Pushing a tube amp

[scotte_za]

is it bad for a tube amp to be pushed hard for long amounts of time? i'm using a 20 watt Hughes & Kettner at band practice, pushed to about 8 (out of 10) on the clean channel for the whole practice. is this bad for my amp? sadly, i cant really lower the volume or my sound just kinda gets lost...

also, would buying a 2x12 extension cab be a viable solution to this little problem? i wanna be able to play my clean parts without experiencing tube overdrive (as nice as it sounds, it can be a little annoying)

[heffergm]

It's harder on tubes, yes. But a tube amp really sounds it's best when it's working hard. Don't worry about it... you're not going to fry any electronics, you'll just need to replace your tubes sooner than if you only ran it at '3' all day long.

[scotte_za]

it does sound kinda nice i guess completely different to the way it does when im playing at home... do any of you guys have experience with the H&K red box DI? Cause I was just looking and it looks like i can use one of those to run straight from my amp into my singer's PA...

[Vim Fuego]

Don't know about the red box, but I just bought a Behringer G100 Ultra-G Di Box
http://www.behringer.com/GI100/index.cfm?lang=eng
you plug it in line with your speakers and it has a speaker emulated output (4x12) Sounds pretty good and only £25.
Jim

[Devon8822]

definetly not bad for your amp I wouldn't worry about it. Other than of course more "time" off the tubes and amps life... thats a given...