Ashdown Amps and Tube Amps general questions.

[Beezoboy]

The guitarist in my band just bought an Ashdown 60 watt tube head that sounds great. I guess it would resemble the Mesa sound as far as it has low end and some chunk and a smooth high end. It is sounds very smooth overall. It has a 4 x 12 cab that runs @ 16 ohms.

My questions are.

1. Does a tube amp get quieter when it warms up. I think I heard somewhere that it does.

2. Is it ok to use for cold outside gigs, or will this kill the tubes much faster?

3. This amp is considerably quiter than (amps we have) a 68 Bassman, a 72 Twin Reverb, and Trace Elliot Super Tramp. Is this normall? Would running an 8 Ohm cab help make this thing louder?

4. Does running a tube amp at 9 - 10 (volume) hurt it? A solid state at 10 dies due to heat, but I hear that tube amps can run on 10 most of the time and normally run loud like that.

5. Finally does anyone know a discussion group or have any links to Ashdown support. The Ashdown webpage is not much of a help.

(I am not a guitarist so be gentle with me)
Beezoboy

[LocusLarsen]

I crank my Tube at 10 all the time. If your amp does not have 8 ohm output selector, then you can't use an 8 ohm cab. But yes, it would be louder than your 16. A Bassman is 4 ohm out I think, and a Twin is 2 ohm I believe. That dwarfs you 16 cab.

[Doug H]

alt.guitar.amps is one of the main amp newsgroups. I wouldn't be too crazy about playing in the cold, but I don't know if it's good or bad, I guess it depends how cold.