Removing Power Tubes; decrease wattage

[Misanthrope189]

Hi Guys,
I remember reading a long time ago about being able to remove the paired power tubes in the power amp to decrease the output. So if you have 4 power tubes, you could remove the outside 2 power tubes to decrease the power, if you don't have a half-power switch. I wasn't sure if you said this was safe or a bad thing to do, so I'm checking. My friend has a Triple Recto, but he and I can't really make use of the tone if we can't push the 150 watts, so pulling some power tubes came to mind as a probably solution, but I wanted to check with you first.

Thanks,
Nick

[MetalGrasshopper]

Re: Removing Power Tubes; decrease wattage

I don't know about the outer tubes, but with the Dual Recs, you remove the two inner tubes and a Rectifier tube while halfing the speaker impedence. I'm not sure that this would work with a triple, since the manual only mentioned that this would work for a Dual. Why doesn't he just use a Power attenuator like the THD Hot Plate? Removing the tubes doesnt necessarily make it a lower volume; it merely gives you a cranked sound a slightly lesser volume. Power Attenuators do the same thing, but its safer and can make the Recto sound as soft as you'd like. Also be sure that your friend uses the spongy and vac. tube rectifiers, that alone makes a world of difference.

[eaeolian]

Re: Removing Power Tubes; decrease wattage

Have him call Boogie. I've heard various times that this will or won't work with a Triple, but they'll tell you for sure - and they're great to deal with.