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Using only two power tubes in a 212-HD?

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Eric Adamec
Posted on Monday, April 12, 2004 - 06:57 pm:   

I was curious about using only two of the four power tubes in a 212-HD One Thirty. Does it matter which two tubes I remove? Does operating the amp in this manner for extended periods of time hurt any part of the amp including the two remaining tubes?

Langley
Posted on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 07:44 am:   

See the article contained in
www.tone-lizard.com/Articles_That_Didnt. htm
entitled "Mismatching Hi-Fi Amplifiers".

My advice is:
"Don't break something that ain't fixed".

bcarter
Posted on Friday, April 30, 2004 - 12:42 pm:   

Here's another good article on this subject from Torres Engineering:
bcarter
Posted on Friday, April 30, 2004 - 12:42 pm:   

oops... link didn't paste...
http://www.torresengineering.com/mar20la tving.html
Larry
Posted on Sunday, December 19, 2004 - 12:48 pm:   

In a fixed biased amp you can remove any number of tubes to taste... I think in the cathode biased ones you need a splitter resisters for each tube(not as sure)...since I live in a town house, I removed 2 tubes from my HD210 130 and it actualy has a better tone to my ears... but... the volume wont be 1/2 ...10watts is about 1/2 the volume of 100 watts....you will have less strain on all componets as well
Larry
Posted on Sunday, December 19, 2004 - 01:03 pm:   

How many people had either a broken tube or bad tube and continued to play, only finding out later it was broken? I have and didnt even notice a volume decrese in volume or even tone... just remember that most people dont need 130watts RMS even when gigging, when the Beatles played at the Cavern and later in stadiums, they were using Vox Ac30 30 watt rms amps then moved to ac50 and up...it was loud enough (or wanst for the screaming) In bigger venuses the sound man will and most likely mic your amp through the house PA to balance the house sound...so, pulling tubes will only make your amp a run much cooler and less strain on the transformers and you will probably never notice the volume decrease... your tubes will more than likely need replacing more often, then again, you will only have 2 tubes to buy instead of 4...or 1 instead of 2....Larry
Larry
Posted on Thursday, December 30, 2004 - 01:36 pm:   

dont pull tubes in a Cathode biased amp....the one resistor will need to be split...so I was told
Jimmy
Posted on Monday, February 07, 2005 - 10:02 pm:   

I have a MM 210 130 with the PI tube and want to lower the headroom so the power stage gets shittier quicker. Can I pull 2 tubes to decrease the power and if so WHICH ONES? does it matter which ones? I'm not really comfortable yanking them out and turning it on until I can find out whether its safe, and how. Also I dont care if it eats valves twice as quickly, I just want to to be easier to make it break up. Please respond soon, I want to try it on the weekend!