Welp, I'm sending it as is then.
The PT gets about as warm as expected, not all that sure that the 6L6's I have plugged in are matched well enough, so there is your tell-tale "load".
Those Loctal preamp tubes are just fine, they run cool, and sound great. The phase inverter is a 6V6. I pulled that POS metal clad one and put a GTA in there. Sweet tone, right out off the box with that little change.
You'll see (as in the pic) what I did to get the caps straightened out.
All in all, the sound is too sweet to mess with.
Fugly as it arrived, but what a nice sound!
The 5F6A Fender Bassman is a holy grail of amps-the tone of the Allman Borthers on live "Eat A Peach". Hook up to a nice Marshall 16 ohm cab and someone will be great-to-go!
Thank you for letting me do this one, fett.
I ought to get a soundclip up, but dang it is LOUD.
In a good way.