TUBES

As a new member to the Boogie family...I do have an important question....Is my F-50 happy only with Mesa Tubes, or are there better alternatives? My buddy that owns a Lonestar says " Use only Mesa tubes in that amp" that is fine just want to know. I just picked this amp up second hand and it is 5 years old. Do you also suggest replacing the tubes? How do you tell if they need replacement? The amp was supposedly never at a gig, just mostly home use...

Any help would be appreciated...Thank you..C

JJs tubes sound the best in the F series and DC series amps if you ask me. They are quieter, cleaner, tighter, crisper, and crunchier. I was really impressed at the difference going from Mesas to JJs in my F-30 and DC-3.

thats also sort of my hang up with mesa. I'd like to use vintage rca 6L6's in my F-100 to brighten it up some, and though not an issue with preamp tubes, isnt this a no-no with power tubes due to no bias asjustment?

Yes and no. If you have a Bias Right or other device to measure the bias in the power section, you could in theory use them as long as long as you are under max dissipation. Mesa's generally run on the cold side so I am thinking that if everything checks out you should be good to go.
As for cuwatcheck F-50, there are several brands you could check out if you wanted, just tell the vendor what amp you have and they can set you up.

Your power tubes should be colour coded, look at the base of the tube, it should say 'red' or 'yellow' or 'grey'.
This is an indication of bias range, if you replace them with the same colour you'll stay in the range your amp has been biased.

Now many respectable tube retailers (not manufacturers) will be happy to provide you with the right bias range tube from other manufacturers. JJ's are good (I use JJ EL84s), SED winged C's are great for me and are currently in my F50, you might also be happy with Sovtek's, Ruby's etc... it all comes down to personal taste.

Keep in mind that the difference between tube brand is not dramatic. In your case the difference in tone will come from the fact that you replace old tubes by fresh ones more than going from Mesa tubes (Sovtek I believe) to JJ's or SED's.

But then if the amp was used only at home the tubes might not even be too degraded, but since you don't know that for sure a set of new tubes seems to be the best option.

Cheers
Fabien