Removing center pair of power tubes on SD II 80?

Anyone here with an SD II 80 pulled the middle pair of power tubes to drop the thing to 40w? Good results? Bad? Any reduction in overall volume? Is this harmful for the amp in any way? Insights appreciated.

Any replies to this would be appreciated. I love my SD 80 but it is way too loud for most of the venues I play. The one time the venue was big enough I ended up in pain from the volume for 2 days. THERE MUST be a way to control this beast - I already have the balanced volume MOD and have tried 3 or four attenuators including the tube cube, Weber Mass & DR Z airbrake. None of which have managed to do what they promised. Can someone help?

Hello, I know this is a little late, but you actually pull the outside pair of tubes and leave the center two tubes in to run it at half power. It's still a very loud amp, but calms it down a bit. The amp can run forever like this with no damage done according to Mike Scaccia at Budda that I have been in contact with. I currently only run the two center tubes in my SD80 with no problems at all. Also, according to Mike, since the amp is self biasing, you can try any kind of octal based tubes in the amp. He recommended I try EL34's for a "better" lead sound. Enjoy your Budda!

SD80 is cathode biased amp with cathode resistor shared by all 4 tubes.
NEVER remove tubes if cathode resistor is common!
Tubes you leave in circuit will be red-hot an toasted.
And EL34 in SD80 can't play correctly until cathode resistor will be changed.
I'm so sorry about Budda's "support"

I just picked up a slightly used SD80 and like everyone else found that volume wise it is almost too much to deal with. I actually wanted to get a SD30, but this amp came up out of the blue and I had to nail it. Anyway in order to run the amp at rehearsals and even in my bedroom I use an old Lexicon MPX100 signal processor through the efx loop. I used this setup with a Splawn Modded Marshall for gigs in the past and it always worked well in both adding a touch of delay but also acting as an overall master volume. It works just as well with the Budda, and I have not noticed any loss in tone or anything by doing so. The best part is you can pick one of these processors up for dirt cheap on Ebay. I put the master volume on the Budda at around 9 o'clock, and do the same on both the input sensitivity and output on the Lexicon. If I need more volume I just turn up the Master on the Budda a bit, or turn up the output on the processor. I like the idea that you have almost unlimited power at your disposal with this amp, but this makes it possible to use the amp at home without getting a visit from the cops.

Hey mark434859, I love your idea. And also I would like to thank vince for his CORRECT comments. After enough playing with the SD80 with only two tubes, like I was told by Mike Scaccia at Budda to do, I finally started killing tubes and thought there was a problem. Well, after buying a new set of tubes and putting them ALL in, the amp sounds much better, but obviously is still incredibly loud. I don't know if taking the two power tubes out really dropped the volume that much anyway. I just want to say that I really want to like my SD80, it just hurts to play it with a guitar straight into the amp. I have a THD Hotplate that works great with a VHT that I have, so I guess I will try it with the SD80 and again, I love mark434859's idea, so I am going to give that a shot too.
Fortunately, I have not sold the SD80 yet, maybe I still have a chance at making this work.

[b]No problem, MrRush...I know there are plenty of other processors that would probably work just as well as the Lexicon regarding keeping the volume under control. I've had this model for years and it has always done a good job. I originally bought it to use with a Mesa Boogie Mark IV I used to have years ago. The newer Lexicon models can be on the pricey side and I'm not so sure they'll really do much more than the earlier MPX100 model would do anyway. I just like to add a bit of delay and reverb in the mix, and for that it works fine. I just saw one the other day on Ebay with a starting bid of $40 and a BIN for $60...can't really beat that considering what it can do for you.
Honestly I would not sell the SD80 if I were you--I've only had mine for a few weeks and I love what I already get out of it, plus the potential to get even more once I really work with it and dial it in with different speaker cabs and whatnot. I've had it at a few rehearsals already going through a 2x12 cab and it is unreal to me just how alive this amp sounds. I also love the idea that it cleans up so well when you back down on the guitar volume. Every decent tube amplifier will do that, of course...but IMHO the Budda simply does it better. It smokes everything else I have--even the Splawn Modded Marshall (which is a beast itself) cannot really compare to the overall tone of the Budda--and in fact it is almost impossible to clean up the Marshall unless you take the guitar volume down to almost nothing. The combination of power, incredible tone and a great clean channel (which my Marshall does not have) makes it a great package. I think if you work with it for a while it will eventually be your go-to amp, end of story. Besides the Marshall I have one of those Soldano designed Yamaha T100 combos along with a Peavey Classic 30, which are very solid amplifiers in their own right. The Budda is just superior in quality and tone to all of them and an absolute keeper to me.