Louder?

[lespaul4563]

Hey everyone, I am new to working with amps. Is there any way to make my 30W Peavey Delta Blues a 60W? Thanks, John.

[Jazz P Bass]

Short & sweet.
Easily change the amp to 60 watts?
No.
Then again you can gut it & replace everything from the power transformer, output transformer & output tube circuit.

[Enzo]

That would make the amp just 3db louder. Replacing the speaker with one 3db more efficient than the stock speaker will do the same thing.

[mooreamps]

add a 4x12 ....


-g

[R.G.]

The following is from the Tube Amp FAQ at New Page 1, essentially unchanged since its first posting in 1992:

How can I modify my Blender Tweety Bird amp to be as loud as a Marshall Major/AC30/Tweed Bassman/SVT/etc.?

(Alternatively, how can I make my amp twice as loud/more power/ etc.?)

You can't do this in a low power amp, at least not electronically. To put out the power the big amps put out, you need the entire power train to be as beefy as the big amps. This means bigger power transformer, rectifiers, filter capacitors, output transformer, more power tubes, bigger chassis, more ventilation to carry off the heat, lots of things. You can't just add a couple of tubes.

An amplifier is properly thought of as primarily a big power supply that has some extra junk tacked onto it to carefully let a little of the power out to the speakers under special, controlled circumstances.

[nashvillebill]

All good points so far.

I'd step back one step though and ask: WHY?

Not that I'm trying to be a smarta$$ but rather what are your REAL playing needs? If you're playing certain types of metal, then yep a full 100 watt Marshall stack *might* get you the volume you need. If you're playing blues in a club, though, your amp is more than enough to cut through an average mix. If you are playing in clubs and still just need a tad more volume, then mic your amp and running it into a PA is the ticket. Let us know what your needs are.

Are you in a practice room but thinking you're not getting enough distortion? Going louder isn't the answer, in fact it's counterproductive. Many of the world's best-known guitar tones weren't laid down with Marshall stacks, they were using low-powered rigs cranked up. You can crank an 18 watt amp to full bore, get tons of great tone, but not go deaf. You want maximum distortion of out a 100 watt stack, you better have a practice space in the country and earplugs, because the only way that amp will sound great will be to crank it to 10. Or 11. My amp goes to 12.

I've played through a Delta Blues 30 with the 15 inch speaker. It was a tad dark but not bad; a brighter speaker will sound louder. Even with the stock speaker, though, it still had more than enough to overcome a hard-hitting drummer, two lead singers, plus the lead guitar and bass player.


Also play with your tone controls. In the practice room, we tend to boost bass because it sounds fuller that way, but that takes power. On stage, dial that bass back and regain power (and avoid stepping on the bass player's frequencies).

[lespaul4563]

My lead singer has a 100W Marshall and likes to crank it a practice. If I crank the DB it sounds like it's going to explode and I'd like more headroom.

[lespaul4563]

Oh and we both use pedals for grit.

[guitarmike2107]

This is easy, its the age old guitarist problem... get rid of the singer 

Presumably he's playing rhythm; turn him down while he’s not looking.
Otherwise subtle things may get the message across, like pulling strange faces of pain when standing near his amp, or stepping as far away from his amp as you can get, or put an earplug in the ear that his amp is closest too

Alternatively get more efficient speakers, more speakers, mike your amp through a bigger PA amp, get a bigger amp or get more amps.

[nashvillebill]

Yep, you're down to two choices. Get him to turn down (the best choice) or fight fire with fire.

Many clubs now will not accept bands that play with full stacks cranked up to 10 (with a few exceptions). Most customers don't want extreme volume unless it's metal or similar genres, IMHO.

But if you feel you must compete, find an early 70's Ampeg V4 that's been serviced. Headroom galore and everybody's ears will be ringing if they don't wear earplugs.

[lespaul4563]

Anyone know some good mods for this amp?

[olddawg]

My lead singer has a 100W Marshall and likes to crank it a practice. If I crank the DB it sounds like it's going to explode and I'd like more headroom.

Have him pull two power tubes and/or use a power soak. Why would the singer deliberately want to drown himself out? Makes you wonder. Maybe you could talk him into using a 20 (or less) watt amp through the big cab. It would still look cool, he could turn all of the way up, and you could all hear yourselves. I actually have an 18 watt Marshall clone chassis built into a 100 watt head box setting on top of a matching Marshall cab.

[nashvillebill]

Anyone know some good mods for this amp?

Again, what are your goals with mods? What do you realistically expect to do?

This amp is like a 1/2 ton pickup truck that carries 1/2 ton of firewood or plywood or gravel or whatever, very very well. You can't modify it to make it into a Peterbilt. But it's darn good at carrying that 1/2 ton of stuff without doing anything else to it.

Likewise, that is a pretty good amp straight out of the box for its intended use: blues and classic rock. I'm assuming you've got the 15 inch speaker, which is made to provide a warm breakup--again in keping with its blues/rock intended use.

It shares a lot of design features with the Classic 30, with a similar intended use. Steve Ahola (spelling?) at blueguitar has done some mods to the C30: increased B+ on the preamp tubes, I believe, plus some other stuff. Mostly to tweak the tone for more of a Fender sound, if my memory is correct.

But those mods may be the exact opposite of what you were originally asking, which was for more headroom.

Believe me. we're not really trying to be jerks, but rather to help you move forward in a well-planned direction. And like you, most of us have started out not really knowing what we're doing (amp-wise).

[lespaul4563]

Again, what are your goals with mods? What do you realistically expect to do?

This amp is like a 1/2 ton pickup truck that carries 1/2 ton of firewood or plywood or gravel or whatever, very very well. You can't modify it to make it into a Peterbilt. But it's darn good at carrying that 1/2 ton of stuff without doing anything else to it.

Likewise, that is a pretty good amp straight out of the box for its intended use: blues and classic rock. I'm assuming you've got the 15 inch speaker, which is made to provide a warm breakup--again in keping with its blues/rock intended use.

It shares a lot of design features with the Classic 30, with a similar intended use. Steve Ahola (spelling?) at blueguitar has done some mods to the C30: increased B+ on the preamp tubes, I believe, plus some other stuff. Mostly to tweak the tone for more of a Fender sound, if my memory is correct.

But those mods may be the exact opposite of what you were originally asking, which was for more headroom.

Believe me. we're not really trying to be jerks, but rather to help you move forward in a well-planned direction. And like you, most of us have started out not really knowing what we're doing (amp-wise).

Thanks man, I think I'm going to build a head cabinet for it and make it into a head with a 2X12 and 2X15.

[lespaul4563]

Can you add another gain stage to this amp? Or increase the gain on the lead channel of this amp?