OT question

[12AX7]

It's said 100 watters have a punchier more solid tone, and the 100 watt marshalls i've had did indeed sound different in a way i liked. Those adjectives may not be the best words to describe it, but you know what i mean. Anyways, the question is, if you use a 100 watt OT in a 50 watt EL34 amp, will you get the same effect as it it were 4 tubes? Also, besides using the speaker tap thats 1/2 the value  as your speaker load, is there anything i should know about trying this?

[panhead]

I would think that unless the 100W transformer is run near saturation with the 4 EL34's, it shouldn't sound much different running at 50W with 2 EL34's. You are correct about only needing to change to OT tap.

[LooseChange]

Let's go another way.... Four power tubes sound rounder than two.

[12AX7]

Ok, then is there any difference worth noting having a 100 w OT over the 50?

[bluesbear]

I'm not an expert on Marshalls but here's what Ken Bran said. They built the first 50 watt prototype with a 100 watt OT because they had it on hand. After some trial and error, they made all the early 50 watters with 100 watt OT's because they thought it was fuller sounding with better low-end harmonics. He and Dudley Craven designed the thing so he ought to know.
That's all I know.
Dave

[bigsbybender]

Odd, I always preferred the sound of the 50w models....

[Willabe]

Hi-fi amps use full band width OT's, most guitar amps don't. If you put a 100w OT in a 50w amp you'll get full band width frequency response from it or close to it.

You might like the sound better , but you might not. Hammonds standard line of OTs are rated at full band width.


                             Brad