Best way to get a saturated sound at low volume?

[phyrexia]

45 and 10 will sound better through the 4 ohm output.

More details on this please?

There are maths involved...

http://forum.metroamp.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=31706&start=4

On top of that, when you take two tubes out of the circuit you need to be doubling your load (i.e. running a 16 ohm cab with the amp set for 8 ohms). It's the doubling of the load that puts you in 1/2 power mode. Pulling the tubes out of the circuit just eliminates the 2nd current path that would normally be required with 1/2 the load.

would the double load issue not just tie into reflected impeadence within the output transformer instead of an actuall power cut?

That's exactly what cuts the power in 1/2...doubling the load impedance. Double the load impedance = power supply can only pull 1/2 the current through it = 1/2 the power output.

It's not the pulling of the tubes that cuts the power, although that is part of it. It's mostly the doubling of the load impedance that cuts the power in 1/2. But since you're now only pulling 1/2 the current through the load (i.e. the OT primary), you only need 1/2 the tubes.

The reason 100 watters need double the tube count is because the load impedance of the OT primary is 1/2 that of a 50 watt, which allows the power supply to pull double the current through it at max power out. But one pair of tubes alone cannot pass double the current without over-dissipating so two more are added in parallel so that each is sharing 1/2 the total current.

If you just pull two tubes out without doubling the load impedance, at max power out the power supply will try to pull double the current through them because the load has not been doubled and the tubes will over-dissipate because they simply cannot handle passing double the current by themselves.

It's the OT primary load impedance and the power supply voltage that determine the power output...not the amount of power tubes you have in the amp. The amount of current the tubes will be expected to handle along with the plate dissipation rating of a given tube will determine the required tube count to pass that load current. The tubes don't make the power...they just control the load current required for the load to dissipate the max power. The load impedance controls how much current will be required to produce the rated power output at a given supply voltage.

I thought it mentioned it in the manual for the MKV as well. 45w mode definitely sounds better from 4ohm output -> 8ohm speakercab. I ran my amp with just two EL34s and the recto tube for a couple months this way.

I don't really use the 10w mode for heavy distortion. I mess around with it in the churchband sometime, and I use it for clean at home, but there is definitely still a sonic difference between the 4 and 8 ohm output at 10w.

in fact i think it sounds better at 90w at low volume a lot of times. But I am too lazy to change the output impedance every time, also. There is not much of a sonic change in the amp when you go from 90 to 45 *while* changing the output impedance.

Not changing the impedance when changing power mode (That is - the impedance mismatch) is one of the things that changes the 'tone' of the amp when you switch power modes.

Try it, you'll like it!

 

[MusicManJP6]

Try it, you'll like it!

I'll try it tonight! Thanks for the reply. I am very curious because I've been running mine at 45w on all channels.

 

[J.J]

I'm surprised isolation cabinets don't get much mention on the Boogie board and in threads like this. I haven't used on my self, but Have been told by a number of people that they can work very well.

Basically an isolation cab is a totaly enclosed speaker box. There is no direct sound output, but they also have an internal microphone. You can then crank your amp and speaker as much as you like and use the michrophone output to listen at quiet levels through a monitor.

There are products around or you can make your own if your into DIY.

 

[SteveO]

I'm surprised isolation cabinets don't get much mention on the Boogie board and in threads like this. I haven't used on my self, but Have been told by a number of people that they can work very well.

Basically an isolation cab is a totaly enclosed speaker box. There is no direct sound output, but they also have an internal microphone. You can then crank your amp and speaker as much as you like and use the michrophone output to listen at quiet levels through a monitor.

There are products around or you can make your own if your into DIY.

I have a Demeter iso box that I bought when I still lived in an apartment, and they are quite handy for applications where you can't normally crank the amp. The main downside is that the mic is in a very small enclosure, so outboard processing is needed to emulate a decent room sound. I typically run mine with a Radial JDX DI in between the amp and cab, then blend the two signals using different treatments on each.

 

[MusicManJP6]

Hey Phyrexia, I tried using the 4 ohm out in 45w and 10w and it sounds pretty good, but my settings all had to be changed. This setup sounds better in full power (always use Variac in 8 ohm)! It kind of felt like the mismatch may have made the amp too smooth? Like it rolled off alot of high end and some mids. I'll have to play with it some more and see if it was just my ears last night getting fatigued. It seemed like you have to push the master volume a little harder to get the amp to open up with this setup.

 

[yeti]

http://www.revengeamps.com/
scroll to the middle.
see the power plug?

order one.

best 80 music bux i ever spent.

watch the youtube vid.

get the 16 ohm one, that way, you can run it with anything 4 / 8/ 16 ohm.

i got the 8, wish i'd have gotten the 16, but im getting another

 

[toneseeker911]

Hey Phyrexia, I tried using the 4 ohm out in 45w and 10w and it sounds pretty good, but my settings all had to be changed. This setup sounds better in full power (always use Variac in 8 ohm)! It kind of felt like the mismatch may have made the amp too smooth? Like it rolled off alot of high end and some mids. I'll have to play with it some more and see if it was just my ears last night getting fatigued. It seemed like you have to push the master volume a little harder to get the amp to open up with this setup.

Hmm, never tried this "safe mismatch". I should give it a shot, I am always looking to roll off high end with my bright guitars !