You should leave at least one space above it anyway ... remember it's tube gear and needs to vent the heat away ...

I just love to see comments like yours Zemlin ... I got a lot of flack from Fletcher and his toadies when I wrote the review a year ago .. they all said there was no way the VMP could be as good as I said it was ... of course consumer response has been great and I have yet to hear a compalint from anyone who has used the VMP about the sound or build quality ..

Man, i've been dying to take mine apart and investigate, but A) I know jack about electronics and 2) I'd probably break it :oops: I wish I could understand all the reasons WHY it sounds as great as it does. Maybe someday :roll:

David French wrote: ... I know jack about electronics ... I wish I could understand all the reasons WHY it sounds as great as it does ...

My understanding of electronics is very superficial. I've built a bit of stuff over the years, however, and consider my handy work with a soldering iron and heat shrink to be pretty good. The handy work inside the Sebatron is a bit beyond what I would do even on an anal day.

You won't break anything pulling the top off the box - just unplug it first and remove all the screws from the top and sides. It will make you feel good about your "investment". The only thing you need to be careful of is not to put much twist on the screws when the go back in - they won't take much. Tighten them ONLY enough to prevent the cover from rattling and no more.

Mine is tentatively going into the top spots in an [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.odysseyg…"]Odyssey 4-space rack bag[/]="http://www.odysseyg…"]Odyssey 4-space rack bag[/]. These things have a "liner" that comes out when the stuff is setup - and I'm hoping it is something I can pop a few large holes in to let the hot air out.

The screws on the bottom of the Sebatron box look worse than the screw heads on the top. The paint down there won't likely come out of the countersink operation looking good if I choose to replace those screws with flat-heads - but if that's the only option I have to prevent damage to the box below it, then I will do it.

Zemlin,
I'd be VERY wary of modifying any piece of expensive gear! I've got a fair amount of experience in building and modifying gear and I'd be hesitant to do the sorts of mods you're talking about...

For a start you'll probably void your warranty.

Secondly there is obviously a reason for doing things the way they've been done, probably mainly to do with heat dissapation, as Kurt said..
Any 4 channel valve unit will generate a fair amount of heat and should ideally have a rack space above and below.. I'd choose the rack to fit the unit rather than modify the unit to fit a certain rack. Valve equipment is not really suitable for carting around as a mobile rig, their natural habitat is the studio, unless it's something like a guitar amp that is specifically designed to be road worthy and roadie proof.. The Sebatron's are probably the toughest looking and feeling studio units I've seen in a long time, but valves are still delicate glass envelopes with a vacuum inside and there are lots of heavy parts such as transformers and big capacitors that go along with them... All this weight is supported by the bottom screws you are talking about, and if you start countersinking you will seriously degrade the strength of the mountings..
If you absolutely MUST have something directly below the unit, I would recommend leaving the screws as they are and putting a sheet of felt or maybe even cardboard in between for protection.

Thirdly, a nicely built unit is like a piece of art. To modify it is to break the harmony of the whole. Like saying, 'the van gogh doesn't quite fit above the fireplace, we'll just trim a bit off the side'. :D