Trace Elliot AH-300 12 valve section does not seem to overdrive.

[big rob]

HI.
I have a trace ah-300 12 and it never really has had much distortion from the valve when i crank it up. I have had it from new but never really used it but fancy a bit of overdrive now and it does not seem to want to give me any. Uf the valve is blown how do i tell, opened it up last night and in not sure what a blown valve looks like or even if you can tell.
on the other hand could it just be the way the amp is, adding a bit of warmth?, however not sure its doing that even.

any advice would be welcome.
cheers
Big Rob

[umph]

broken valve will give almost no output, best bet is to try swapping it with another, if that doesn't do the trick you can mod it for more gain

[thodrik]

If its the same style as my SMX head, the valve doesn't really do overdrive, it just adds a bit of warmth and body to the tone. If you want anything beyond that then I would maybe suggest getting a pedal.

[big rob]

Cheers for the advice, thanks thodrik thought it might just be what they are like. Thanks for confirming it