NOMAD 45 HALF-POWER MODS?

[DION]

Ive had a nomad 45 (#59) from the beginning, and am having all the usual problems ive seen on this forum, reverb disapeared, bad pots, my effects loops is going crazy, and my ext. cab jacks seem to have stopped working alltogether. I used to run a peavey sheffield 1/2 stack off the ext jacks and it worked excellent, a year later, the same cab and cables, which have been tested thru other amps and work, wont work thru my ext jack. impedances are correct.
Anyways MY BIG Question IS...is there anyone whom has ever done a half-power wiring mod to a nomad 45? it sounds silly, but i never get to turn my amp up even to the 11:00 mark, and i thought if i could put more of the output tubes into the tone equation, i might get a better sound, and also have an easier time setting my master volume, which is so touchy if i sneeze it changes! (especially on extreme!)
Any answers or replies will be greatly appreciated, and this is my first time on any type of forum, anywhere.

 

[Koreth]

To my knowledge, nobody has done it, but it may not be too difficult to do. You'd probably want to compare the differences between the Nomad 100 and the Nomad 45 schematics, and mimic the way that the Nomad 100's half power switch puts the outer pair of tubes into standby.

 

[lerxst88]

the nomad 100 and 55 are 6l6 based while the 45 is el-84 based i think. pulling the two outer tubes and plugging into the 4 ohm output would work but call mesa just to be sure.

as for the outputs you should really get those fixed. look around in the amp and see if the output jack's PCB has any cracked solder joints.

 

[GD_NC]

Have you thought about an attenuator? I use one even on low power tube amps. They allow you to get great tone at most any volume. Look into the Weber Mass Lite or Mini Mass these units are essentially just speaker motors without cones. That would be a lot less trouble than a mod and probably work better.

Remember, you have to increase wattage nearly 10x to double the perceived speaker volume. So really there's minimal volume difference between an amp running 2 EL84's and 4. A helpful article on amp power requirements: http://www.axiomaudio.com/power.html

 

[DION]

I'm not sure who exactly replied to my question, but thanks to EVERYONE just the same! ive replaced ALL the pots in my nomad 45, except the ch3 presence. (they sent me 4 reverb pots instead of three) the amp seems to be responding normally, somehow, without doing anything except examining the rest of the amp my ext spkr jacks seemto be working using the combo spkr to test them, my fx loop seems to be working also, only my reverb is missing. cables tested fine with a multi-meter, and ground has continuity, but the center lead does not have continuity. i traced it as far as the output end of the springs and they seem to have signal until going into the piece that looks like plates sandwiched together,and there it's gone.
i am looking forward to doing the nomad mods i just read thru, with a switch so i can have fx/series or parellel. also, M/B told me i simply cant do a half power mod as i was asking about, as the el-84 topology wont allow it, in their opinion. anyways,thanks to all of you once again!
dion, nomad 45 #59,
gtrs: homemade mighty-mite strat wduncans & custom shop singles
homemade mighty-mite tele w duncans & custom shop singles
Dean premium EVO (chech made) w duncan pearly gates
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