Question about removing tubes.

There are a few other one's like the Weber's MASS, you can also from time to time find a couple called Altair or Rockman power soak on E-bay for less than 100.00 us. All three are great units. Please remember that using one dosen't mean you should turn your amp full tilt. The trick is to find the ampss weet spot. Which is were the amp sounds and operates best with-in it's spec's.

Dosen't that amp have a switch that drops the power in half? I know some of them did.

Joe

No, it has no switch like that, but I've rigged a small solution where I dummy plug one of the external speaker jacks, which cuts out one of the speakers. This dosen't help as much as I'd like, though.

I read that powersoaks fuction differently in that they only drive the preamp tubes, where a hotplate does it differently. I know that it's the driven powetube sound I'm after, so does a powersoak help with that? What makes it different?

Hmmm, the price seems much more reasonable for the Weber models. It says on the site that you should choose one that's double the wattage of your amp. Is this an ironclad rule? The Goldtone is 30 watts ( technically it's two 15 watt amps that run in stereo)...so would a 50 watt be ok, or would I have to shell out for the 100?

I not sure where you heard that power soaks work off the pre-amp tubes. They misinformed you on that. A Scholz Power Soak connect's between the speaker out and the speaker, the same way a Hot plate, Marshall Power Brake, Rocktron juice extractor or other attenuator's are connected. There are also different types.

I use both dummy-loads and Attenuators. Combined with equalizers make for a great investment to your signal chain.

joe

As for removing tubes, that generally cuts the power in half, but a reduction of power by half makes a barely noticeable difference in apparent volume. Because the impedance is now wrong, you'll get more distortion and it'll come on a little earlier, so that might let you turn down the volume a bit and feel like you're getting "saturated power tube sound," but I don't think it's worth fooling with pulling tubes.

The only way pulling tubes can actually be harmful is if an amp is cathode-biased and shares a cathode resistor between more than one tube. In that case, if you pull some tubes, the remaining ones will overheat.

Yeah, I didn't really want to take out tubes either.

So what is the difference between a powesoak and something like a Hot Plate? Do they sound different, are there any other pros/cons?

A Hot Plate is just one brand of dummy load. Power Soak is another.

Either one will work for what your looking to do. The Hot plate is newer technology and also has more options, where as the power soak only allows you different Ohm settings and -dB. I have both of them and the Hot Plate out weighs the power soak in tone also. It comes down what your looking for in terms of tone.

Joe

OK then, I'm leaning heavily towards the Weber then. It's quite a bit cheaper than the Hot Plate, but seems to use the same technology.

I recall Wes saying he has one of them. It will be a great advancement on your quest for tone.

joe

You can walk into any wholesale electronics shop and buy a 100w attenuator for audio circuits for less than $40.

A little soldier, some wire, a couple of 1/4" jacks and some fancy lettering labels will cost you another $10.

Two hours of work and you'll have a 100w attenuator all ready to go. And if you're at all unsure of what you're doing the guys in the store can talk you through it.

This is really very much a great beginner audiophile electronics project. Literally anyone who can solder can make this one work :0

...mabye I'll try that someday. However, this is a discountinued amp, and it's very unique. I'm not sure that I really want to do that as this point. Plus, there must be more to it or else everyone would do it that way. There is also that fact that the Weber has a built in eq, and since this amp has no eq, that will help.

Again I ask: it's recommended to have an attenuator thats double the wattage of your amp. Mines 30 though...would I get away with a 50 watt one? There is a significant price difference for me, and I'd rather not spend the extra money on a 100w one unless it's totally nessicary.

Thanks for the advice!

it's recommended to have an attenuator thats double the wattage of your amp. Mines 30 though...would I get away with a 50 watt one? The reason for the recommendation is that, as we've previously discussed, most tube amps, when fully cranked, are actually putting out quite a bit more than their rated power. I think you'd get away with a 50W one, though.

Plus, there must be more to it or else everyone would do it that way.

Nope. The simple fact is most people are afraid of doing stuff like that, so the markup for finished products is very high.

However, if you want to go with pre-built that's cool. You were asking for less expensive options and I was providing you with the lowest price entry point option since I hadn't seen anyone else mention it.