Guitar amp stealing tubes question.

[KeithBMI]

My guitarist has a 85 watt all-tube Fender Twin reverb and he doesn't turn it past two. Problem is, there is no way to control the volume. If you move the knob ever so slighty, the volume jumps a ton. I remember reading about people taking the power tubes out of their guitarist's amps, and I was wondering if I could do it.

He said something about taking out the power tubes in socket 2 and 4.

Is it possible?

[James_B]

Ok this is what you do......Buy a bigger rig, if you must sell his amp to pay for your new amp. If he asks just say you solved his volume problem

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Sounds kinda like my SVT-II, but, thats a bass amp so its ok

[vindy500]

takes all his tubes out, thatll quiten him down

[Akami]

I believe you can take out two of the power tubes but I've never done it.

Sounds like he has a bad volume pot which would probably take care of the situation, but still taking out two power tubes would give him the equivalent of a Pro Reverb which is still plenty loud, but can be run a little harder and sound better as a result.
(Unless crystal clean by virtue of tons of headroom is his sound.)

[The Golden Boy]

If you pull tubes, you have 4 6L6s- you want to either remove the inner or the outer pair. Tubes work in a "push-pull" thing in pairs- you don't want to pull 2 and 4, you want to pull 1 and 4 or 2 and 3. This will effectively half your power. In an amp with selectable impedance you then want to half your impedance- The Twin is pretty forgiving about the impedance issue.

HOWEVER... halving the power will only drop your volume by around 12%. It'll barely be noticable.

If you're having issues with the volume jumping by leaps, you would want to do what Akami suggested and have the volume pot looked at.

[KeithBMI]

Originally Posted by The Golden Boy

If you pull tubes, you have 4 6L6s- you want to either remove the inner or the outer pair. Tubes work in a "push-pull" thing in pairs- you don't want to pull 2 and 4, you want to pull 1 and 4 or 2 and 3. This will effectively half your power. In an amp with selectable impedance you then want to half your impedance- The Twin is pretty forgiving about the impedance issue.

Thanks. I took out 1 and 4 but didn't find anything for selectable impedance, can I still fire her up? I'm not worried about his volume levels, I just want him to be "open" up his master control more. The volume jumps are better on the other channel, so I might tell him about the pot.

Originally Posted by Akami

...but can be run a little harder and sound better as a result.

That's just what I need. We both want the same volume he has now, but since he is only one "1" we want to work the power tubes a little more, that'd be great.

*Edit* I turned it on (What's the worse that could happen ) and was surprised. I'm able to get the same volume at around 4 or 5. It seems that it helped give the user more volume control. No spikes, just smooth tone. Thanks everyone. I also saw he had his mids on "10"