I think what you are referring to is that the output tubes are running at a lower voltage than the actual tube is spec’d for. Generally speaking if you run output tubes at a lower voltage then the headroom of the amp will probably decrease as well as overall volume. This can be great to some, bad to others….

In the case of your Classic 30 you may want to try to pulling out two of the EL84 tubes and selecting the next lower speaker impedance setting to keep the relationship between the primary and scondary of the output transformer in proportion to the load (speaker). This will cut your output power by about half and the amp will break up a bit sooner and not be quite as loud. If you do not have an output impedance switch or dedicated jacks for different impedances then I would try a power attenuator like a THD Hotplate or something.

Let me know what you think..!

-Billy

(i hope this question makes sense to you Billy…or anyone else who can help on here ’cause i’m only getting started with all this technical stuff, changing tubes and what not.)

The best sounding amp I ever had, was a 1955 Fender Tremolux tube amp. It had tonal textures that no other amp has. Neil Young uses a similar amp mic’d into his massive PA system during the “Rust Never Sleep” “Live Rust” etc. tours. One amp mic’d in, that’s all you need.

Back in the “old days” the rock groups used walls of Marshall amps because the PA was used mainly for vocals, drums, keyboards. Sometime during the 1970′s-early 80′s they started mic-ing everything through the PA and even using electronic drums to simulate the drums when the drummer hit a certain drum.

It was a 2-edged sword, it sounded better in some ways, but live bands have lost some of their realism because the PA sound is becoming too processed and digital sounding.

IMHO the peak of live sound was the mid-1970′s double live rock albums, after that it seemed to lose some tonal quality.

Back when I started in rock bands (40 years ago), we didn’t have the great PA systems that are available today. Our amps did the talking (and I have the Tinnitus to prove it). Today you can sound great with a 50 watt amp that’s mic’ed through the PA.

Please respect the elder you will one day become and wear hearing protection. You’ll thank yourself for wearing a good in-ear monitor cranked down.

Amp manufacturers do build fake cabs (no wiring, speakers aren’t real, lighter weight) for touring shows. I don’t know how the average joe or josephine can get a hold of fakes, but they exist.

http://www.lunchboxamp.com

Nowt to do with the power of the amp, BDLH, more to do with decreasing power of the lower back muscles as age marches relentlessly on. I’ve just waved goodbye to my Boogie mkIII Simul Class (best clean amp ever, trust me) before it finally crippled me. New rule, if I can’t lift it easily with one hand, it’s not the right amp. You never see sax players having to carry their own PA system around, so why do guitarists? Roy Buchanan, among many others, seemed to manage fine, so get an amp that makes you sounds good and let the sound engineer worry about it after that……. (period)

For gigging these days, PAs are so good, the smart thing to do is to mike your amp through a PA. Then all you need is to be able to hear yourself on stage. Typically, you’re using monitors or aiming your amp at yourself. Either way, you don’t need a huge amp.

So I say, choose an amp for tone, not volume. A PA can make any amp sound huge.

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