Mesa's STR 430's vs. STR 440's

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cesjr

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I just replaced the power tubes in my Mark IV. I noticed the stock power tubes I pulled out were STR 430's, and I replaced them with STR 440's. I know the 430's are Russian Sovtek, and the 440's are Chinese. So how do they compare? What are the differences between the two?

CJ
 
Have you played it yet since the retube? What have you noticed?
 
Well, I've spent a few days with the new power tubes. To try and answer my own question all I can say is, I don't know. It's hard to compare 2 year old Sovtek 6L6's with brand new Chinese tubes. Going off of memory I'd say they're very similar, I'm sure this why Mesa chose these. But why they're not using the Sovteks anymore is a good question.

The first thing I noticed however; was the physical differences between them. The Sovteks seem to be more solid. They're a lot heavier than the Chinese tubes due to the thicker glass envelope. The Sovteks just seem more road-worthy. Time will tell to see how the Chinese tubes hold up.
 
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