Cutting wattage by 50%

[Rainmaker]

Hey guys,

I've read many threads where people describe taking half the amount of tubes (considering there is more than one ) out of an amplifier to half the wattage.

Eg. Take two of four tubes out (preamp or poweramp?) and drop the wattage from 100 to 50.

My question is, assuming it has more than one tube, can this be done with combo amps? For example, a 50w combo amp?

Cheers!

[J Moose]

Re: Cutting wattage by 50%

Ummm...I'm not sure I understand the question as phrased.

Yes, it'll work with a combo amp or a head...no problems there. But, you need to pull a PAIR of tubes. Tubes work in a push/pull configuration...leaving one tube or three tubes is bad news. You can pull either the outside pair or the inside pair, I like pulling the inside pair because it leaves a little more space between the tubes so they run a little cooler and that helps extend the life of the tubes.

[Rainmaker]

Re: Cutting wattage by 50%

I'm not too good with writing about technical things, lol.

Thanks for the help J Moose, that helped me out man

[Wattage]

Re: Cutting wattage by 50%

I don't need to lose that much weig....oh nevermind it ain;t that funny is it??

[Rainmaker]

Re: Cutting wattage by 50%

[Stevo]

Re: Cutting wattage by 50%

Do you know if your amp is Class A or class B?
On a 50w class B amp it's likely that you just have 2 power tubes, therefore you might not be able to remove any. Also, I think you need to double your impedance setting on most amps for the tube->transformer->speakers balance.

[Zerberus]

Re: Cutting wattage by 50%

Either double or half, I canīt remember, but Iīm also tending towards double....

[some_dude]

Re: Cutting wattage by 50%

The 8ohm output stays 8ohm....

....but, the tubes react as if they see 16ohm.....

....so to balance out the tone you can plug the 8ohm cab into the 4ohm jack.