Like Going Back In Time -- HH Scott 299"A" Integrated Amp

I believe I got lucky!

Last week I got on ebay and searched for an HH Scott 382B receiver (solid-state, ca. 1968) that I had as a youth -- no dice. But while on there I started looking at the old tube amps from HH Scott, and noticed this one model 299 (made from 1958-60) that really looked clean and nice. I thought "Geez, I don't need more hi-fi stuff now, why am I looking at this?". I don't recall if there were any bids on it, but it was for sale with the "Buy It Now" option for $995, with a day or two to go. I logged off and forgot about it until the next morning while I was out running, where I couldn't get the images of clean "HH Scott" labeled 7189 output tubes and clean Telefunken 12AX7s out of my mind. It then occurred to me that the tubes alone might be worth more in today's market that the amp asking price. After that it occurred to me I just had to try for the amp -- I mean it was so clean and those vintage sought-after tubes (as a nutcase audiophile enthusiast that I am). So I logged on and it was still available! So I immediately threw caution to the winds and pressed the "Buy It Now" button. It was mine!

When the amp arrived yesterday I was stunned by what I uncovered. It looks like it was barely, if ever, used at all! The tubes are all original -- four 7189 tubes made in Holland by Amperex with the "D" getter at the top, two ECF 80 (6Bl8) driver tubes made in France by Amperex, four Telefunken "Made in West Germany" 12AX7 tubes, and one 5AR4 tube made in Great Britain by GE -- each one looking almost pristine.

I contacted Craig Ostby of NOSValves and told him about my find. He advised me to not even turn it on yet, and to open the bottom plate and send him a picture. Sure enough, he said it looked as if it had never been touched -- it was all original circuitry in excellent shape. So I will be shipping the amp to him for upgrades -- to maximize the potential of the design using today's technological advances in electrolytics and other upgrades.

I feel like I went back in the "Wayback Machine" to about the year 1959-60, walked into an electronics store and purchased a new HH Scott 299 integrated amp, then returned! Although it's not new (minor nicks, scratches on front, minor corrosion on transformers), it's pretty darn close!

 

Nice amp!

 

Wow!

 

I once walked into a church flea market in Wellesley, MA and picked up an H H Scott 222c with a walnut case for $1. It didn't have a single cosmetic blemish and except for the 5AR4 was fully outfitted with Telefunken tubes. I immediately rushed to the Music Box which was the local stereo store at the time and had their service department go over it. I had to call them after a week to see what was up. Turns out they were playing with it with other equipment in the store and were totally fascinated with it. Needless to say it was in perfect working condition. All they did was start it up on a Variac and give a good cleaning. This was back around 1990 or so and tubes hadn't quite seen the resurgence yet. I spent the next 20 years with it tube rolling and trying different speakers. It lead me to purchase a Scott 310B and later a 335 multiplex adapter. I was very fond of that set up and I also went on to purchase newer tube equipment and a McIntosh FM tuner. Sold it all though to a collector in 2009 and the next year traded the newer tube gear and purchased an all solid state system which I have to this day.

 

Love my 299B, as seen in this old Raspberries thread (Post #94) …

Raspberries' Best on MFSL »

NOTE: The Rega turntable is now gone (at my cousin's house) and in it's place is an old Dual 1229 with a Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge

 

I forgot to add, that I also sent my 299b to Craig @ NOS Valves and he did a great job with it. The only negative with him, is that he (or somebody at his workshop) smokes a LOT and that my amp came back smelling like a bar filled room of cigarette stench. People who smoke never realize just how bad that nasty habit smells to people who don't!

 

Well, hopefully the cigarette smell won't linger on my amp!

Another view (Telefunkens barely visible in those slip-over metal cans on the left)...

 

Sent my Fisher to Craig. He does great work. I've always wanted a nice pristine Scott tubed integrated. Congratulations on the find.

 

A major pet peeve of mine. And I used to smoke! (30 yrs. ago.)

 

I too have a 299 that Craig rebuilt. It's a terrific amp despite a now funky intermittent rectifier tube- these things do take regular maintenance. The sound is incredible.

 

I got this description of the type of 7189 output tube like mine from Brent Jessee's (NOS tube seller) website:

"Almost extinct, these are the very first generation of the Heerlen, Holland EL84 tubes with the rare top D getter. Sweet, musical, and powerful, these tubes have become virtually impossible to find in pairs."

 

Great-looking amp... The old Scott stuff is awesome... And being so early, that probably has a tube rectifier, which some say gives an extra dose of musicality.

Regarding tubes, you can always shop around for just the sort of tube compliment you want. That's one of the cool things about tube gear. You can really play around with the sound and make it your own, and you can try different brands of tubes if the sound isn't quite your thing, say a little warmer or more-neutral, whatever. I did that with my Fisher. I wanted to really-focus on a warm, smooth, bloomy, highly-musical sound, which is why I went with Westinghouse and RCA.

One thing to keep in mind when shopping for n.o.s. tubes is the whole 'rebranded' thing. Some tubes that say (for example) RCA or GE could actually be rebranded Telefunkens or some other brand (because the 'rebrand' brand didn't make their own version of that tube type at the time, thus the rebranding of a tube from a different company). There are ways to spot the rebrands and who actually manufactured them, but it takes a little homework.

The old tube amps and receivers like this go VERY-well with the old idler-drive turntables from Garrard, Dual, and others. A Dual 1229 would probably make an outstanding match for that thing, and without spending a fortune (So would a 1019, but that's a bit finicky for someone's first Dual model). Or you could really-get hectic and get a Garrard 301

Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of tube-era gear. It's incredible the kind of performance you can get from that stuff. My Fisher, which is from like 4 years later than yours, has a headphone input, and when I plugged my Grados in, I realized just how flat the response is with this old, high-quality tube rigs. Same with the modern standmounters I bought. The frequency response is nice and flat and smooth, but the sound is also rich and full of harmonic content.

That amp would be an awesome match for most of my speakers as well as a few others I could think of.

 

Thanks. I realize what a rare find this was, and feel privileged now to have it. After Craig goes through it with all the various upgrades possible, it'll be a treasure for sure. Well, at least a treasure for enthusiasts like many of us here!

 

Yep, a 5AR4 rectifier tube. Craig at NOSValves mentioned to me that from their appearance all the tubes shown are likely to all test strong. We'll see.

Although there have been many advances in electronics technology since the tube era, and many new companies are now making vacuum tubes as demand has made a resurgence recently, most agree that the tubes made back in the 'tube era' (up to about the mid-sixties when transistor technology took over) are much better quality, and sound far better than their equivalents made in this modern era. The craftsmanship that went into them was the key apparently. I hope that eventually modern tube-making technology and techniques will once again produce tubes that approach that level of craftsmanship. My understanding is that this is starting to occur from some manufacturers.

 

What a beauty! I made a find like that a few years but it was a little Fisher X-100-C. Oriniginal owner that still used it occasionally still had the Fisher branded tubed in it. I have it set up with Dual 1019 that I bought from Bill at fixmydual.com and a pair of refurbished KLH speakers. It's my retro system. I'd love to have Scott.

 

Yeah, back in those days, they had it down to a science. There's a rich, uber-natural quality to those old tubes. When I got my Fisher back from being restored, that's when it really hit me just how natural and spooky-real that stuff can be. It was my first go with the tube hi fi thing, and I was really trying to get everything right with that receiver so I wouldn't have to do it all over again, but I was blown away with the sound once everything got broken in nicely.

Do you have speakers in mind for that thing?

 

Hey, a tube Fisher and a Dual 1019 is quite a retro system. I run a 1019 with an 800C as my main system, but that's because I'm into the classics more than anything else, but that's a great combo, the Fishers and Duals. I know someone who has the same speakers as I do as well as a Fisher tube integrated and a 1229. That's HIS retro system, although he uses the retro setup a hell of a lot more than his other two systems, both of which feature some very-nice gear. The Fisher stuff from that era is a beautiful match for my speakers (and the same goes for the old Scott stuff as well).

 

Well, I guess it'll join the rotation of amps used/compared in the #1 main downstairs system using Avantgarde Duo horn speakers...



...and this #2 system (below) I play around with upstairs using Medallion II speakers with ultra-efficient "magic midrange" Lowther DX-3 drivers. Right underneath the old TV set is a David Berning 1 watt per channel Micro-ZOTL amp (NOS 6SN7s in rotation in that amp) in use now -- plenty of gain for those speakers. Talk about spooky realism. It's all just a fun hobby, when I have time (finding enough time is another pursuit -- wish I was retired!).

 

Those Avante Gardes are unreal. Is that a dual sub, distributed bass kind of thing underneath each one? I bet those can get loud if they want. Beautiful stuff (Nice house BTW). Those Medallions/Lowthers look great (When I think of Medallions, I think of the old University Medallion XII's... I love the old tube-era speakers like that from the early '60's).

 

I have the 299A version with the (mostly) vertical tube placement. Bought it just over ten years ago from a resale audio shop for $500, which included restoration. The 7189s are vintage Phillips, and the 12ax7s are Telefunken Diamonds. Like yours, mine is very clean as well. The faceplate in particular is cleaner than any of the examples that I've ever seen on Ebay. It's developed a slight hum over the years, and the rectifier tube has begun to crackle a bit at times, but I will probably keep it forever. Not only does it sound fantastic, but, to my eyes, it is truly a work of art, as far as aesthetics are concerned.

I do need to get it serviced in the near future. Thankfully, I have a couple of back-up amps that are quite nice as well.

Anyway, enjoy that fella. Sounds like you got a really nice one.

 

I love my restored 222c.

 

Thank you. Each speaker has a powered woofer section that takes over from the top midrange horn as it rolls off (which is run full-range) at about 150-170 Hz down to the low 20s. These things took a long while to position just right, but worth the effort over time. Luckily I have a large listening space so sound from the horns and powered subs integrate pretty well by the time the music hits me sitting 12 feet away!

 

The interesting thing about all this is I rarely check out ebay, and haven't made a purchase on that site since the early '00s when I used to be active on it. Then one day on a whim I get on to snoop around...

 

I can't believe how pristine your 299 looks! I mean it's hard to believe it looks that clean. With those original tubes! It is like you went back in a time machine and brought them back with you.

I have a 222C that I bought on eBay, nicely restored, it is in real nice condition, but you's looks like its new.

I am very happy with the 222C. I am running it with Altec A7's and mid 60's Wharferdale's.

Have you tried it or the Fischer with the Avantgarde's yet? If so, what are your impressions? Do the Avantegarde's work well with vintage? Or, are they better suited to a modern amp?

 

The Avantgarde Duos work well with most all low-powered amps, new or vintage I would guess because of the superb efficiency of the horn-loaded design which results in something around 103-105 dB SPL efficiency -- oh man the dynamics!

Unfortunately I wasn't able to fit the Fisher 400 in the space available to use with the Duos. It works quite well though in another system using more standard smallish monitor speakers I picked up used a while ago ("Prophile" brand which I never heard of before I got them). Very nice midrange, much better than the Onkyo SS receiver it replaced.

Craig of NOS Valves emailed that he received the Scott amp Sept 14, but I haven't heard anything further from him so far. I don't want to seem anxious and bug him, he'll contact me when he's ready I suppose. But since it is smaller than the Fisher I believe I can make it fit in the main system to use with the Duos. Can't wait. Yeah, it's just amazing the condition the whole unit is in, "museum quality", almost as if it was a gift to somebody not too interested in music back in 1959, the person used it maybe a few times, then it got packed away almost hermetically sealed from the elements all that time, then is found and sold...to me 57 years later.