Lonestar Special tube color code question

[MisterB]

Hi,
This'll sound ignorant, since I'm brand-spanking new to tubes, but here goes...
I just got an LSS (sounds great!), and want to get some spares for an upcoming gig. Despite the length of the manual it's NOT very detailed, technically speaking. It doesn't actually state whether the 5 smaller tubes are 12AX7s, though I pulled one out and saw that it was. It also doesn't say why two of the EL-84s are marked "GRY" and the other two are marked "BLU", and whether it's important to only replace them with similar color-coded MB tubes or what kind of tubes should be used if they're not from Mesa Boogie.
So, I guess that's my question: why are there two different types of EL-84s and how important is it to use only those types in the proper positions?
THanks,
John

 

[MrMarkIII]

The power tubes work in pairs. When you replace them, you should replace them in pairs. (If one goes bad, keep the other for a spare). The colors serve to match the tubes in pairs. No matter what nonsense you read on the web, this is what the colors do, and have nothing to do with tone or distortion.

You have two pairs of tubes, an outer pair and an inner pair.
Like this: X - Y - Y - X
The "X" pair and the "Y" pair.

So it's likely the "X" pair is one color, and the "Y" pair is another.
Like this: Grey - Blue - Blue - Grey
Or this: Blue - Grey - Grey - Blue

You won't kill your amp if they get mixed up (Blue - Grey - Blue - Grey), but it might not sound as great.
Some tube sellers offer a matched quad. Or you could try all four of the same color.
Let us know if you hear a difference. We're all tone hounds here.

Boogie tubes can also come in Red and Green.
Any color can be used as long as they are installed as outlined above.
Hope this helps

 

[MisterB]

Ah, so the color grading is to match A-B pairs, not to select a different characteristic for different parts of the circuitry. That does help, thank you. I could put all blues or all grays in, I assume. This explains my seeing tubes sold in pairs and quads.

While I am looking for a great tone (that's why I bought a Mesa Boogie amp!), I'm not going to go overboard. For instance, I know that you can't tell the difference between zip-cord and $10,000 speaker cables, unless one of them has a gauge problem or was misengineered in some way to introduce filtering.

Thanks again.