Mark V:35 changing power tubes - one doesn't light up

The Boogie Board

Help Support The Boogie Board:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

diabolical

Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2024
Messages
10
Reaction score
4
I started getting some issues playing, losing power and fidelity for a little bit (amp gets dull) and then comes back.
After talking to Mesa they told me to try new power tubes - so I ordered 4 EL84s for this amp and changed them. Now one of the power tubes won't light up. I got matched tubes were matched from Tubedepot.
The original tubes (the Mesa "brand") were lighting up ok before that.
I also found a microphonic preamp tube in V1 that I changed out, no probs there.
Any ideas?
 
OK, looks like a defective tube straight out of the box, it sucked on air and broke, took it out, luckily no damage to amp.
Got a spare from an older set, all lights up ok and amp works fine.
They all light up red but the furthest two also have a bluish tinge in there. Don't know if that is standard. Doesn't arc but possibly running at higher voltage? Talked to a tube amp designer friend that I have and he thinks its probably the amp design.
 
The blue hue is normal. The heater glow should be more yellow in color, not red. If the plates are starting to get too hot they will start to turn cherry red either at the seams of the plates or at the center of the plate surface. Power up the amp to warm up, you do not need to plug anything in, take the amp out of standby, you will see some blue hue but is harder to see a lighted room. Turn off the lights. It may look like my avatar. That is normal. More so for a 6L6 tube. However, if the tube does not have that blue hue, it does not mean it is bad or not working. If the tube has any slots or holes in the plates, you can look into the tube and around the orange glowing cathode will be a blue corona, that is caused by the electron emissions. Blue glow is normal. Not to worry. If it is purple, then you need to worry. If the grey or black plates turn red, the tubes are either running too hot and not suitable for the fixed bias of the amp. I had that happen with new tubes already when I had bought them from other vendors. That can happen. Contact the vendor and tell them you got a bad tube in the batch. They should have written a number on a label or the box at least. If it is the measured plate current they may be able to send you a replacement. I would not mix tubes separately as that could place the amp in an unbalanced state. Keep the quad of tubes in pairs. the outer tubes are one pair and the inner tubes are one pair. I am not sure how the Dyna-Watt circuit works. There may be some mention on tube replacement in the manual for the amp. It looks like the outer pair are used for the 25W and 10W modes. So if the amp was in 25W or 10W setting, the inner pair of tubes will not have any blue glow to them. At 35W mode, they should be but may vary based on the tube. Sometimes the glow on the glass is due to something on the glass surface. There will be a blue corona around the cathode at the center of the tube, it is just not easy to see it.
 
The blue hue is normal. The heater glow should be more yellow in color, not red. If the plates are starting to get too hot they will start to turn cherry red either at the seams of the plates or at the center of the plate surface. Power up the amp to warm up, you do not need to plug anything in, take the amp out of standby, you will see some blue hue but is harder to see a lighted room. Turn off the lights. It may look like my avatar. That is normal. More so for a 6L6 tube. However, if the tube does not have that blue hue, it does not mean it is bad or not working. If the tube has any slots or holes in the plates, you can look into the tube and around the orange glowing cathode will be a blue corona, that is caused by the electron emissions. Blue glow is normal. Not to worry. If it is purple, then you need to worry. If the grey or black plates turn red, the tubes are either running too hot and not suitable for the fixed bias of the amp. I had that happen with new tubes already when I had bought them from other vendors. That can happen. Contact the vendor and tell them you got a bad tube in the batch. They should have written a number on a label or the box at least. If it is the measured plate current they may be able to send you a replacement. I would not mix tubes separately as that could place the amp in an unbalanced state. Keep the quad of tubes in pairs. the outer tubes are one pair and the inner tubes are one pair. I am not sure how the Dyna-Watt circuit works. There may be some mention on tube replacement in the manual for the amp. It looks like the outer pair are used for the 25W and 10W modes. So if the amp was in 25W or 10W setting, the inner pair of tubes will not have any blue glow to them. At 35W mode, they should be but may vary based on the tube. Sometimes the glow on the glass is due to something on the glass surface. There will be a blue corona around the cathode at the center of the tube, it is just not easy to see it.
Thank you, duh...I run it in 5 watt mode at the moment, so no glow on the two internal ones. One tube failed out of the box - just bad one thru Tubedepot. When I think about it last time I used them one of the 8 12ax7 failed straight out of the box. Wrote for a replacement, hopefully they sent one without charge. Popped in another aftermarked JJ that was in a Peavey amp and no issues so far, amp holding well. Don't want to close it up as apparently will have to open in up again when new tube arrives.
 
Back
Top