Quick, Quite Possibly Stupid Question

[SixStringSlinger]

I was wondering, can a solid state amp be modded into a tube amp?

I'll duck now.

[Dacious]

Yes it can, the same way a Honda Civic could be modified to take a smallblock Chev V8 - why would you want to? The SS amp is usually but not always built to a price, so the cabinet, speaker and other parts will be somewhat chintzier and lighter than a tube amp equivalent. The chassis might be much slimmer and there may not be the real estate to fit in bigger items.

The real answer is, yes. Just not easily or cheaply and with questionable results. Almost every component other than the cabinet and maybe speaker would need to be replaced. Typical SS amp works on 30-60 volts internally, tyical tube amp works from 300-500 volts inside.

As anyone who's built a car from spare parts will tell you, it's always cheaper to buy the real deal.....

[JohnnyCrash]

"Modded"? No.

Rebuilt? Yes.

Dacious' car analogy was very appropriate.

Imagine pulling a little Honda Civic's engine and rearranging everything to fit a V8. You would have to cut and fabricate mounting brackets (perhaps from scratch), everything down the line would need to be gutted and replaced, tranny, etc.

When it comes to an amp... you'd need new iron. A new Power and Output Transformer. The circuit would probably not have very many parts you could reuse in a tube circuit. Therefore, everything after the "engine" would have to be refit/replaced to match up with your new horsepower.

Then you get to the chassis itself. Drilling/cutting tube socket mounting holes, probably a new PT hole... worrying about routing stuff inside and tube socket placement, etc.

Its just not worth it. It would probably be easier to do a scratch build into a blank chassis than a rebuild generally would.

[maestrovert]

Originally Posted by JohnnyCrash

"Modded"? No.

Rebuilt? Yes.

Dacious' car analogy was very appropriate.

Imagine pulling a little Honda Civic's engine and rearranging everything to fit a V8. You would have to cut and fabricate mounting brackets (perhaps from scratch), everything down the line would need to be gutted and replaced, tranny, etc.

When it comes to an amp... you'd need new iron. A new Power and Output Transformer. The circuit would probably not have very many parts you could reuse in a tube circuit. Therefore, everything after the "engine" would have to be refit/replaced to match up with your new horsepower.

Then you get to the chassis itself. Drilling/cutting tube socket mounting holes, probably a new PT hole... worrying about routing stuff inside and tube socket placement, etc.

Its just not worth it. It would probably be easier to do a scratch build into a blank chassis than a rebuild generally would.

But why would you want to, other than wanting to ? i mean if you've the skills etc, cool.....but if not, save yourself the hassle & expense and jes' buy yerself a tube amp....