Orange TH30H losing volume

[ABoyWithaTH30]

Hey everyone, recently ive been playing my TH30H with an attenuator and its been fantastic. I recently though then switched to no attenuation and noticed my normal setting which is pretty freakin loud (1 on the knob or 8 oclock) seems awfully quiet on both channels, only getting to a high of 85dbs. Could my power tubes be going bad from running with an attenuator? I also accidentally ran a 16 ohm cab with the 8ohm tap on the back of the amp. Could that have caused serious damage to my amp?

 

[ChurchHill]

I doubt running a 16-ohm cab into the 8-ohm output would do major damage, going the other way is usually worse.

Running your amp into an attenuator will wear out your tubes faster, though.

Have you checked any other possible causes, like a bad cable, or a setting like on a pedal, half-power switch, or maybe a blown speaker or something?

 

[ABoyWithaTH30]

I doubt running a 16-ohm cab into the 8-ohm output would do major damage, going the other way is usually worse.

Running your amp into an attenuator will wear out your tubes faster, though.

Have you checked any other possible causes, like a bad cable, or a setting like on a pedal, half-power switch, or maybe a blown speaker or something?

I did, I turned all pedals off, switched cabs, and it was just quiet as can be.

 

[ChurchHill]

Did you try disconnecting all pedals and using a different cable? Guessing you've tried different guitars, too. It is possible that you've got a bad/worn tube, but that usually results in a decline in sound quality, not necessarily output volume.

 

[Music&Chaos]

You need to take everything out of the chain for testing. Guitar direct to amp. Nothing in the fx loop. Head direct to cab of matching ohms for full volume. If you put an 8 ohm head into a 16 ohm cab, no harm done to the head, just not an efficient transfer of energy essentially.

Also, depending on the amp and how it is configured, if you have an input tube that has one plate going on it or something, it can reduce volume depending on how the amp works. If that tube was juicing your controls and it lost some function, it will reduce all of your settings, resulting in a quieter amp.

Again, depends on the amp design but it is usually- cables, tubes, something in the chain.

 

[ABoyWithaTH30]

So weirdly enough today, I turned my amp on and everything was way louder than yesterday. My normal setting for volume (8-8:30) is just as loud as I remember it being. Is it possible for tubes to slowly lose volume after running for a while? I have never changed the tubes on this amp since I bought it in 2023. This amp im pretty sure is from the mid 2010s and I bought it used with JJ tubes which I am not a fan of personally.

 

[ChurchHill]

I guess it's theoretically possible, but I'd think it'd be unlikely. Still, since you've been running it hard for a couple of years, it's probably due for new power tubes at least. Pre-amp tubes generally last longer, but as Music&Chaos points out, that's another potential cause.

Is it still losing volume or was it OK today as long as you were running it? If it was OK all day, I might suspect that it's something that you no longer have connected, like something in the FX loop.

If it were me, I'd think about getting all new tubes, anyway, at least new power tubes.

 

[Music&Chaos]

So weirdly enough today, I turned my amp on and everything was way louder than yesterday. My normal setting for volume (8-8:30) is just as loud as I remember it being. Is it possible for tubes to slowly lose volume after running for a while? I have never changed the tubes on this amp since I bought it in 2023. This amp im pretty sure is from the mid 2010s and I bought it used with JJ tubes which I am not a fan of personally.

Keep it running and see. I had a preamp tube with a bad plate on one side and since it was in the PI slot, it would be pretty unbalanced sounding, like would get thinner after it was hot. Replaced it and didnt have that issue.

 

[ABoyWithaTH30]

I guess it's theoretically possible, but I'd think it'd be unlikely. Still, since you've been running it hard for a couple of years, it's probably due for new power tubes at least. Pre-amp tubes generally last longer, but as Music&Chaos points out, that's another potential cause.

Is it still losing volume or was it OK today as long as you were running it? If it was OK all day, I might suspect that it's something that you no longer have connected, like something in the FX loop.

If it were me, I'd think about getting all new tubes, anyway, at least new power tubes.

It was just fine running today. Something must have been off. Yesterday I ran it for probably 3 hours cranked. Today it was only about an hour.

 

[ABoyWithaTH30]

Keep it running and see. I had a preamp tube with a bad plate on one side and since it was in the PI slot, it would be pretty unbalanced sounding, like would get thinner after it was hot. Replaced it and didnt have that issue.

Sounds like its time for a new set of tubes then!

 

[ChurchHill]

If you don't replace them all, I'd at least replace the phase inverter along with the power tubes. That's probably the 12AX7 closest to the power tubes. The manual says the 12AT7 is for the FX loop. I haven't looked at the schematic, though, so that's just a guess.

I've got a Rocker 30, which isn't terribly far away from your TH30. It's a great sounding amp with its own thing going on.