Actually the schemo is a bit misleading. All three legs of the dual L-pads get connected in parallel and each end goes to one of the secondary ends. Those ends that are floating in the drawing are actually connected to the same leg on the other L-pad.
I also think that the brake has less influence on the sound than some other ways of lowering the final output. I won't go so far as to say it's completely transparent, but I think it's about as close as one can get. Better than pillows in front of the cab, anyway.
I have begun picking up a few more speakers that will fit the shallow cabinet, in order to see what we can catalog for different sound qualities in case others want to play with speakers. I just acquired a Weber CVC8 Chicago Vintage. Supposed to mellow out any distortion a bit, and I thought it might be nice with my new jazz box. Also have tried the other style of Weber ceramic Sig8, which i found too bright for this application, and a Jensen Mod8, which IIRC is mellow and has good bass for an 8". Unfortunately the stock cab is a little too shallow for most alnico 8s. I may try to convince Clark to produce a deeper upgrade cab in plyboo that could accomodate them.
I would also love to hear from folks who have been using the Tode with bigger external cabs. I have a 12" eminence (forget the model, maybe legend 1258 or 1218?) that works very nicely with it.