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previous: Stephen Conner double not half -- 2/28/2000 12:51 PM

Double, half, doesn't matter much

2/28/2000 3:54 PM
R.G.	Double, half, doesn't matter much If you pull one tube from either side of a push-pull primary in a tube amp, it will not harm the transformers in general, unless there was already something close to killing them or they were damaged to begin with. Tube amps in general are not harmed with a load mismatched 2:1 high or low. The available power goes down for either mismatch, as the tubes are usually run at the point of maximum power out. If you raise the output load a lot to where it begins to look like the output load is kind of open, you start to get the behaviors of a tube amp without a load, and that can damage transformers and tubes because it can make for oscillation and voltage spikes. But 2:1 too high isn't enough to hurt any amp in good condition.

2/28/2000 3:54 PM

R.G.

Double, half, doesn't matter much

If you pull one tube from either side of a push-pull primary in a tube amp, it will not harm the transformers in general, unless there was already something close to killing them or they were damaged to begin with.

Tube amps in general are not harmed with a load mismatched 2:1 high or low. The available power goes down for either mismatch, as the tubes are usually run at the point of maximum power out.

If you raise the output load a lot to where it begins to look like the output load is kind of open, you start to get the behaviors of a tube amp without a load, and that can damage transformers and tubes because it can make for oscillation and voltage spikes. But 2:1 too high isn't enough to hurt any amp in good condition.

Replies:

danlawrence Re: Half a double still leaves No Quarter -- 3/2/2000 8:08 AM