TwofacePimp
New member
I lent my fender hot rod deville (2x12) to another band for their 8 or so gigs while they were here. I lent it to them, for no charge, because they have and will help my band out when we are in their town. Also, people typically do not want to take amps overseas with them (I'm out here in Hawaii, a little rock floating in the middle of the pacific ocean).
Anyway, they returned it today, and they said that one of the power tubes crapped out and they bought new ones and put them in. They did not touch the bias. My old tubes were groove tubes 6L6GE's, "7" hardness (which I actually liked), and the ones they put in were Mesa 6L6's (yuck!). I don't understand Mesa's tube rating system, but the match group is RSD and the code is 05. They also said that the amp was blowing fuses before they changed the tubes, and that seemed to cure it. Let me add that this amp NEVER crapped out on me, and I've used it as much as 3 gigs per week, on 3 hour sessions or more.
I played the amp and while it didn't sound like it was going to blow up, I didn't really like the sound. I had the amp set up pretty well, and this seemed to knock it out of whack (not that bad though). What should I do? I figure I can do one of the following:
1. Buy a new set of groove tubes, same model and hardness, and throw them in the amp and hope for the best.
2. Buy the same tubes, but have it biased again and fully checked out (a long and expensive process in my town, I might be ampless for a gig or two).
3. Buy a different set of tubes, and have the amp biased and checked out. Any suggestions? I was going for a good clean sound and clean headroom when I bought the GT's.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Sorry about the long post...
Anyway, they returned it today, and they said that one of the power tubes crapped out and they bought new ones and put them in. They did not touch the bias. My old tubes were groove tubes 6L6GE's, "7" hardness (which I actually liked), and the ones they put in were Mesa 6L6's (yuck!). I don't understand Mesa's tube rating system, but the match group is RSD and the code is 05. They also said that the amp was blowing fuses before they changed the tubes, and that seemed to cure it. Let me add that this amp NEVER crapped out on me, and I've used it as much as 3 gigs per week, on 3 hour sessions or more.
I played the amp and while it didn't sound like it was going to blow up, I didn't really like the sound. I had the amp set up pretty well, and this seemed to knock it out of whack (not that bad though). What should I do? I figure I can do one of the following:
1. Buy a new set of groove tubes, same model and hardness, and throw them in the amp and hope for the best.
2. Buy the same tubes, but have it biased again and fully checked out (a long and expensive process in my town, I might be ampless for a gig or two).
3. Buy a different set of tubes, and have the amp biased and checked out. Any suggestions? I was going for a good clean sound and clean headroom when I bought the GT's.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Sorry about the long post...
