Playing tube amps at bedroom levels

[Vax]

Hey all,

Having acquired an AC15 (the heritage model that doesn't have a master volume), I've been using pedals to push the front hard so that I can get overdriven tone without waking the whole house. I keep the pedal output low, and as such I can crank the amp to 12 o'clock. It's not the "true" tube saturation tone but it suffices for practice purposes.

Is it healthy to run a tube amp in this way in the long run, where the only time I get to crank it is at a gig? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

Cheers,
Vax

 

[subversion]

tube amp suffers upon bad handling of the tubes, nothing to do with pedals.

 

[RenoSG]

hi there,
to crank your tube amp at bedroom level, what you need is an 'attenuator' like the THD hotplate for instance.
check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bOBFIuCx5k
cheers!

 

[dodgethis]

Eventually, you will have to replace to your tubes, which I hope you were prepared for before you bought the amp. And since you have a Vox AC amp, where the power tubes are biased especially hot and cannot be adjusted because it's cathode biased, the life span of the EL84s in those things are especially short. I'd get ready to change power tubes once a year, if I were you.

 

[relinquish69]

placing a pedal before the amplifier and setting it's volume super low while cranking up the amp's volume is one of the cheaper alternatives to using a tube amp's gain instead of buying an attenuator.

been doing that for a while, no issues whatsoever. however, the volume you can play around with would still be very limited. like the TS said, that kinda tone is good enough for practice purposes.

 

[taiku]

another alternative is placing the pedal in the amp's fx loop, if it has one..this was my friend's advice to me before..if you have hot pups, this is better..plus, you will be able to use the boost switch effectively, if your amp also has one..

try this or relinquish69's advice, decide which one suits your taste

 

[Pedal-itis]

bro. get a ppimv installed. text me at 91734359 if u want to get this done. its worth and i krank my 100 watt vintage marshall man. without waking my cat

 

[bluelime]

No offence but what is a ppimv?

 

[dodgethis]

Post Phase Inverter Master Volume

 

[bluelime]

Lets say i get it installed in my amp.
And if i nid to bring my amp to a gig is it okay to reverb back to normal ?

 

[dodgethis]

Have it bypassable like they do on the new AC Handwired models.