Cranking a low wattage tube amp?

[FullReverse]

I'm forced to use my 20 watt Peavey Classic mini head for practice/shows while my evh 100 watt is being worked on. I have to turn the Volume of the peavey up to around 7 or 8 to be at practice/show volume. I'm a little embarrassed to not know this, but will this harm an amp? It's never really come up for me before.

There are conflicting answers out there, but I'll consider the answers proved here to be definitive.

 

[chris]

the question is will using the amp at 7 or 8 harm the amp?

 

[FullReverse]

the question is will using the amp at 7 or 8 harm the amp?

Yeah, running channel two at nearly full volume for 1.5 hours straight, 4 nights per week.

 

[aziz]

In general, guitar amps and speakers are made for that kind of use and it's ok.

 

[guitarmike]

That's where they sound the best. It does put more of a strain on the power tubes but it shouldn't be problem. For club gigs I used to run any of several 15watt el84 based amps wide open with a sm57 in front and a tube screamer and an old crybaby. Only had one blow up... my 1624 Supro which came with 7963's but I changed them out with el84's because at the time I couldn't find any 7963's. The amp sounded much better with the el84's, until it blew up...that was a killer amp. I stored it away in a shed with the intention of repairing it but unbeknownst to me the shed had a leaky roof and after a year of weathering, the amp was ruined.

 

[Tsunamijuan]

MMM supros and valco in general, I love mine. They are definitely happy little suckers at high volume, and high volume is all you get for gain on them