Pulling 2 Tubes -Musicman

dynomike · Post by **dynomike** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 1:28 pm

Guitar amp guys..

I have a musicman 210hd (130 watts, apparently, 4xel34) and have been using it with a Weber Mass (50 watts) with the musicman on the low power setting (which lowers the plate voltage from 750v to 425v or something like that to acheive half power). This would also kind of change the sound I figure. If I switched it to high power and pulled two of the tubes would it sound better but still be ~50 watts for the weber to handle?

I'd like to try it but I don't want to damage anything. I've heard that I should switch to 4 ohm (from 8 ohm) impedance when pulling two tubes and that I should pull the inner two.. not sure if this is true for this amp though. Any help would be appreciated.

Mike

RodC · Post by **RodC** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 2:30 pm

A lot of this depends on the sound you are going for?? Ultra clean Ultra distorted?

I would switch it to the higher power and don't pull any tubes. See what this sounds like.

As long as you are not pushing the speakers to distortion they will should be OK. Just dont crank the thing!

130W into a good quality 50W speaker driven properly shouldnt be an issue. I have seen more speakers blown due to under power than over powering them. Your amp is constantly clipping and forceing the speaker to do stuff it dont want to.

Check out some speaker sights, look at the rated wattage and what amp they recommend, most of the time it will be 2X the rating of the speaker.

Of course with distorted guitars it can be tough, the type of distortion you introduce will also determine how your speaker will hold up.

Thats just my 2cents, I'm sure others will have more wisdom

RodC · Post by **RodC** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 2:41 pm

Oops sorry, my mistake, I read this too fast. I saw the 50W and didnt read the webber mass part. Didnt realize you were using a power attenuator.

I would still try it, just dont crank the amp. Lower volumes are going to produce lower wattage just the same as pulling tubes.

The amps I have heard with tubes pulled are OK, but I think they sounded better with the normal ammount of tubes.

BENDYmusic · Post by **BENDYmusic** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 2:54 pm

I used to have a similar amp, Music Man 210HD One Fifty. When I got it it had the EL34's and I switched it back to 6L6. I found that the Sovtek 5881 WXT sounded the best, also, pulling two tubes gave it a much more pleasant sound, more organic, less metallic. I was never sure if pulling tubes was bad for the amp, so I didn't do it much. Traded the amp recently, havent looked back. Good luck!

Andy

RodC · Post by **RodC** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 3:04 pm

Damn it! That last post cost me my Eng. Ass title! I liked that better than aligin a 24 Track!

Anywhoo....

2nd on the 6L6's if you like deep clean sounds, and they are a bit lower wattage. I like the EH ones.

dynomike · Post by **dynomike** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 5:18 pm

Hey Andy.

What tubes did you pull? I'd try that.. Rod, the reason I am running it hot is because I like the compression/sustain/light drive of the power tube breakup and don't really like the preamp distortion on the amp.

What did you trade the amp for, btw.. I really like mine but perhaps the grass could be even greener?

Mike

vibrationlander · Post by **vibrationlander** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 8:18 am

oops my mistake, too. . .
i thought this was about ?pulling tubes?
a whole different animal, but a worthy topic nonetheless.

BENDYmusic · Post by **BENDYmusic** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 3:54 am

I tried two different configurations, A: by pulling the outside tubes, ie 1 and 4, and B: by pulling one pair of tubes, like 3 and 4 for example. YMMV, at your own risk. sounded rad, the thing never sounded better.

I had that amp for like 14 years, and since then I have acquired and built many other amp contraptions that I like better. The least of which being a Vox AC15TBX, an upgraded Fender Champion 600, etc.. So, I was looking around at things that take up space and dont inspire me anymore. The fact that that amp always needed something, better tubes, better speakers, pulling tubes, etc, I was just never happy with it. Albatross. Traded it with an Ibanez guitar that I also hated for almost as long and got a Wurlizer 200a. No regrets.

Other things that sounded interesting on the MusicMan: Bridge the inputs and set one channel real bassy and the other not, so its like bi-amped. Man that amp was bright. and loud. Channel one was always better, less knobs and junk I guess. So I would just use that many times. My amp had a built in phasor, that was cool, especially with the fake bi-amp approach. Also, when bridging the inputs you can experiment with pedals in-between channels. Also, you can bridge other amps in and make a nice multi amp blended tone. So you could have like a nice tone from some other amp and then a whole lotta loud from the MusicMan. Other speaker cabs would be another option to improve the sound as those 10" speakers were brash and ringy. and loud. did I mention loud? and heavy too, that amp was super heavy. I was about to replace the speakers in the amp before I realized that it was the amp that needed replacing. Webber VST makes good stuff, and they are great at helping you decide what to get, if you decide to go that way.

Have fun, let us know what you discover.

Andy

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Pulling 2 Tubes -Musicman

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