6V6's or Attenuator?

[Monsta-Tone]

I switched to a DC-5 from a Heartbreaker because the footprint is much smaller on stage and I can load it in the truck more easily.

It's still too loud, of course, for most venues that we will be playing here.
Most of my friends use 20 watt amps here and 50 watt amps for outside gigs or larger venues.

So.....
I'm trying to decide between running 6V6's in my amp or using an attenuator.
I am fully aware of the Fletcher Munson Curve.
I am also fully aware of the fact that I will have to install a bias pot in my amp.

I like the idea of 6V6's because that would mean 1 less thing to carry around. An attenuator is just another accessory that I will have to keep track of.
I like the idea of an attenuator because I would still be able to get the thump of 6L6's.

And....
I live on an island so I can't try things out before purchasing.

 

[NomadExpress]

I'd sooner get an external device (attenuator) rather than modding an amp to decrease output power.

Something to try is a speaker mismatch. Assuming you have a 1x12, can you go ahead and plug the speaker into the 4-ohm jack.
No matter what you do you are going to put the tone on the chopping block to see what happens. I'd go with the reversible options first .. speaker mismatch, attenuator, attenuator and mismatch... then the iron.

Good luck.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

Tried the 4 ohm jack, no luck. It sucks the life out of the amp!

A bias pot is easily reversed. I would probably put it where the Mix pot used to be, the loop is now series.

My thoughts were to have one DC-5 set up for 20 watts and one set up for 50.
Yes, I could get a DC-2, but don't want to loose the EQ.
Yes, I could get a DC-3, but that's not much different from 50 watts.
Plus, the smaller amps have smaller cabs. I like the extra bass the 5's cabinet adds.

In the end, the amp is nowhere near stock anyway, so it's not going to loose any value by adding a bias pot.

 

[NomadExpress]

Thinking about it, you may have a 2x.... then try wiring them for 16 ohms.
Keep in mind dB is a logarithmic scale against output power.
3dB delta needs a 10X increase (or decrease) in power to be heard.
http://www.guitarnuts.com/amps/myths.php
http://www.axiomaudio.com/power.html
(Roughly speaking) ....to achieve half the perceived volume, you must decrease the power to 10%... 10W is half the volume of 100W... 5W is half the volume of 50W.

It will cost a speaker cable or so... in the 8ohm jack you will get a 50% decrease in output, around 80% of the SPL (volume).
a 16 ohm load will virtually quarter the output power... a little more than half the SPL of a matched 4ohm load.

 

[NomadExpress]

LOL... I just realized your always inside amps..... I guess you have nothing to loose. You are quite capable of amp & iron shenanigans. :lol:

 

[boogietone]

Can you use something like a Boss GE-7 in the loop and then use the Boss's volume to keep the level down?

 

[Monsta-Tone]

shenanigans.

:lol: "Hey Farva, what's that restaurant that you like to eat at?" :lol:

I just ordered a quad of 6V6's from the Tube Depot. They should be here by Friday.
I figured, this is the cheapest way to go for a starting point.
I don't really need half the volume, just lower volume. If I could get the amp up to 4 instead of 2 (with the Master Volume Mod), then I would be a happy camper!
I'm thinking that I can adjust the Phase Inverter or the lead channel if I am missing a lot of bass after the tube change.........

As for the speaker output jack. The Lonestar manual says this about using 6V6's: "When using these tubes (6V6), move the 8 ohm speaker to the 4 ohm speaker jack. This will reduce strain on the tubes and produce the best sonic response."



I might try an EQ pedal, but the amp has an EQ that works fine for me. I have room on my board, but have just discovered that we need a larger PA, so that is where most of my free cash will go for a while! Maybe I'll borrow one from somebody to try out though!

 

[Analog Kid]

Thinking about it, you may have a 2x.... then try wiring them for 16 ohms.
Keep in mind dB is a logarithmic scale against output power.
3dB delta needs a 10X increase (or decrease) in power to be heard.
http://www.guitarnuts.com/amps/myths.php
http://www.axiomaudio.com/power.html
(Roughly speaking) ....to achieve half the perceived volume, you must decrease the power to 10%... 10W is half the volume of 100W... 5W is half the volume of 50W.

It will cost a speaker cable or so... in the 8ohm jack you will get a 50% decrease in output, around 80% of the SPL (volume).
a 16 ohm load will virtually quarter the output power... a little more than half the SPL of a matched 4ohm load.

Hmn... I've heard that tube amps don't have a direct ratio of output power to its load resistance, so I'm not sure if you can really drop 3db's by doubling your impedence. I'm not entirely sure.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

Years ago, I had a THD Plexi combo. It was one of their 1st amps and was freakishly incredible!
It's actually #2 on the list of amps I never should have sold.

It had a switch on the back that was called (I think), "Attitude."
I called them and Ed told me that it was an impedance switch and that the transformers were beefy enough to not need to use the proper impedance setting.
It really reminded me of a Triode/Pentode switch.
It did drop the volume quite a bit, but the tone just wasn't the same. Too muddy and dark.

 

[Tommy_G]

shenanigans.

:lol: "Hey Farva, what's that restaurant that you like to eat at?" :lol:

I just ordered a quad of 6V6's from the Tube Depot. They should be here by Friday.
I figured, this is the cheapest way to go for a starting point.
I don't really need half the volume, just lower volume. If I could get the amp up to 4 instead of 2 (with the Master Volume Mod), then I would be a happy camper!
I'm thinking that I can adjust the Phase Inverter or the lead channel if I am missing a lot of bass after the tube change.........

As for the speaker output jack. The Lonestar manual says this about using 6V6's: "When using these tubes (6V6), move the 8 ohm speaker to the 4 ohm speaker jack. This will reduce strain on the tubes and produce the best sonic response."



I might try an EQ pedal, but the amp has an EQ that works fine for me. I have room on my board, but have just discovered that we need a larger PA, so that is where most of my free cash will go for a while! Maybe I'll borrow one from somebody to try out though!

So, how do you like em? And what brand did you go with? How would you describe how it changed your tone?

I'm about to order a quad of 6v6's or possibly a Tungsol EL34B, and just wanted all the info I can find.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

I never got around to trying them out.
I changed the Output Volume pot to one with a dramatically different taper instead (pot part # is in the "DC Mods Revisited" thread).
Plus....a good friend ended up needing some 6V6's, so I gave them to him before I could try them.