boogie tubes

[ti479]

hi,

this is my first post here and also the first mesa i have ever owned. i bought a .50 caliber + from a boogie dealer and was told by them to only use mesa tubes. now i have owned tube amps in the past and have been able to switch brands as long as there were the correct type of tube......so my question is did he tell me correctly? can you use only boogie tubes? or can you use other brands? i saw on the forums here that others have used other brands of tubes-- will this shorten the life of the amplifier?

 

[disassembled]

He lied. You can use any brand of tube but if you bought it brand new Mesa doesn't like when customers use anything other than Mesa tubes or Groove tubes. As long as you don't tell Mesa you use different tubes or send your amp in for service with different tubes it won't affect your warranty.

 

[JamesD]

You can swap tubes. tons of people on here running different tubes.

As my new saying goes...

....If the tube fits.....

 

[Sludgenutz]

I just got myself a Mesa .50 Caliber plus a couple of weeks ago!

I ended up going with a set of Mesa STR-440's (yellow group), and they sounds great! From what I have read, these are Chinese manufactured/re-branded Ruby tubes, under Mesa's name after extensive testing. I paid $42/pair at Guitar center for mine.

This may help:

http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?t=3718

 

[Guitarzan]

Groove Tube relables JJ's they are designated with the "S" suffix.

 

[Russ]

No, you can use whatever tubes you want provided they are similarly graded. Some tubes will shorten the life of your amp and those would not be the ones to use because they would not fall in to the same grading as Mesa has designed into their circuit. The afore mentioned information is in regards to power tubes. As far as preamp tubes go have fun there are literally more 12ax7/ECC83 types out there than you could possibly ever use.

 

[Guitarzan]

you can use whatever tubes you want provided they are similarly graded.

I've noticed a lot of Newbs don't get this...That's why I take out the guess work by suggesting GT's

 

[Russ]

GTs are great. I actually prefer them to Mesa tubes. I have had them in Marshalls over the years and it was pretty nice because most shops stock them. Not every shop carries Mesa tubes and actually fewer than those that carry GTs. The nice thing about having a graded tube si that you know that you are not getting a second rate tube. In the case of GT I have found that their tubes are usually a little better selected than those of Mesa. Mesa does get a little more specific about their tube range but not necessarily about their preamp tubes. I have found that the SAG tubes from GT are some of the best selected tubes out there as far as new production goes. Those grading JJs come close but still do not have the variety to choose from as GT. It is nice that you can call out what you want though as far as gain and balancing. Try that with a Mesa tube...