New bias results on TA-15

I was going to check the plate voltage today and doublechecked the bias. Wow! I apparently did not leave the bias probe on long enough yesterday? My initial readings with Mesa yellow EL84s seemed a bit high. Sorry about the misinformation. Anyway I left the bias probe on for about 20 minutes today and got the following readings with Mesa yellow EL84's:

25 watt: 25.9 ma (409 volts)
15 watt: 34.3 ma (298 volts)
5 watt: 37.7 ma (298 volts)
(plate voltage)

Average voltage in my home is 125 volts.

These numbers are certainly more realistic than my original findings. :?

So, this is the factory bias with the factory tubes?

People complain about cold bias in a Mesa, but that looks right to me.

Yeah, this is factory bias results. A trusted tech told me that those numbers are actually low for EL 84 tubes, which might explain why Mesa labeled them in the yellow category. I put an ad in classifieds for some blue or white EL 84's so I can compare tone, dynamics, and bias results.

Picked up some new issue Mullard EL84s from the Tube Depot. They were rated 31. Here are the results:

25 watt 33 ma (400 volts)
15 watt 41.4 ma (284 volts)
5 watt unavailable

The Mullards sound better than the Mesa yellows for distorted stuff, but the Mesas sound just as good to me on the clean stuff.

Picked up some NOS "various brands" EL84's from Tube Depot today. Although they were rated higher (35) than the Mullard New Issues (31) I got from Tube Depot, the Mullards put out slightly more mA. These "various brands" ended up being a matched pair of JAN 6BQ5 Sylvanias.

The Jans do sound quite a bit better than the Mullards.