Changing Tubes

is it easy/hard.

Its easy, unless you need to set the bias. Unless you know your way around electronics, its probably best left to a tech. That said, not all amps need to be biased when new drive tubes are put in. Which amp are you tubing swapping?

my power tubes have recently gone down, volume wise, drastically and i know that i need new tubes. I've read on other forums just to use fabrics when handling the tubes because they might get too hot with the oil on your fingers.

What kind of amp do you have? It may need to be biased if you change power tubes.

If you are changing pre amp tubes they are cahode biased (adjustable biased) and are self adjusting so they are just a plug and play deal. Power tubes depend on the amp design if your amp is cathode biased it is adjustable and most likely needs no attention and is just plug and play. If your amp is fixed bias (with or without an adjustment pot) it should be at least checked and will possibly need to be adjusted.

Another poster has already asked you about the type of amp you have, so that someone can give you more specific advice.

i have a peavey ultra plus 120 watt head

does an ac30cc1 need to be biased? i know that it has a switch on the back panel allowing users to select either 22 watt output or 33 watt output?

Ultra Plus amps are set bias, just pop in new tubes and go. I used Euro Tube's high gain retube kit when I redid one I had last year, sounded great. I always held tubes with my fingers when I installed them, and never had a problem with spots getting burned on the sides of my tubes or any of them going faulty. I know car headlights you HAVE to use a piece of fabric or something, but those get really hot. You should be safe just using your fingers, but use an old tshirt if you would rather not touch them. Do yourself a favor and get some good contact cleaner, soak the pins down and push the tube in and pull it out a few times on each socket to clean the contacts real good.

That's fixed bias.