Favorite H H Scott Tube Integrated Amplifier

I used to be an avid HH Scott collector and at one time had 98% of all their models, including many of the various versions. I remember the difficulty in finding schematics that would actually match what was underneath the chassis. The best one in my book, with upgraded coupling caps and no other changes, was the 233. Marvelous little integrated and you dont see many around. I didnt like the 299 series, never could get it to sound right to me. Never change the resistors on these unless you have too. The old carbons give these amps a special flavor and magic. While not the best in detail, they can be very musical. That music disappears with modern resistors, I dont know why. My feeling was that the output transformers were really not all that good. Or it could be all the compensation caps, equalization "chips" and other components in the circuit. They certainly were not minimalist. But that is my opinion. There are a couple of older absolute sound issues that went into detail about Scott equipment. The author was Steve Stone if my memory serves me. My 2 cents, hoped this help you.

Someone told me one time, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I try to follow that with the exception of coupling caps. I think changing the coupling caps can many times improve the sound of the amplifiers to a significant level. But changing the resistors, as I stated, previously destroyed the sound magic. As far as maintenance, the only things I would change are, first, some of the old units used selenium rectrifier bridges. Those were terrible and would fail according to my techie friend. That to me is the only required change I would make. Second, in agreement with the above posts about some of the older electrolytic caps. Finally, I would use a contact cleaner for the potentiometers and clean the grunge off the old RCA inputs. I didnt change them, because as a collector, I wanted them original. But for ease of use, if there was something I would not sell, I would change them. I have nothing left on Scott now but try and get a hold of that old absolute sound series. It was detailed and in some cases, Steve talked, I think, about maintenence. There was also an old Sound Practices or Glass Audio article about how to maintain these old pieces. I dont have these any more so I am sorry I cannot provide much detail.
Good luck.