Fliptop Ampeg on its side?

You mean like the latches coming loose and your beautiful SB-12 hitting the floor really hard and breaking and costing a fortune to fix? No, nothing other than that that I know of.

 

I've done it lots with S/S power but I wouldn't risk it with any of my tube amps.
(seems like I've read that some power tubes can be more susceptible to developing malfunctions sooner with horizontal operation)

 

That shall remain nameless that will even catch fire "guaranteed" due to heat convection being brought to bear on the mains transformer instead of going out of the amp vertically.
I think tubes are best left in a vertical alignment in order to cool properly.
Otherwise heat rises so part of the heat from the lowest tube is absorbed into the next higher tube.
Not Good.

 

Important to take into account is the fact that your SB-12 will then become a flip-side amp. Please consider this modification seriously before making your decision.

 

The amp is designed so that the heat from the tubes will go out of the chassis w/o heating anything else. Turning it on its side will prevent this. Additionally, capacitors are designed to operate in a particular position: using them in the wrong position will lead to premature failure as the liquid inside will not be in the right position.
How about a snack tray instead?

 

What if you set the head on some other flat surface instead of leaving it in the amp (on its side)?

 

Yes there is a reason. If you mount output tubes horizontally the manufacturers recommend that certain pins be vertical. I can't remember what is recommended for the 6L6GC. It is best to mount them vertically.

Paul

 

That's a great question and I think the design for the heat flow would be defeated.

One thing I see bass players do over and over again is to play with their cabs on wheels. The full bottom of the cab is much better off resonating with the floor rather than sitting on four hard rubber points. Take the wheels off!! When I first read your thread I thought that was what your were thinking about. Keep it on the floor and off the wheels.

 

I didn't see anyone comment on my suggestion but is there a reason that you can't set the cabinet on its side and detach the head and set it up on a flat surface? Seems to me would easily solve the situation.

 

Pedro,

You can't do that with an SB12 because the powered output signal runs through the latches. If you remove the head there is no sound.

 

I don't think the speaker cares what side is it's bottom, they're only talking about the head, I'm sure. Never mind, there you go, instant open top speaker cab. Bad. I'll go now.

 

Oh I thought it was like my B15 where the head could sit anywhere as long as it was plugged into the cabinet.

 

I used to believe that, too, but Bill FM set me straight. Floor coupling only affects how you hear it and is not a true representation of how it sounds to the crowd. It makes it sound much bassier to you than it actually is, so you don't notice that the highs are slicing people's faces off.

 

Pedro, good idea but...

The cabs removable top panel has the amp section mounted to it, so the cab would then have a missing side and probably wouldn't sound very good at all.

 

So it is removable or not? I'm not familiar with that particular model. I know I can remove the head from B15 from the cabinet but whether or not the missing fliptop head would affect the cabinet I don't know as I've not tried it.

P.S. But if it doesn't cause harm to the cabinet or amp it might be worth trying.

 

It sounds horrible and greatly increases the likelihood of feedback, not to mention that it dissipates all the SPL's through the top. And the head is the same as all fliptops, meaning it's removable, except it's impossible to run unless the fliptop is latched on, since the speaker wires go through the fliptop for some strange reason. Jess must have been feeling "creative" that day he invented it.

 

I am sure it would work, but what a shame if something bad happened, is there no other solution?