Pulling tubes in a Classic 30?

[glocker199]

I have been on the lookout for a small 2 channel tube combo that I can use for practice at home as well as jamming with a band. I recently found a like new late '90s Peavey Classic 30 that I can pick up for around $300. I really like the tones of the C30, but it needs to be cranked to sound it's best. At full volume it's perfect for band practice and small bars but way too loud for home.

I'd really like one of the amps with a switch that goes from full power to half power but I hate to pass up this deal on the Peavey.

I was wondering if it's possible to pull two of the power tubes on this amp to run it at half power.

[tubeswell]

You can't pull any of the EL84s out per se because the heaters are wired in series. But you can carefully clip off the signal grid, screen grid, and plate pins of 2 of the tubes and plug them back in to keep the heaters running. But you also should then disconnect your on-board 16R speaker, and plug it into the 8R extension socket - to double the OT load resistance (I modded mine a few years back by building in a 1/4" phono socket for the on board speaker for added versatility)

[glocker199]

Originally Posted by tubeswell

You can't pull any of the EL84s out per se because the heaters are wired in series. But you can carefully clip off the signal grid, screen grid, and plate pins of 2 of the tubes and plug them back in to keep the heaters running. But you also should then disconnect your on-board 16R speaker, and plug it into the 8R extension socket - to double the OT load resistance (I modded mine a few years back by building in a 1/4" phono socket for the on board speaker for added versatility)

Thank for the info but that's more trouble than it's worth as I want to be able to switch back and forth between 15 and 30 fairly easily.

Is it possible to have a half power switch wired into the amp?

[tubeswell]

You could put a triode/pentode switch in with a 4 pole double throw switch. That would lose some power. However that will also involve work cutting the screen traces on the boards etc. 2CW

[Albert Kreuzer]

What about a master volume in the FX loop?
I've built several of these with great success.

[black_labb]

or instead of clipping all the leads as tubeswell says you could always put a switch that disconnects the cathodes of the 2 unwanted tubes (or just engages a really big cathode resistor). the tubes would have all the voltages on them including the heaters, but the current wont flow.

[glocker199]

Originally Posted by Albert Kreuzer

What about a master volume in the FX loop?
I've built several of these with great success.

Very interesting! Do you sell those?

[hasserl]

FWIW, one of our regulars brought his Peavey Classic 30 to one of our blues jams yesterday for use on the back line. This was at a small club, we had maybe 50 people at the maximum, for much of the time the crowd was a lot smaller than that. With that amp we could only run the Volume on about 2 - 3. At that level it just wasn't turned up enough to get some warmth out of it, it was really hard to play. Yet even at that low volume it was still loud enough to cause discomfort, particularly when the owner of the amp would step on his LPB1 clean boost, it was like switching on a light saber and slicing heads off. It was brutal. I played thru it for one set, no pedals, just a Strat straight into it, and it just was hard to work with. As I rolled the guitar volume down to ~7 for comping it pretty much disappeared, but when I rolled it up to 10 for leads the ice pick was real bad. I spent all three songs of the set trying to dial in a good tone and really didn't get there.

I'd suggest a nice attenuator to start with, to help tame the amp, also to let you turn it up a little higher but keep the overall volume down. But I'd alspo be looking at a speaker change too, to something with a little less ice pick to it, something to warm it up a little. An alnico mag speaker wouldn't be a bad choice, to get a little compression and smooth out that harsh attack.

[Albert Kreuzer]

Originally Posted by glocker199

Very interesting! Do you sell those?

Depends on where you're located. I just started my business, at the moment I can only ship EU-wide.
But you can easily roll your own, it is a simple 250k...1M volume pot (value not critical) and two cheap 1/4" plugs. You can also use a normal volume pedal.

Cheers,
Albert

PS: What hasserl said, a different speaker is a good upgrade. I like a 16 Ohm Greenback in these amps. Or a Warehouse Green Beret.

[Jag]

I agree with Albert and Hasserl, a master volume or attenuator will probably be your best bet. 15 watts is pretty loud for home practice.

[glocker199]

Originally Posted by hasserl

FWIW, one of our regulars brought his Peavey Classic 30 to one of our blues jams yesterday for use on the back line. This was at a small club, we had maybe 50 people at the maximum, for much of the time the crowd was a lot smaller than that. With that amp we could only run the Volume on about 2 - 3. At that level it just wasn't turned up enough to get some warmth out of it, it was really hard to play. Yet even at that low volume it was still loud enough to cause discomfort, particularly when the owner of the amp would step on his LPB1 clean boost, it was like switching on a light saber and slicing heads off. It was brutal. I played thru it for one set, no pedals, just a Strat straight into it, and it just was hard to work with. As I rolled the guitar volume down to ~7 for comping it pretty much disappeared, but when I rolled it up to 10 for leads the ice pick was real bad. I spent all three songs of the set trying to dial in a good tone and really didn't get there.

I'd suggest a nice attenuator to start with, to help tame the amp, also to let you turn it up a little higher but keep the overall volume down. But I'd alspo be looking at a speaker change too, to something with a little less ice pick to it, something to warm it up a little. An alnico mag speaker wouldn't be a bad choice, to get a little compression and smooth out that harsh attack.

For this amp I'm actually wanting a raw, in your face, cutting tone. Something similar to the tone Clutch's Tim Sult has on Robot Hive/Exodous or Jim Martin's tone on Faith No More's Angel Dust.

Most tube combo's are either too warm and fuzzy or have that hi gain scooped sound and I don't care for either.

I've got a couple other amps I use for a sweet overdriven blues tone with my other band; a '65 Super Reverb and the Musicmaster you've been helping me with.