Tube amp questions

[armanHammer]

My amp has 2 6l6's and 3 12ax7's. Can I remove one of the 6l6's, and one or two of the 12ax's to reduce the output? (so I can crank it in the bedroom)

Also, when I need a retubing, what brand tubes should I get? (I know that's really vague, but I'm new to tubes). I have groove tubes now (red)

Also, I opened up the back chassis of my amp (ampeg reverberocket) and was surprised at how simple the circuitry is. Are there any simple mods I can make to the amp to improve the tone, or reduce noise, etc.

One last thing. I love my amp's clean channel, but the dirty channel is WAY too bassy, even with the bass all the way down. Anything I can do for this (besides a treble booster pedal or something)

[EADGBE]

I could be wrong but I don't think you can remove any of your tubes. The power tubes work in a push/pull configuration. Removing one of them may result in the amp not working at all. Now if you had 4 power tubes it would probably be possible to remove 2 to reduce the power (in theory anyway) by half. As far as new tubes I'd suggest Groove tubes. I use and like them myself.

[EADGBE]

One last thing. I love my amp's clean channel, but the dirty channel is WAY too bassy, even with the bass all the way down. Anything I can do for this (besides a treble booster pedal or something)
A 10 band E.Q. pedal straight into the amp or through the effects loop may help you there. You may want to wait until you have your amp re-tubed and re-biased to see if you still need it though.

[Old Tele man]

...with push-pull output circuits, you cannot simply pull one output tube when there are only TWO output tubes...that can only be done when there are FOUR output tubes, ie: two "pushing" and two "pulling."

...with FOUR output tubes (formally called 'parallel push-pull'), when you pull one tube from each side, you're simply removing the "parallel" tube, so the result is: '...one "pushing" and one "pulling"...' which reduces power but not as much as you'd expect or hear (tube load impedance changes too).

[oxtone]

For many years now, I've run my Mesa Simul 2:90 power amp with just two 6L6's per side, instead of the usual four per side,
and the amp sounds GREAT. I've not had any problems with the amp, either. It's worked perfectly on countless gigs & sessions, and
a tour. I load it with four Groove Tube 6L6GE's, which sound BIG.

[rockon1]

Can I remove one of the 6l6's,

No.


and one or two of the 12ax's to reduce the output?

No.

[VaughnC]

My amp has 2 6l6's and 3 12ax7's. Can I remove one of the 6l6's, and one or two of the 12ax's to reduce the output? (so I can crank it in the bedroom)

Also, when I need a retubing, what brand tubes should I get? (I know that's really vague, but I'm new to tubes). I have groove tubes now (red)

Also, I opened up the back chassis of my amp (ampeg reverberocket) and was surprised at how simple the circuitry is. Are there any simple mods I can make to the amp to improve the tone, or reduce noise, etc.

One last thing. I love my amp's clean channel, but the dirty channel is WAY too bassy, even with the bass all the way down. Anything I can do for this (besides a treble booster pedal or something)

You'll need all 3 preamp tubes as they are generally connected in series in the circuit to boost the signal sufficiently to properly drive the power tubes. If your amp happened to be a class A design with both 6L6's in parallel, you could remove one of the tubes to reduce the output....but dual 6L6 class A amps are very rare. In the more common class AB push pull amp, both power tubes are needed to reconstruct both sides of the output signal. If you remove one output tube in a push/pull circuit, part of the output signal will be missing which results in a very unpleasant type of distortion.

[armanHammer]

so, is there any way to reduce the output of my amp?

[VaughnC]

so, is there any way to reduce the output of my amp?
You'll need to either install a master volume control in the amp or purchase a speaker attenuator like a THD Hot Plate or similar that connects between the amp and the speaker.

[gldtp99]

Using the right sized amp for the given application is a wonderful thing--- Yes, sometimes Master Volume circuits, seperate attenuators, pulling two of four power tubes, using fewer/less efficient speakers, yellow jacket 6L6GC-to-EL84 adaptors, etc, etc. can get you by pretty well----
I'd suggest trying a Blackface Fender Princeton Reverb--- at @ 12-15 watts, it's one of the classic great sounding guitar amps of all time--- it's been used on countless recordings.
Using a great sounding amp in the volume range it was designed for is really the best option, IMO...............gldtp99