Blew a fuse

[pokerrules47]

Right at the beginning of a jam session last night... had to play through the PA system with no preamp!! ugghhhhhh

 

[pokerrules47]

found the culprit, the new el34's I installed are red plating after about 3 or 4 minutes of hard play (i.e. output volume at 11 o'clock or better). If I keep the volume down I can get 6 minutes!! LOL... I guess they are going back, but I am def gonna call mesa on this one... I have yet to test another set of tubes... I won't get around to that until sunday or so.

I am really hoping this amp isn't a lemon, it's definitely the best sounding amp (to my ears anyway) I've ever owned.

 

[pokerrules47]

Well, yesterday I put a spare set of 6L6 into it and they worked fine. I did not notice any issues what-so-ever. I am relatively certain that at least one of the el34's was bad, I could not tell which one, as two of the quad were lit up. I've yanked all 4, putting the two lit ones aside. Will take them back once I speak to mesa.

 

[pokerrules47]

Ok, I think the problem is solved. Took it into the local mesa tech and this amp had never had the cathode follower tubes replaced by chinese ones. He's loaded them in and he also replaced two faulty (from new) el34's. I am going to give it a good run tonight and over the next few days to see if the problem persists.

I wish I had of actually checked that myself.