Valves are extremely robust and will last a long time, but eventually they will wear out and need to be replaced. When valves start to fail you need to know the warning signs to prevent damaging your amp. Buy a Orange Rocker Terror - Thomann: www.thomann.de/gb/orange_rocker_15_terror.htm?offid=1&affid=367 Sweetwater: imp.i114863.net/vnymLv Valves purchased from: watfordvalves.com/index.asp #valve #amplifier #fail More from CSGuitars: Gain access to exclusive content at: www.patreon.com/csguitars Join CSGuitars Discord - discord.gg/d7b6MY8 Buy CSGuitars Merchandise - www.csguitars.co.uk/store Website - www.csguitars.co.uk Contact - colin@csguitars.co.uk

@petermac7315

3 жыл бұрын

you put the too afraid in too afraid to ask

@christopherreed2694

3 жыл бұрын

You could give the same advice on galloping how to play an hour and a half of top speed megadeth or slayer slow and steady or you'll burn 🔥up your arm then you won't be playing anything and the audience doesn't understand

@briancleminson6156

3 жыл бұрын

Try "Uncle Doug"s channel for great videos on amp repair/maintenance. The Guitologist used to be a good channel but I haven't watched for a while as he became a bit of a dick, too much youtube drama. There are quite a few other channels but I enjoy Uncle Doug's easy-going style.

@hydorah

2 жыл бұрын

Oh God Watford Valves! I mean to do a video about what a load of tosh their products are. 'Harma Double Diamond' are just rebrands of various crap valves from around the world. Often if you look carefully you can see what they really are. They often won't even bias up to spec

I will probably come back to this video when its too late.

@ScienceofLoud

3 жыл бұрын

I already know this video will be viewed most by the people who needed to see it yesterday

@narcostarko

2 жыл бұрын

@@ScienceofLoud I definitely need it yesterday 😅

@skinnyjeens5521

Жыл бұрын

@@ScienceofLoud welp. Here I am a day later lol

@BassCollectorEmitter

Жыл бұрын

Absolutely here because it's too late 😅

@ciaccodavide

21 күн бұрын

Yep, too late for me too 🥲

“…and all the magic smoke escapes.” :)

"touches one valve with a cloth and the other with fingers" ...... Collin fueling the confusion wether cloth or not.... What a classic move

@searchiemusic

Жыл бұрын

i've touched tubes daily for years now, doesnt do anything at all, that myth comes from radio transmitter or high power rectifier tubes, like kiliwatt level

I had valve failure on a motorbike once... that also resulted in immediate silence of a previously loud device! 😂

Imagine that the first computers used hundreds if not thousands of valves and they basically advised "never turn the valves off and it'll be perfect".

@hifijohn

2 жыл бұрын

the ENIAC used 18K tubes and there was a team of people who went around continuously replacing tubes.but it could add 5000 numbers in one second.

Me, who only uses solid state amps because I like the sound of abused solid state amps: "Ah yes, very helpful information."

@unclejack2093

3 жыл бұрын

i'm perfectly content with my solid state (Boss Katana 50 I) but I recently got to play a real valve amp at my school and darn it feels and sounds good

@alexbiggs9208

3 жыл бұрын

@@unclejack2093 Yeah I played solid state amps for basically my first decade playing guitar, but recently I've gotten a 15 watt tube amp, and the difference is so massive it makes me look back and regret the amount of time I spent with SS's. They're perfect for somebody who just wants their guitar louder, like they're (relatively) cheap and light as hell, so they certainly have their pro's, but in my opinion trying to really express what you want to through a solid state as opposed to a tube amp is like trying to cook without salt. Even though you have all the "real" ingredients (the notes, the picking dynamics etc.), the dish just tastes flat and uninteresting, but you put some salt in there and suddenly you can taste all the intricacies of the flavor profiles. Hopefully this isn't nonsense lmao. Enjoy that Katana fam, I've heard those are really nice amps

@unclejack2093

3 жыл бұрын

@@alexbiggs9208 I agree, there's no doubt that valve amps sound more natural, however now that I've got a real comparison I managed to get really close to a valve sound with my Katana so I'm not complaining. Of course it's not the same thing, I might get a valve amp in the future but for now I've got all I need!

TL;DR: If your amp starts acting weird/ not sounding right, crackling, hissing, pops or goes quiet, turn it off right away and have a look at the valves.

@captainobvious9668

Жыл бұрын

Yes, "look at the valves" - because you can diagnose faults with electronics by "looking" at them. Great tip.

@Charlie6969

Жыл бұрын

@@captainobvious9668 Perhaps I could have worded that better, but I meant start by replacing/diagnosing the valves. That better?

@captainobvious9668

Жыл бұрын

@@Charlie6969 I realise “look at the valves” was a figure of speech; the question that immediately came to mind was how do you diagnose a faulty valve? Reminded me of people who, when their car breaks down, open the bonnet, stare at the engine then realise they have no f**king idea what any of the parts do or what could possibly be wrong…

@Charlie6969

Жыл бұрын

@@captainobvious9668 Try replacing them, if that fixes them, great. You can get an idea with a good valve tester. In my experience, the valves themselves are usually the culprit in these cases.

@trainofthough0242

Жыл бұрын

@@captainobvious9668 With tubes you most certainly can see when they're bad just by looking at them. Not all the time, but sometimes it can be obvious. Especially with JJ tubes with that red paint on them. You can visually see when they're burning out because that paint starts fading and turning brown. Also bad tubes tend to glow excessively compared to the others. So there you go; diagnosing a bad tube just by looking at it. It's totally possible so don't really see where the sarcasm fits here.

The first tube amp I ever owned I purchased from the used section of my local guitar store. Had tried it in store and it sounded great, so I brought it home. After probably a month and a half of using it at relatively low volume, I had a jam session with my brother, and the first time turning the volume past 4, I found the clean channel breaking up in a rather unpleasant way. I immediately suspected a worn tube, and since the store I bought it from has a 3 month warranty policy on used gear, I brought it in to get it looked at. The tech informed me there were some loose connections and a bad tube, and both issues were repaired under said warranty.

I love this channel. Valuable and practical information delivered in a clear way. No trying to be a comedian or your best friend or screaming in your face. Subscribed!

My last set of JJ 6L6s lasted 15 years. I ain’t even mad that they blew. I’m actually impressed.

@GlennJimenez

8 ай бұрын

That is very impressive

@Polyphemus.

2 ай бұрын

My Rocker 30 head is 13 years old and still has its original valves. Although I rarely needed to push the master beyond 10 o'clock, and only whilst using it regularly in my last band over a period of 6 years. Still sounds killer.

I'm getting some Mike Patton vibes from this gentleman 😀 lol Great video Colin!^^

@sabbatus

3 жыл бұрын

what are you doing here?! :O

@garyburginjr1366

3 жыл бұрын

I did a double take when I saw your name! So glad to hear you're into guitars!!!

Just got my first tube amp! Needed this video so much. Thank you and can't wait for the full dive video!

Completely unrelated to the topic of the video, but I didn't realize the sentence "the valves need changed" was a valid grammatical construction in Scotland. I thought this usage was confined to certain parts of the US, and most of the rest of the world would say "the valves need changing" or "the valves need to be changed". Colin is always teachin' me stuff he isn't even tryin' to teach me.

@IAmSippycup

3 жыл бұрын

@@Ndlanding Interesting, because as someone raised in Canada I have almost the exact opposite reaction! But honestly I'm most likely to say "Need to be __ed" anyway. Language is cool.

I remember changing my first set of valves. Wondering why it didn't sound right and then finding out what biasing was. I don't have the balls, skill or qualifications to be messing around with live electricity so I took it straight to the local music shop for them to do the dangerous bits. Great vid as always Colin.

@josephfigueroa3527

6 ай бұрын

Biasing is easy, just don't be a retard. Some amp manufacturers have a bias test point, some will use the HT fuse as the test point, and some will require a socket probe. Which is basically an extra tube socket that plugs into your multimeter and is sandwiched between the socket in the amp and your tube. As long as you make sure that your amp has a load, you know the appropriate mA to look for (between 60mA and 120mA), you just gotta use alligator clips and a small flathead on the bias knob. I've been inside tube amps more times than I've ever needed to and I have absolutely no electrical experience other than specific tutorials and the basics of tube amp design.

Thanks! This video came at just the right time as my Fender Twin has begun failing and squealing.

Love your videos (particularly these kind of "PSA" videos)!

This video was very helpful. Last couple of days I noticed a very mushy sound coming from my JCM 900 MK 3. Ordered a set of harma valves from Watford valves also 👍

Dude, great information as always. Also really dig the new hairdo! 🕺

Thanks for this Colin, this has come at just the right time for me…..cue ordering 4 EL84’s….

I’m so glad this amp is cathode bias, never changed valves before, feel like I might be able to with this! Great video thanks!

your info on this is amazing bro.noone did that on you tube it seems noone talk about it.thanks for doing that .i keep an eye on my marshall origin 20 head valves so far so good.ive had the amp for 1.5 years now and sound still strong.i will leve it alone until i notice something.i ply 1 hour a day so not much use.thanks again for the great info.

This came at EXACTLY the right time, thanks!

Great video. One thing I would strongly disagree with, though. And I make this observation as an amp tech who specializes in vintage tube amps for a living. You say preamp tubes don't need changed often. That might be somewhat true if all you use is heads that are never stacked on top of the speakers. But in any combo amp, the tubes are often only inches away from the speaker(s), and those vibrations, especially at gigging volumes, will turn a tube microphonic after a while. Some brands more quickly than others, but none are immune. A microphonic tube can test very strong, but be unusable. I work on tube amps, and every amp that comes in for service gets the tubes pulled and tested for strength. Then after any maintenance or repairs are done, the tubes are put back in and tested for microphonics in the amp. I have a bin full of tubes that failed that test. But aside from that, be aware that preamp tubes, especially if acquired from a vendor who does not test for strength or microphonics, can be bad right out of the box. The minimum performance standards for a new tube to pass Q.C. for general use are much less stringent in certain regards than the requirements for good performance in a tube amp. I had a customer who purchased a brand new high dollar "endorsement" model from one of the major brands, and brought it to me because he couldn't get it dialed in. Three of the seven tubes were bad! Brand new, amount of use played no factor, just poor quality control. Lesson there: always try to purchase tubes from a reputable vendor, and big name amp makers cannot always be relied upon to be reputable vendors of tubes. One other thing to avoid that will reduce tube life and require more frequent tube changes, and this is mainly for the gigging players, is avoiding moving the amp around when warm. The tubes are made with very tiny, very tight tolerances inside. As they run, they warm up to extremely hot temperatures, and those internal components expand. When you turn the amp off, it is ideal to let the amp cool down for a while before loading it in the car and driving away. And lastly, 98% of tubes do not give any visual indication they are bad. I have had numerous customers drop off an amp and say that they looked in the back and the tubes "look okay". Most of the time there will be no visual failure to see. But always remember, if you do look in the amp and see that any of the tubes have a flakey, smokey white coloration in them, DO NOT TURN THE AMP ON!! That means the tube seal is no good and will not work properly. It could mean anything from just no sound all the way up to killing other components. Do not operate an amp with a smoked tube.

Good vid man....informative as always...

I needed this video so much, thanks.

Thank you so much for these vids

For the love of God, don’t throw in a 20 amp fuse when the 2 amp fuse blows either!

@grayaj23

3 жыл бұрын

Or equally bad, wrap the fuse in aluminum foil and put it back in like my dad would do.

@JeffBarberDigideus

3 жыл бұрын

we all know someone who has done this!

Nice video! Thank you

My Peavey JSX had a sudden volume drop during band rehearsal today. I thought something really serious happened, so I stopped playing immediately. Glad I came across this video today!!! Hopefully it's just the power tubes and I didn't cause any damage to anything.

Cool Video man!

The timing of this video is scary! I run my Mesa mini rectifier hot and loud into a Fryette power station as an attenuator to record with and just this week I’ve been getting a lot of squealing noises (no volume drops) from it which I’ve just been thinking was feedback or something. I’m definitely going to check out the power valves now…

Thank you for this. Very helpful. Subbed and liked.

great video. especially because I have got exectly the same app. nice to know I can change them (on this amp) myself. cheers

great video!

I can't wait for the next video, amps still feel like magic :D

Good info. Enjoyed the video 🎸🎸🎸

i was wondering you to make a practical comparison between your old valves, against the new ones so we can hear what are you talking about, i hope to hear that on your large valve amp video, i like your videos, find very useful the infomation you give us!

ive always just played whatever amps i could afford. ive owned several solid state amps and a few valve amps. not to sound like a snob but even to my amateur ears my marshall dsl40 sounds better than anything ive ever owned before. then again its the most expensive amp ive ever bought so that may have something to do with it. stay safe everyone and keep playing! we need more rockers out there!

great video ty

great video, really liked it, thank you:)

this was the perfect video for me dude thank you.

yep, my Laney GH100R had a dead valve and i kept using it, burning out some protective condensers or something. didn't blow a fuse, which it should have, according to the amp tech i brought it to. he throughly checked the thing, replaced all defective components and all 4 el34 powertubes. set me back 170€, but the amp works now great again.

Love it!!! Cathode biased... That's handy information

I would like to add that I believe tubes might last a little longer in well ventilated places and cooler climates. I played for a long time in a hot LA studios and I feel like everyone in LA has had to do a tube change but as you go further north, seems like fewer and fewer people have had tube/valve changes. That being said, even in a hot LA practice space with no AC, I never had to replace preamp tubes. Maybe some friends did it with their power tubes for the all new tubes and hassle at once. I bought a used ADA MP1 to match tones with another guitarist when they were out of style and people were selling them for cheap, I didn't even know they had preamp tubes in them until I got rid of mine. Never had an issue and they got gigged a lot and lots of practice for about a decade in hot practice rooms in LA.

This is why BluGuitar uses instrumentation grade subminiature tubes - not only are they compact, they're rated for reliability and optimized for lifespan. ;-)

That ending though 🤣

I have an older tube / Valve combo amplifier and I got it some 17 or 18 years ago ( Used ) I changed the power tubes to get a different / better sound shortly after i got it . Since I have never changed them , they just keep working despite I use it a lot . But I did experience a preamp tube starting to sound ' microphonic ' , when you tapped gently on the tube it keep ' ringing microphonic ' . A bit like tapping on a spring reverb . It was the tube in the preout stage and needless to say it is also that one that got hm , a bit overdrived when experimenting with distortion sound . I simply replaced it and all back to normal . But because the amplifier is quite old now im soon going to do a capasitor change . Some capasitors have slightly changed values over the years . Not much and they still working very good , but better be safe than sorry . If a capasitor suddenly stop working .. Well that will be not good . Maintenance on tube /valve amplifiers is actually not such a big ting as many people think . Most have fixed / automatic bias adjustment so even if you try other tubes to change the sound they mostly just adapt to the new ones . ( some may need a resistor and / or capasitor change in the bias circuit if tube is too different type ) But most run year after year and just fine without any failures . You have to keep an eye at it and know the signs of failing tubes . But again also solid state amplifiers have their problems . ( I had a few that failed over the years ) Transistors can for shure wear out / get dammaged ( especially if driven hard and cooling is weak ) and capasitors can fail too ect ect . So all in all - Know your Amp and the signs of failure no matter if solid state or tube based . Edit - I found this book ( In PDF format ) Getting the most out of Vacuum Tubes by Robert B Tomer . ( The best explanation of all ways tubes / valves they fail , why and how to prevent ) It is from 1960 . This is great reading for understanding tubes and why they fail . worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Sams-Books/Getting%20The%20Most%20Out%20Of%20Vacuum%20Tubes%20-%20Robert%20B.%20Tomer.pdf I highly recommend reading it : )

This is why I play solid state pedal platform amps.

Eagerly waiting that valve video! That might be a scotch and watch

I will admit, I took Colins advice and snagged some Watford pre-amp TUBES and they’re fantastic. Shipping took a bit but I’m in MT so it’s understandable lol

@TatenomicsMoneyClips

2 жыл бұрын

Montana?

@cookieman876

2 жыл бұрын

@@TatenomicsMoneyClips yes where cows outnumber people

Its funny that I'm need this information today, perfect timing hahahaha

Makes me remember the reason why I stopped using valve amps in favour of more reliable and maintenance free Solid State amplifiers.

I got notification of this video yesterday, but I didn't click it. This morning, I tried to play my amp and all kind of weird nose came out. The clean channel became distorted. Overdrive channel was worse. It produced feedback like crazy. On top of this problem, there was crackling, pop, volume change, and all kind of extraterrestrial noise from both channel. I plugged my guitar and cable to my DI and everything was ok. So the amp must be the problem. After watching this video, I'm 100% sure there is problem with power tube. The sad thing is I very seldom use this amp because I hate its sound. Now it is dead. Sad but true.

One of the many reasons I prefer solid state. Every time the tubes need to be changed it’s like $150 because I have four EL34s in a hundred watt amp head. Really overkill for what I do as a musician. Next tube amp will only have one or two tubes to replace because 100 watts is stupidly loud and a waste unless you are gigging regularly. Who wants to buy an attenuator when you could just buy the right size amp and not waste all that electricity and have to cough out tons of cash for quad sets of matched tubes.

I have a Marshall power amp from 1990…it still has the original stock valves that it came with….I haven’t wanted to change them until I had to…so far,they are still kicking….30 years and counting..

Last time I commented early Colin still didn't cut off that magnificent hair!

Had a problem with my Blues Jnr a couple of months ago. It began to crackle periodically. When I looked at the power amp valves, one had started to red plate. Changed the valves and no issues since. The annoying thing is that they only 2.5 years old with about 50 hours of low volume use.

Thank you for this great video as always ! I know this was about tube amps, but I was wondering what are the good current loud solid state amps out there for guitar these days ( that are not modeling amps ) ?

@mohawkaaron2091

2 жыл бұрын

orange crush 120

You should make a video about humming in tube amps. I have a tube amp that randomly hums and sometimes don't, I have sent it in for fixing and even changing power and pre amp tubes and it wont fix it. All the knobs on the amp doesn't make the hum louder and I have powered it up in different places so incase it was the an outlet problem and nothing can fix it. I talked to a tube amp professional and he said that its probably nothing that you should worry about, but its still strange. One of natures mysteries.

You need an amp with tartin instead of Tweed, paint or anything else

LOL at "All the magic smoke escapes"

"...shouldn't be tight-fisted about it". Not much scope for that any more I'm afraid, with this bloody war in Ukraine, the price of valves has skyrocketed. Last year I bought a KLD amp kit, which comes with eveything but the valves. I figured I would buy the valves when I start building. Bad move. Should have bought them last year, when they were still plentiful and cheap. So two Tungsol 6L6es and three EH 7025s (all made in Russia) cost $410 AUD. The 6L6es were $100 each, the 7025s $70 each. Gone are the days of cheap valves. Fast approaching are the days of "no bloody valves at all". 😞

There would be also the possibility of automatic bias, but I've not seen one on a valve amp yet. My stereo amp has automatic bias, but that one uses bipolar transistors.

I'm more concerned about changing power tubes as they should be biased for the amp. I know that some companies sell sets for particular amplifiers but I don't know if that means that they are plug and go without biasing.

At first I was all excited thinking I could just swap the tubes, and then you literally used my Kraken as an example. Rip lol

Hey Colin, I have this same Rocker 15 Terror. If the amp is running in a lower power mode, 1 watt for instance, is there less wear on the power valves?

Valves wear mostly when started up from being cold and also when shut down when the HV.is still present in the PS.......and wear also when pulling electrons out of the cathode coating insterad of the electron cloud . As long as the cloud can provide the electron flow and the valve works at the correct operation conditions ( this implies also the correct filament voltage !!! )......protected on start up and shut down by draining the power supply capacitors before shutting down the filament .........quality valves, especialy good nos valves can have a very long (er ) life ......... the lifespan expectancy of current production valves varies and is always inferior to good nos valves .. Valves in my preamps and CD player have over thirty years of service ans still sound great, better than any new production valve..........power tubes can go from only 1000 hours up from close to 8-10 K hours ............ECC83 even up to 100K hours .........;when used correctly . The BBC NEVER shut down their valve amplifiers and maximize to extend their usefull life . kind regards

My brother has a Carvin V3M and both the power circuit and amp circuit seem to drop out intermittently. Changed out the tubes but no difference. That said, we were never able to bias because it's a live bias but I don't think a crap bias is enough to trigger the exact same problem. We have given up as of now and the thing is just sitting. Great amp but we have no idea what is wrong with it.

Hi Colin :)

when the magic smoke escapes XD

Will preamp valves wear out more frequently if you run aggressive boost all the time? Maybe if you do that they'd be seeing a lot more use than they would normally? Just curious.

I have an original 2554 Silver Jubilee and when the lead master distortion channel is activated, sometimes ant random, the distortion will drop to a mild distortion and then jump back to full distortion again. Sometimes when it drops to a mild distortion, the only thing that will get it back to full distortion is when I strike the strings hard (increasing the voltage from the guitar pickups) before it drops out again. Could this be a faulty valve issue or an issue with the rectifier?

Hey Colin, how can you tel the difference between an issue with the power amp valves and preamp valves. I have a grandmeister deluxe 40 and it will randomly let out a high pitch hum/squeal sound but the power amp tubes aren’t indicating any issues on the tsc in the amp.

Hi Colin! My tube amp has lost the high end. I am not completely sure if this is a sign of dying tubes or something else. I have a combo amp (Harley Benton Tube15) I run my overdrives in front of it and modulations in the FX loop. The thing is that because of my workflow the send of the amp goes to a cab sim and never returns to the amp. To avoid having the sound of the amp's speaker I connected a cableless jack to the return to mute the speaker. Could this have damaged the amp? Should I try replacing the power tubes even though I seldomly used the speaker? Thanks in advance! Love your videos :)

Good to know 3:)

Quality

Lol at ‘magic smoke’

I've had EL34 valves fail spectacularly, they ended up with no bias, red plated and took out the cathode resistors, they exploded. Simple repair and new set of valves later it's back up and running

The strange thing is that I never had a failing power amp valve and only had to replace pre amp valves on my amps. So far I played years with my amps with cranked volume, had one of them at a repair shop for a service and after 5 years the power amp tubes are still good....and I got the amp second hand without changing the tubes from the previous onwer, who also got the amp second had and didn't change anything for years.

@metamaggot

2 жыл бұрын

el34s are good for 2500+ hours and preamp tubes are supposed to last up to 10000.. so usually there's no point in changing valves all the time if they're good quality and the bias is set properly

@rk28984

Жыл бұрын

@@metamaggot These are 6V6 valves. Still going strong after about 6 or 7 years. Some preamptubes had to be replaced to get rid of weird noise though.

Hi Colin I’ve just made a vid about swapping out the EL84’s in a Bassbreaker15, I saw a bright light out the back of the amp then turned it back on after it cooled and the first in line didn’t glow, put a new set in and the same one started to glow like mad and smelt a bit smokey, I haven’t turned it back on since, What is happening???? Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Great channel btw 👍🏼

JJ tubes have that red etching on them. Once that red starts fading and turning brown, that's pretty much your cue that they're going bad and need to be changed before they start causing more issues. You don't want to get them bad enough that it's shorting out and blowing fuses because then it's starting to do damage to components that are going to be far more expensive to replace than a couple of tubes. You really have to be ignorant of the signs to get it that far though but people do all the time. Fuses don't blow for no reason, don't just replace the fuse and think it's fine just because it didn't blow again. A fuse blowing is literally telling you there's something more going on. Can't stress it enough.

I have a Marshall DSL15H, it was working fine a couple a weeks ago and I havent used it since. Yesterdat when I went to play. I turned it on and there was no volume around a minute later I raised the volume to 10 and then I could finally hear a very faint sound. So I figured there was an issue and turned it off. Do you think it could be the power tubes? Or preamp tubes? Thanks for any help

I would love to see what you can do with the rob scallon shark1 guitar

what do you think it's the problem when playing the volume drops as well gets staticky...like if the dial on the radio is not properly tuned into the station frequency. Thanks!

I wonder my rg80-112sc does have random volume drops but is solid state granted I am using the pull knob that already does make the amp quieter. The push/pull knob makes the amp based off of mainly vol instead of gain

I’m pretty sure we have the same mustardy shirt

I know you said you don't want to put your nice amps through the dying tube ringer, but if it becomes financially viable, maybe you could buy the cheapest all tube amp on the market and cheap tubes and get it to the point where the death throes are consistant and show us the warning signs that way. And since it's a cheap amp, if you have the skills to repair it, maybe you could show us how amp repairs work, if it becomes necessary and proves financially feasable.

And for thus reason, I'm glad I sold my 100W head with 4 power tubes. Just not worth the headache for a bedroom player.

the back tire on my motorbike was done in one season. my only tube amp is a 5 watt class-a EL-84, I use a large plate pre-amp tube and run enough boost that all the clipping happens in the power amp. ( because it sounds better to me ) do you think I will get a year out of my 7189? ........ I have to have ways to cope, and if that's more tires and power valves then so be it.

Are there huge differences in tune brands? Like are there specific tube manufacturers I should generally stay away from?

I have just bought my first valve amp a Prima Luna 100 integrated amp so I have never yet bought any valves. I have two questions; 1] is there any useful information I can get by watching guitar amp tutorials such as yours or are hifi amps too different to be comparable? 2] The EL84 valve is an option for my Prima Luna, so any detail about practical things such as do they run hotter? is there any difference in life expectancy from EL34? haw does the sound compare? etc. Knowing that valves are consumables I will have to buy new ones and I'm hoping to maximize the top end clarity and head room. thanks in advance for any advice anyone can give me.

My 5150 dropped volume to fully quiet a couple of times. And popped a fuse another time. It has been behaving flawlessly since. I've also stopped using a passive attenuator, thinking maybe that was part of the issue? Or failure is imminent, and it is just not tripping out now due to lower load. Probably should get new power tubes.....

I have a 2 year old 50 watt EVH Stealth. I was playing today and the crunch channel went to almost silent all of a sudden. I checked the clean channel which was also very quiet. The lead channel wtill worked fine and was loud as usual. Could a bad power tube cause this where one or 2 channels are quiet but another still works fine?

Hey I’ve got an EVH stealth 50 watt and it blew a fuse , should I take it in , or just replace the fuse myself

So what you're telling me is, I may have damaged my H&K trilogy and not even know it... well f**k. Time to go see an amp tech. Keep your fingers crossed for me, boys and girls... I can't afford a major repair.

I got a bugera G5.. hardly used it as I have other amplifiers, used it the other day worked great for the first day, second day massive volume drop and crackling when it gets to full volume, is that the power valve?

I've had my amp for 6 years now, up untill recently when I bought an interface it's been played at volume 0.7 out of 10. When I hook it up to the interface the clean channel goes to 4.5 and the drive channel to 7. I honestly have been worried that the tubes need replacing already, but I replaced the power tubes 4 years ago because a component on the circuit board short circuited, taking out the power section (the amp company has since upgraded that component.... I got it for free.) So yeah.... 😂 what to do what to do.

Hey colin. Can you do a video on retubing to different kind of tubes? For example swapping el34 to kt77 or something.

@ScienceofLoud

3 жыл бұрын

I'll answer it here: If your amplifier isn't designed to take different valve types: DON'T Just because valves are pin compatible doesn't mean they are operating at the same voltage characteristics, your amplifier probably won't be able to run on different valves without some modifications or at the very least a complete re-bias. for example: EL34s are pentodes, KT77 are beam tetrodes. The internal electrode structure is different and they operate in a different manner, not something that you can easily just swap between without work.

My amp will randomly get really loud, all i need to do to fix it is scrape my pick across the strings and it goes back to normal, would this be considered a warning sign of the power valves going bad? (I know this is a dumb question but I'm a valve amp noob here, used solid state combos my entire teenage years/early adulthood)