Pulling out power tube for less wattage?

[ericlingus]

Hi, I have a mesa boogie F50 combo amp. I have heard of people pulling out a power tube to lessen the wattage. Does that work without messing anything up? Could someone tell me about it? Is it safe to do? Anything else you need to do? THanks.

 

[disassembled]

You cannot do that on your amp.


Greg

 

[ericlingus]

okay thanks. May I ask why? Is it a special feature just on certain amps? Not that big of a deal anyways.

 

[Mr. Stiletto]

You've got just 2 Powertubes in your F50.
It's not possible to pull only 1 tube - you always have to pull 2 because it's class AB => It's not possible.
The 2 tubes share the phases of your signal (one tube amplifies one phase and the other tube amplifies the other phase).
i've you would have got an 100W Amp with 4 powertubes you could pull 2 tubes which amplify 2 different phases. Then you would have got 2 powertubes left, which produce 50W.