Classic 100 Watt Head - Reduce Power?

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majickal
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Classic 100 Watt Head - Reduce Power?

Post by majickal » Sun Apr 09, 2017 6:16 pm

HI All,

I have a Peavey Classic 100 Watt Head; 3 x 12AX7 Preamp Tubes :idea: :idea: :idea: and 8 x 6BQ5 Power Tubes :idea: :idea: :idea: :idea: :idea: :idea: :idea: :idea:
Love the amp, bought brand new, great clean sound and I use it predominantly as a pedal platform amp.
Trouble I am having is; the amp is bloody loud and now I am not playing in a band so much, mainly at home, I'd like to be able to reduce the overall volume capacity of the amp by hopefully removing a few power tubes.

So my questions are:
- Can I do actually this?
- Is the removal of tubes a cumulative effect?
- I have 8 power tubes (6BQ5), do they represent 12.5 watts each?
- Which (power) tubes would i remove in which order to achieve this?

If anyone has any experience with this, I would love to hear from you, also is this likely to adversely affect my amp in some way?

I should add I am running the amp @ 16 Ohms output into an Orange PCC112 Single Celestion Vintage 30 also and it's impedance is also 16 Ohms. Will changing the tubes have any impact on this?

Thanks All!

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Enzo
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Re: Classic 100 Watt Head - Reduce Power?

Post by Enzo » Mon Apr 10, 2017 3:32 am

You can pull half the power tubes, but that only reduces sound levels by 3 decibels For reference, the difference between the typical Fender high and low gain jacks is 6 decibels, so this is less difference. You do lose some headroom.

Acoustically, 1/10th power is half as loud, so a 10 watt amp is half as loud as a 100 watt amp. Really, if just turning it down won't work for you, consider getting a very small amp for home use.

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JamesPaul
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Re: Classic 100 Watt Head - Reduce Power?

Post by JamesPaul » Mon Apr 10, 2017 10:10 am

If you like the Classic's tones, consider the Classic 20 Mini Head as that very small amp. The C20 MH has the tones, is switchable between 20/5/1 Watts and adds many new features.
Enzo wrote:I find if the amp is working, that is a good point to stop fixing it.
James Paul's Peaveys
Decade, Classics, Ecoustic, Windsors, VYPYR, Triple XXX, XXL, VKs, Bandit, JSXs, VIP, Piranha and a Penta.

twangboy
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Re: Classic 100 Watt Head - Reduce Power?

Post by twangboy » Mon Apr 10, 2017 10:18 am

or look for an attenuator. and yes the C20MH sounds killer!
2- 87' Falcons, 90 Falcon Standard, 91 Falcon Custom,94 Axcelerator, 95 Firenza, Patriot, 83 Impact 2, 84 Horizon 2, Prowler, Wiggy, 2 X Classic 20,Classic 30 II, VK20MH(FieldKing!), 112SX cab, Transtube Pro 100 EFX, Transtube 258EFX

majickal
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Re: Classic 100 Watt Head - Reduce Power?

Post by majickal » Sun Apr 23, 2017 7:10 am

thanks for the replies, sounds like a power soak is my best option then. I'll look into that.

stoneyvision
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Re: Classic 100 Watt Head - Reduce Power?

Post by stoneyvision » Mon Apr 24, 2017 2:58 pm

Pulling power tubes is a great way to go. sure it's a 3db difference. But you'd have to turn the amp to 6 just to get it as loud as say 2. This is what headroom is. I do this with my amps all the time.
Can I get it to be as loud as with all tubes in,sure I can. I just have to turn it way way up to do that. Also consider posing in a 12ay or au7 in pi slot with half power tunes in. your amp will be a true bedroom amp at that point.
I have a 5150 pull 2 tubes & a 12 au7 in pi. it's now a 26watt or less amp. you can't tell when recording that there's any difference in tone.
much cheaper to test this than to spend big $$ on a power soak that eats tone
"I sold my Fender evh 100 for getting mad at my
Peavey 5150 50 watt head" The peavey 5150 100 sits quietly..it knows better :twisted:

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tele twister
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Re: Classic 100 Watt Head - Reduce Power?

Post by tele twister » Mon Apr 24, 2017 5:49 pm

Hmm, I thought headroom was the usable sound pressure level above your current volume, but below clipping :?

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