One power tube glows more than the others?

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Hollis

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Check this out and tell me if it's normal, please. I've had a few power tube failures in my Deluxe Reverb, but they've always been catastrophic and obvious: arcing, blown fuse, etc. I just got this Electra Dyne about three weeks ago, and it seems to be performing fine, but I noticed that one power tube glows significantly more/brighter than the other three. The amp has all Mesa branded tubes, preamp and power, and it has about 6 months left on the warranty according to Mesa's awesome customer service dept (they are sending me a new handle because the one that's on it is badly split on top). I can only assume that these are the original factory tubes, but who knows. Take a look at the pics below and tell me your opinion(s):





 
I would put that tube in a different tube socket and see if the glow follows. If it does, get a new set of tubes. If the glow stays with that socket (different tube glows just as hot) there may be something wrong with the circuit. Good luck and keep us posted.
 
I could be mistaken, but it only appears to be differences in the heater element. Since tube manufacture is not an exact science, it depends on how much of the filament is showing at the end of the cathode sleeve. I have seen variations of the heater glow in the same tubes (including preamp tubes) and it is little or no concern. If it was a JJ power tube, I would say it would have a short life, my experience with JJ power tubes was short and they are no longer an option for me. Also what you see on one side of the tube may not be what can be seen on the other side. Sometimes, the seam on the plate may be showing the onset of red, depends on the volume settings and will only become apparent during operation and not on standby. Your pictures look normal. I have also seen some tubes with little or no heater glow (typically preamp tubes) but you need to look into the slots on the plate to notice.

In complete darkness, you may see a blue hue in the tube which is normal. If only three of the tubes are blue and the subject only has header glow it may not be passing any current. No blue glow is not an indication the tube is bad. However, while observing the tubes, does the yellow glow increase while playing? If it gets brighter and dims with no signal it may be time to replace. Often may be the case with a screen resistor issue but doubtful. Does the amp sound harsh or overly compressed? I have had a tube cut out once and the amp went out of balance and sounded super compressed. You could swap the inner tubes with the outer tubes and observe. Keep the matched pairs matched. Outer tubes are one pair, inner tubes are the other pair. Note: if you are operating at half power, only two tubes will have the blue glow and the others will be off. If any of them glow purple or pink that would indicate a vacuum leak and should be replaced. Blue normal, purple or pink no good. Red definitely bad but usually on the plate and not fluorescence on the glass tube.

How old are the tubes (perhaps the better question would be how many months of use are on the tubes) ? If you have more than a year of use on the tubes, good time to update to new tubes. One a power tube reaches end of its life, typical symptom usually is lack of character, sudden change in tone, loss of bass or treble, uncontrollable feedback, and could eventually red plate or stop flowing current.
 
shimmilou said:
bandit2013 said:
...it is little or no concern...

+1
No problem at all.

bandit2013 said:
........ If it was a JJ power tube, I would say it would have a short life, my experience with JJ power tubes was short and they are no longer an option for me.......
You cannot judge the condition of, or lifespan of a tube simply by observing heater glow, regardless of brand (unless of course there is no glow at all LOL). You are implying that bright heater glow in a JJ tube is a sign of short life, that is not correct.

bandit2013 said:
....... However, while observing the tubes, does the yellow glow increase while playing? If it gets brighter and dims with no signal it may be time to replace. Often may be the case with a screen resistor issue but doubtful...........
So which is it? Often the case, or doubtful?

Screen grid resistors have nothing at all to do with the heaters. The screen grid resistors are on the HT power, and are not passing voltage until your out of standby. The heaters have their own supply, straight from the Power Transformer. If the heater glow intensity changes (while playing or not) you may have a power supply issue.

As already said, your tubes are fine, your amp is fine, Rock On!

Dom
 
Thanks for the responses guys! I've been playing my amp and even had a gig with it Friday night where it was cranked up pretty loud(volume 2:00 master 10:00, that's pretty f'n loud even in 45 watts) and it performed great. However I did notice the other night: with the lights off I checked out the tubes(90 watts) and I had 3 with a nice blue glow and one with no blue glow. Is this also no cause for alarm? Someone said it was ok in a previous post.
 
No blue glow might indicate that the particular tube has no current flow through it. It could also be normal, as some tubes have the blue glow and some do not. You might want to check the current with a bias probe to be sure.
 
shimmilou said:
No blue glow might indicate that the particular tube has no current flow through it. It could also be normal, as some tubes have the blue glow and some do not. You might want to check the current with a bias probe to be sure.
+1.

Some glow, some do not. For curiosity, swap the non-blue glow power tube with one that does glow blue. Does the non-glow follow the tube, or remain at the socket?

Dom
 

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