Help! Mesa power tube ma rating?

Does anyone know the actual power tube rating for the Mesa amps? I want to use some of my NOS 6L6's and EL34's in my Tremoverb but need to select the correct set to fall within Mesa's sweet spot. Is it just the ma rating or are there other measurements that must be made? Thanks.

Other factors involved mate. You can't just match valves on the current draw at the grid.
I tried getting an answer out of Mesa ages ago and got nowhere. They've heard it all before, you can't fool em.
Watford Valves in the UK offer valves matched for Mesa amps. But charge nearly as much. You may as well buy Mesa.

I did lob some El34's out of an old 800 in my Mark V for half an hour. Just so I could be sure I wanted to go the EL34 route. Ultimately I bought some Mesa valves to do it and put the EL34's back in my 800.
Truth be told, my original valves are good, I think there is something other than marketing talk to Mesa's claims.

Nicklotsaguitars said:

Other factors involved mate. You can't just match valves on the current draw at the grid.

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What are the other factors?

Nicklotsaguitars said:

I tried getting an answer out of Mesa ages ago and got nowhere. They've heard it all before, you can't fool em.

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??? I'm not trying to fool anyone. I just want to use tubes that are vastly superior to those that come from Mesa. And I have piles of them, so I don't want to - nor do I need to - buy tubes from a dealer. I just need to know what criteria Mesa checks the tubes against and do the same. It's not even the matter of money per se. The tubes I have cost way more than what Mesa charges for tubes (even for their shitty RFT-made "NOS" EL34's). I just enjoy what particular tubes do to the sound and want to experience that with my Tremoverb - just like I do with all my other amps.

I see no reason why I can't match tubes to Mesa's specs the way Mesa and some tube sellers do. Clearly if other tube sellers know these specs it's not a closely guarded Mesa secret. Somebody ought to know. So... Anybody?

So buy yourself a valve tester

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Taylor-45C-Valve-Tester-complete-with-original-Instruction-Manual-Valve-Chart-/131879513870?hash=item1eb4a1af0e:g:dDMAAOSwdzVXilGP


What you need to do is see whether your old valves are anything like each other.

Nicklotsaguitars said:

What you need to do is see whether your old valves are anything like each other.

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Yeah, I thought about that. Which was going to be my next question: what type of tester do I need to be able to test for everything necessary in this situation? Most mutual conductance testers I see have scales only in micromhos. How do I measure plate current? What's the cheapest tester I can get away with to make these measurements?