I hear ya Mate. I would love to just go for it w/ my amp, but it looks as though I'll more than likely have to do it the way Johny Cash got his Caddillac... One Piece At A Time!
I haven't scouted the Mercury site for TSL parts yet, but I have looked at Voodoo Amps mods and they are pricey too... But I've heard good things about them... Have a look...
Voodoo Amps JCM2000 TSL-122 Combo Mod, Mods, Modifications.
In the meantime, I will just keep experimenting w/ what I've got here for tubes, and start thinking out how I want to set up cooling fans in the amp.
I think perhaps my power tubes are going... I noticed that the two I pulled from the amp to make room for the
Yellow Jackets had a wee bit of rattle when shaken... I have as of the past few times playing noticed an increasing "rattling" sound through my amp's clean channel... Definitely not something lose (initially I thought it might be a reverb spring rattling around or something), and definitely coming
through the speakers... I guess maybe in a week or two when I scratch together the $$$ I'll get new power tubes and re-bias the amp... What do you think?
Regarding the Mercury Magnetics choke... I had gathered that a choke really only makes a difference if you play loud... Is that true?