Many of the S 500II are optical bias.
The series I is noted for the grey top and rear. The circuit was early attempts at bias control. They tend to run cold, since they easily to into thermal runaway. I do have a fix for that.. The later units (series II) have "overall feedback free" on the faceplate. They have a better bias contol, but still like to runaway if you are not careful with the bias procedure. The optical bias version optained better control of the bias and as the amp runs into a difficult the load the bias will back off to maintain a relatively contant temperature. Hence the name "sliding bias" came to be used by many to explain the control mechanism.
I hope this helps,
Jon Soderberg