Changed my 6L6's few questions

I would appreciate your expert help here.....

I swapped out my 6l6s for a new quad of mesa tubes.....first off they were difficult to fully seat in the sockets....is this normal with the 6l6?????

Secondly...the amp is making a rattling sound on the tweed and fat channel on certain bassy notes?

WTF....

Mine seat fine except in one spot where a screw nicks one of the tubes. The socket is out far enough out though so it sits in there snug.

I don't have one of the new ones with a tube cage, but maybe that's where the rattle is coming from?

I just went back to 6L6s and added an open back 1x12 with a V30 and I'm digging the V30/C90/6L6 combo.

It is tube rattle....I think it is the preap tube for the clean channel.

I had the same problem with the 6l6 tubes not seating I called mesa and they said it is ok that some of the tubes have some extra stuff (solder I guess) on the post preventing them from seating. I will be ordering new tubes soon I hope they fix this. I thought something was wrong with my amp and searched every blog forum I could find and couldnt get an answer.
Mesa if you are monitoring these post please check the tube posts before you ship them out to customers. I was tempted to keep pushing until it was fully seated!

they are a little difficult to get seated but that is good to know that they are tight in the socket.and is normal!!
also make sure the clips arent squeezing them to tightly while putting them in.
not sure about the rattle without hearing it for myself..i also have that screw hanging down and the tube base just clears it..
no cage here either

Also, try gently wiggling them in a circular motion when pushing in. I never force it in straight, and mine fully seat.

robertray said:

Also, try gently wiggling them in a circular motion when pushing in. I never force it in straight, and mine fully seat.

Click to expand...

+1

I have the same problem with the power tubes in my combo when I push the amp to get that sweet fat clean tone the jingle. I read some where that is common in combo amps. I think they make some sort of gadget that help with it. I bet if all combo guys push there amps on by pass mode they will get same results.

Some power tubes are noisy. The internals tend to vibrate. I have a set of tubes that like to sing with moderate volume (6L6 GC STR 420 coke bottle shape which were the original tubes from by MKIV combo). They sound really good in the Mark V head and I did not notice vibration as much if at all as I did with the MKIV combo). Unfortunately the cage and the coke bottle tubes do not fit together well. I just have them as spares just in case.

Some tubes are prone to the making noise or vibration (actually they all make noise, but some are more noticable than others.) I believe there are only 2 tube resources availabe. China (unsure how many companies produce in china), Soviet Union (Sovetech, Electro-harmonix, Svetlana). I found that the 5881 military grade 6L6 perform very well (Sovtech).

China 6L6 tubes: Mesa marking STR420, STR427, STR440
Sovtek 6L6 tubes: Mesa marking STR430
Svetlana 6L6 tubes: Mesa marking STR454

What came with my Mark V : STR440, made in China, replacement for the 6L6 STR 420