How to ID el84's actual mfg, not who rebranded them

[Gtrjunior]

Re: How to ID el84's actual mfg, not who rebranded them

So do I. The only one that I've experimented on a lot is my 2555, and I definitely have a preference there. When using EL-34s I like them biased at 35-36ma per tube; any hotter and the bass gets hard to control, much colder and it loses bass and gets brittle bright. Mesa's fixed bias is quite cold for tube reliability, and I can't say that I care for how that makes an amp sound.



Every time I see a thread with someone selling a guitar because they don't like the electronics, I can't help but think to myself "Why are you here?".

I bias my 2204 right around there as well. I always do the math to get the proper bias number but in that amp i like it a little hot.
When I got my Quickrod, I assumed it all worked the same, so I biased it a bit hot and it sounded good but always had this “grainy” quality to it. No matter what I did I couldn’t dial it out.
One day I happened to email Scott Splawn just to ask him about biasing, and he recommended biasing on the cool side...30mA. My first thought was “that’s way to cold!!” but I biased it at 30mA anyway, and wouldn’t you know...it sounded glorious!!!
I guess in an amp designed for high gain, a hot bias doesn’t really work the same as an old Marshall where guys would purposely bias hot to get more power tube saturation. It’s just not needed in a hot rodded amp, apparently.
lesson learned.

 

[Orville]

Re: How to ID el84's actual mfg, not who rebranded them

I believe the Mesa EL84s are Sovtek/New Sensor. But with the six-month warranty on Mesa tubes, it's hard to go wrong with factory tubes.


Personally, I've had terrible luck with Ruby Tubes, and would not buy any of their tubes unless I had to.



The TA-30 runs in either Class A or Class AB Dyna-Watt...again no biasing needed. My DC-3 is 4xEL84 in Dyna-Watt and sounds like a much bigger amp. The Maverick is Class A, diode or tube rectifier, and covers Vox, Fender and Marshall tones. The TA-30 can do this as well.


Bill

Thanks - from comparing the Mesa tubes to pic of different el84's on Google my guess was going to be Sovtec. My tech put in a quad of Ruby tubes. Not sure I like 'em so I will swap in two Mesa Green in the middle 2 sockets and run in 15 watt mode. I don't have a working quad of Mesa's so I'll stay in 15 watt mode.
So when my tech said el84's were not picky regarding biasing he meant because my amp runs in Class A or Class AB Dyna-Watt?

 

[Orville]

Re: How to ID el84's actual mfg, not who rebranded them

I hate to break it to you, but the bias points aren't the same. Those new tubes will work in your Mark II, but they won't last anywhere near as long as they should because your Mark II runs the tubes a lot hotter than a Rectifier does. You can't get them from Mesa, but several other vendors will sell 6L6s that will bias properly in your Mark II.

Thank you for telling me that. My MarkII had Mesa Grey 6L6's when I got it. I had recently sold a Mesa Eletra Dyne amp and took out the TAD 6L6's I bought from the Tubestore for the ED and stuck the original mesa tubes back in when I sold it. I put the TAD's that were picked by Tubestore for the ED into the MarkII and it sounds a lot better. Not knowing if I did something stupid I watch closely for red plating and excessive heat. So far so good. I have been meaning to shoot tubestore an email with the tubes test number and ask them what they think. I haven't played that amp much - maybe 20 minutes with those tubes so I guess I should ask before getting into some heavy playing with them.

 

[dystrust]

Re: How to ID el84's actual mfg, not who rebranded them

Thank you for telling me that. My MarkII had Mesa Grey 6L6's when I got it. I had recently sold a Mesa Eletra Dyne amp and took out the TAD 6L6's I bought from the Tubestore for the ED and stuck the original mesa tubes back in when I sold it. I put the TAD's that were picked by Tubestore for the ED into the MarkII and it sounds a lot better. Not knowing if I did something stupid I watch closely for red plating and excessive heat. So far so good. I have been meaning to shoot tubestore an email with the tubes test number and ask them what they think. I haven't played that amp much - maybe 20 minutes with those tubes so I guess I should ask before getting into some heavy playing with them.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. The bias on your Mark II shouldn't be hot enough to red plate or otherwise damage the tubes, but they may only last 6-9 months instead of the more typical year. Of course that's with regular to heavy usage; they'll last quite a bit longer if you don't play it all that loud or often. Just something to keep in mind for the next time you need to buy tubes for it.