5Y3 Heat

[thinskin57]

o.k., so all this talk about the 5Y3's on this forum has me paying more attention to mine. i recently put an NOS RCA 5Y3 in my LSS and noticed that it generates a bit more heat than i would have thought. gets hotter than the EL84's, but in fairness, the 5Y3 has a big transformer that is blocking the breeze from the LSS's fan so maybe that's the reason? it's not so hot that you can't touch it, but you wouldn't want to leave your hand on it for long. anybody know if this heat is to be expected? i remember that the rectifiers on my old Tremoverb ran so cool that i could have put my tongue on them. the 5Y3's as we all know are a different beast though. thoughts?

 

[stokes]

In all the years I've been dealing with tube amps,I've never seen a rectifier tube "run so cool you could put your tongue on it",unless it wasnt "on",or you have an asbestos tongue.Is the 5y3 overheating in that amp?Could be,and if it is that issue has been addressed in your other post.That amp runs the 5Y3 too close to its limit.If you run a tube at its max,it will get hot.

 

[thinskin57]

ah, the secret of my asbestos tongue is out. no, the 5Y3 isn't getting THAT hot. It's running temperature is such a contrast from what i remember my Tremoverb being like, i just figured i'd ask. Then again, my T-Verb ran cool, PERIOD. I think the only time that amp got even remotely hot was when i put a quad of EL34's in it. must be due to the fact that mesa amps are set cold bias-wise to begin with. at least that's what everyone says about 'em.