Would running a 12ax7 vacuum tube preamp without the tube burn something?

Thread Starter

olivee.almaraz

Joined Sep 19, 2021
1
I have a hybrid guitar amp that has a single 12ax7 in the preamp section and a class A-B solid state power amp section.

I've been using it only as a power amp (I connect an external preamp to the "return" of the effects loop, completely bypassing the integrated preamp) and I recently noticed that the 12ax7 has started to turn microphonic, so that a replacement tube would be needed, but I would prefer not to buy a tube for a preamp I won't likely use.
Can I just remove the tube in it and keep using just the power amp section or will running it without a tube burn something?
What if the tube fails without me noticing?
Thank you.
 

MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
18,176
I have an "almost all" transistor amp that also has a 12AX7 tube, The concept was to provide "The TUBE sound" because it was cool. What folks did not understand was that it was the whole amplifier circuit that gave the sound, not just one stage.
And nothing should burn out with the tube missing. BUT you can leave it there, it looks cool.
 
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