Category: Valves - Page 5 - Valve Tube Guitar Amps

EL84 To Burn in or not to burn in that is the question

Having done a long term test on a JJ Electronic 6L6, and saw that the cathode current remained rock solid over over a period of 48 hours the next valve to be tested was the EL84. The reason for running the valves from new over a period of many hours was to see if burn in provided any advantage when doing matching. EL84’s are used in many amps such as the Fender Blues Jr, LazyZ […]

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Burned In Valves – Worth the extra £?

A number of valve sellers offer output valves that are “burned in”. Burning in valves means basically running them for a number of hours. It is claimed that the benefit is that this weeds out the ” weak valves” and improves the matching of the valves as the implication is that the valves go out of matching if they are matched from new. I was suspicious of this claim as there is no data produced

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Mesa Boogie Amp Repair

A very sick Mesa Boogie Caliber DC 10 amp arrived for me to have a look at. Our first Mesa Boogie Amp repair. This one had one dead channel and my 22 watt Fender Deluxe was as loud as this amp. The Mesa Boogie is a 100 watt amp so something was up. It also sounded naff. Mesa’s have a reputation of being complex and difficult to repair. I had never seen inside one but

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Tung Sol Valves – a Neat Feature

A really neat added value benefit of using Tung Sol valves in your amp is their low microphonics. During testing at the factory Tung Sol Valves are tested on a vibrating table to ensure they are not microphonic. Of course this extra testing adds a little bit to the cost. I first witnessed this benefit in my own original silverface Fender amp. Ever since it was new way back in 1970 the amp was always

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Sovtek EL84 -A Customer’s Feedback

Here is a customer’s feedback on replacing the EL84’s with Sovtek EL84’s. I have only removed the customer name I promised you an update on the Sovtek EL84 valves and how they handled in my Bugera V22. Well I have been using them for about three months now and I am absolutely delighted with the changes they brought to the Bugera Infinium V22’s tone and even ‘feel’. To be frank I have never considered

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Matched Balanced Pre-amp Valves

Matched Balanced Pre-Amp Valves How Are Pre-Amp Valves Matched/Balanced? You might not be aware but no valve manufacturer will test for matched balanced pre-amp valves. So quality valve sellers invest in good quality test and characterisation equipment so that matched balanced pre-amp valves can be identified. This means we have to individually test every pre-amp valve we have in our stock so that we can find the matched ones. This is a slow process as

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New Youtube Video on 6L6

Here is a short video under 2 minutes on 6L6 output valves and long plate versus short plate valves. This video shows something surprising about different 6L6 valves. A quick look a long plate and short plate ECC83 /12AX7 type valves is included too. Click here to watch on Youtube We started creating our Youtube channel only 2 weeks ago on 16th January 2016. Here is a link to the channel

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