Can a Tremoverb be converted to 50 Watts? Eeek!

[alejandro]

Can a Tremoverb be truly converted to 35(Spongy)/50(Bold) watts? I want to know first if it's possible, considering that some of you guys know more about amp guts than I do, and secondly, what steps, typically, might I have to undertake.

Thanks.

 

[nomad100hd]

I don't see why not. Actually if you just take 2 power tubes out it will be 50 watts. You'll need to hook an 8 ohm cab to the 4 ohm jack though. as far as the spongy bold thing that's all in the power supply, and should work the same regardless of number of tubes. Usually its' just a resistor put in the power supply to cause sag. I think it cause the caps to not recharge as fast.

btw if you don't know a 100 watt amp has 2 sets of matched tubes. you have to remove one of the sets. both sets are ran parallel with each other to the output transformer.

 

[Tubescreamer]

nomad is correct, you may pull two of the power tubes (preferably the inner pair) and also you MUST also pully one rectifier tube - This will bring your Tverb to 50 watts.

And again like nomad said, you must halve the impedence of the cab output you are using. 16ohm cab gets plugged into 8ohm, 8 to 4, etc.

One thing to know through all of this is that you are only dropping the actual volume by 3db, which is not much of a difference at all. I have found through a lot of testing that dropping to 50 only really decreases the dynamics and feel of the amp while not doing much volume reduction. You also lose quite a bit of clean headroom. I would reccomend turning on the FX loop and using the loop active master to dertermine your volume while keeping the channel masters low - you can hit the sweet spot at a lower volume. Also, to get a little extra gain boost, crank the send knob to 100% (considering you are not plugging in any effects)

 

[gooberizer]

I've owned a lot of both 50w and 100w amps and in my experience it's more a difference in "feel" than tone or volume. I think the bold/spongy and tube/ss rectifier switches on the T-Verb approximate the tangible difference fairly well. I also recommend using the FX loop as a master instead of trying to reduce the wattage. 8)

 

[RR]

.. I have found through a lot of testing that dropping to 50 only really decreases the dynamics and feel of the amp while not doing much volume reduction. You also lose quite a bit of clean headroom...

I think 'this' phenomenon is due to the output transformer is still "100 watt" transformer not a 50 watt output transformer. So you don't get the "saturating the output transformers" thing so you don't really hit the full "sweet spots" like a 50 real watt amp.

Of course someone going to rebuttal their Mark IV with 6V6s tweed setting sounds like a Fender Deluxe but better. Bless you, more power to you but try convince vintage amp aficionados that fact.

 

[alejandro]

Thanks for all your replies.

That perceptual volume difference opened my eyes up about tubes again.

Wouldn't using the FX Loop master merely saturate my preamp section? I've done it before, but I quickly went back to normal because of there was much more noise than usual. I have different tubes this time so I'll try it.