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Hi-
I just got my first ever pair of EL34 (the SED Svetlanas). These are for use in the Class A sockets of a simulclass Mesa Boogie Mark IV.
Shortly after powering up (~10 minutes), I noticed that the glass around the plates becomes quite a bit hotter than the 6L6's in the other slots, and they're hotter than the 6L6's get that were previously in those two slots.
I wanted to know... is this typical of EL34's to become physically hotter? I read online that these tubes use more than double the heater current of 6L6, so it doesn't seem unreasonable to think... but I want to be sure it's not something else.
I know that with Boogie, if you don't buy Mesa tubes, you're supposed to get tubes that are "Boogie Spec". In the past, Boogie Spec 6L6's that I have purchased (from Lord Valve, in case you're wondering) had a rating of "39" (plate current in mA?). These EL34's are not from him, but they had two rating values on each box: "44" and "6.1" (guessing it's plate current in mA and transconductance in mmhos? does this sound right? I don't really know if they were measured the exact same way).
The plates are *not* turning red, and neither the base nor top of the tube get hot - only the glass around the plates. But in that area, they're too hot to touch. Also, when I switch from standby to "on", I see a faint blue hue along the center axis in the region of the grid. Not sure if this is normal either.
For what it's worth, the tubes sound really damn good, but I want to make sure that I'm not on the fast road to cooking them.
Thanks for any input you can provide.
I just got my first ever pair of EL34 (the SED Svetlanas). These are for use in the Class A sockets of a simulclass Mesa Boogie Mark IV.
Shortly after powering up (~10 minutes), I noticed that the glass around the plates becomes quite a bit hotter than the 6L6's in the other slots, and they're hotter than the 6L6's get that were previously in those two slots.
I wanted to know... is this typical of EL34's to become physically hotter? I read online that these tubes use more than double the heater current of 6L6, so it doesn't seem unreasonable to think... but I want to be sure it's not something else.
I know that with Boogie, if you don't buy Mesa tubes, you're supposed to get tubes that are "Boogie Spec". In the past, Boogie Spec 6L6's that I have purchased (from Lord Valve, in case you're wondering) had a rating of "39" (plate current in mA?). These EL34's are not from him, but they had two rating values on each box: "44" and "6.1" (guessing it's plate current in mA and transconductance in mmhos? does this sound right? I don't really know if they were measured the exact same way).
The plates are *not* turning red, and neither the base nor top of the tube get hot - only the glass around the plates. But in that area, they're too hot to touch. Also, when I switch from standby to "on", I see a faint blue hue along the center axis in the region of the grid. Not sure if this is normal either.
For what it's worth, the tubes sound really damn good, but I want to make sure that I'm not on the fast road to cooking them.
Thanks for any input you can provide.