've got a 399 waiting for some attention. It has the wood case and looks superb. I had a rough 399 as well and stupidly sold it during the last cull. Great sounding amp, these 399's.
 
wow, I love the looks of that unit...I only had a couple of Scotts in the past, and they were great...one of the more modern sounding vintage units to come thru my rig.
 
Those round dials with the tuning eye are just nice looking touches. I'd love to own one of these. They definitely look less old than most tube rigs.
 
today I'm thinking of kicking it up a notch and throwing in some quality 12ax7's, maybe some telefunken long smooth plates or some mullards, while testing I never install the goodies.
 
what a disaster! ended up ruining two that's right 2 telefunken ax7's !

one an accidental drop and the tip broke off and the other cleaning the legs and the base broke

that's a double :bash: now I need :beer:

I hate old tubes!
 
what a disaster! ended up ruining two that's right 2 telefunken ax7's !

one an accidental drop and the tip broke off and the other cleaning the legs and the base broke

that's a double :bash: now I need :beer:

I hate old tubes!

Damn, what a tragedy. Don't hate the dead, the Tele's didn't do anything.
 
what a disaster! ended up ruining two that's right 2 telefunken ax7's !

one an accidental drop and the tip broke off and the other cleaning the legs and the base broke

that's a double :bash: now I need :beer:

I hate old tubes!

Awww man!

Sometimes bad $hit happens even if you're not intentionally funkenaround with things, and trying to be careful. My brother accidentally punctured the top of one of the original 1962 Westinghouse 7591's on my parents LK72A with one of the Grover tuners on his Gibson guitar's headstock, as he began to lean over for something, WHILE THE AMP WAS RUNNING!!!

It was the last time the amp worked until I restored it 12 years later. He said if he'd moved his stool away from the amp it would have never happened. Shoulda, woulda, coulda. . . ya know.

. . Falcon
 
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I'm sure I'll get over it, just is that I constantly bump my hand on the fireplace tools I walk by, oh and I never I never mentioned that I have a nice little scratch in my lovely Katana now :banana:


truth be told, I think the vintage Ge's sounded better than the tele's

is the impression being clouded by anger, frustration and guilt? maybe

I'll give it another listen this evening and re evaluate
 
Indeed the dual tuner dual em84's add a touch of #$$* that is few and far between

from the first time I was exposed to tube components, and my first was a scott separate consisting of 299 and a 330 d, I was hooked and always in my minds eye was the daddy of them all, the 399 receiver

the 399 being a 299b amp section, direct off the rectifier is 460 v which is stepped down to roughly 420 to the plate, tubestore guy suggested that the JJ could handle the 360 of the 299/a amp which I thought the 399 was based upon before I got into her, then when I came to realize it was a "B" at 420v based circuit I knew the 84's would be in a losing battle up against 420v so I dropped it down with a 2700 ohm 25 watt resister and voila 310V

at ~305-310v plate right now, the JJ 4's are not even gonna break a sweat and should last a lifetime if built they came from a good batch, I've heard some bad ones are out there, but these I got were a matched quartet so I should be ok...I'll test after 5 hours playtime and see how things are

Now I have this 399, a pair of scott lt240 mono blocks, a HK citation V, a fisher SA300b and Macintosh Mx-110 not to mention a mint like new scott 330d am/fm tuner and a very nice Scott factory built lt110 fm tuner

before I got the 399 I was in need of letting go one of the amps, now with this being so nice, I mean down the hall three rooms away sweet sound as I type away sooo nice

what to do?!?!?!?!?!?

somethings have to go, I hate to let sit idle any of the amps
Hi -- Did you run that 2700Ω resistor right off the main filter cap?
 
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