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Original message:324 days 23 hours 33 minutes ago

Member: Gretschen

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Does anyone know of a modification for this amp to cut the output power? In the venues I play, I can only crak the volume at "1 1/2 or 2" which will not deliver a good fat sound. I don't want to cut back on the guitar because it need gain to drive the effects. Any suggestions.

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Reply:324 days 22 hours 54 minutes ago
Member: bachmirage

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you should be able to remove one of the power tubes thus cutting the watts in half. this will allow you the headroom you are looking for.

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Reply:324 days 19 hours 57 minutes ago
Member: Gretschen

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Hey,

Thanks for the suggestion. Will it hurt the amp to run it without the power tube or are they in parallell?

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Reply:324 days 19 hours 43 minutes ago
Member: bachmirage

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it shouldn't cause you any difficulties. allthough i am more of a marshall person. fender is NOT my strongsuit. with most of the newer marshall amps there is a switch which allows you to go from say 50 watts down to 25 watts. it simply doesn't fire up the second tube. it's an old trick,actually. that's the thing about tube amps. ppl buy high watt tube amps and find they are so loud that they can't play them anywhere. lower wattage tube amps are more ideal since you can crank them up more to get to that saturation point quicker. fender amps don't generally break up as much as others. a lot of folks simply get an overdrive pedal for higher gain sounds. but again you should have no issues by removing a tube. and it WILL lower the wattage for ya. but just to be safe i would wait for some more responses from some fender folks just to re-assure yourself....

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Reply:324 days 19 hours 28 minutes ago
Member: eds1275

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I would check on that first - not every amp is able to do that. And knowing which ones to pull is important. If that isn't an available try getting a hotplate or something similiar [basically a volume control that comes after your power amp, before your speakers]. Another option is something like the THD yellowjackets, tubes that pull the wattage down to just a few watts.

Reply:324 days 14 hours 51 minutes ago
Member: bachmirage

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check the link. some intersting suggestions. perhaps pulling a tube is NOT that good an idea. but the link will provide you with some good alternatives to try.

http://studentweb.eku.edu/justin_holton/tooloud.html#EL84

mind you that this is for the hod rod deville or deluxe

this link gives you the specs of your amp..

http://www.fender.com/products/view_specs.php?full_partno=2232200000&name=Reissue+Blues+Deluxe%26trade%3B

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Reply:324 days 5 hours 57 minutes ago
Member: Gretschen

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Thank you all for your input. It's great to have a site like this where others are willing to share information and be supportive.

Ralph

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Reply:324 days 37 minutes ago
Member: duane

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you can't just pull one tube from a 2 tube amp.. I think the Deluxe is a class a/b push/pull configuration.

Now with that said, pulling tubes doesn't really cut the power "in half" (more like 40%). and even if it did that would only be 2.5 - 3db. Since "normal" people can hear a difference of 2.5 - 3.5 db as the smallest increment you're pretty much just wasting your time. Hear (yes, that was a pun) is the "rule of thumb". to double the output (i.e. loudness) you need 10 times the power.
So, to bring your 40 watt amp to "half power" you would need to get it down to 4 watts. An attenuator is the ONLY way that is gonna happen but, be warned your "tone" will just go away with that much attenuation.

I'm saying turn the amp up, get the tubes cooking and turn the guitar down. There are volume and tone knobs on the guitar for a reason.

EDIT:: I forgot to mention.. Pulling tubes WILL change the bias and the output impedance . You have to account for those. The bias not so much but the impedance will drop by half.

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