Surfcaster said:
Not quite true...there is a reason. The reason is that Mesa guarantees that their tubes will match the amp's bias. If you buy tubes from elsewhere, you have no guarantee that the tubes will match the amps bias and as they come from the factory, the bias on the amp is not adjustable. (Though some places will mod a Mesa by adding trim pots so it can be adjusted, but of course that voids your warranty, too). So, if your new tubes are too far out of spec for the amp, the amp could be damaged and in that case, Mesa claims (rightfully so, I believe) that it's your fault, thus the warranty is voided. And my guess is that it's not so easy to pull the wool over their eyes by putting Mesa tubes back in before you send it in for warranty work...I'm sure their techs can recognize when an amp has been damaged by tubes that are out of bias with the amp, which obviously wouldn't happen if you used Mesa tubes...I wouldn't risk it, anyway.
Having said that, it's very possible that some tube retailers (Eurotubes, The Tube Store, etc.) know what Mesa's specs are and can provide you with tubes that will work correctly with your amp if you give them the correct info. There are many people that have used non-Mesa tubes without any problems...I would just make sure first if it was me. The other option is to wait to do that kind of thing until the warranty period is over.
One other thing to consider when considering the price of Mesa's tubes. If you own an amp with an adjustable bias, most of them need to be rebiased when you purchase new tubes...unless the bias is user adjustable and/or you know how to do it yourself. If you add the cost of re-biasing an amp to the cost of the tubes, it's cheaper to buy Mesa's tubes and not have to worry about rebiasing the amp. That's what I like about it.
you are so wrong in so many ways I dont even know really where to start!
I'll try to keep it simple. The fact of the matter is there is a tolerance in bias when it comes to tubes. For example, A Mesa 6l6 STR425 itself even comes if various ratings. For Mesa, they declare these ratings by their color coded system. I forget exactly how they rank them, but there is something like 9 different ratings. The lower the rating the sooner the break up, the higher the rating the later the break up. Once again, this difference in dynamics is all for the SAME EXACT type of tube, from the SAME company and re-badger. The reason for this difference in rating is due to the tolerances of the manufacturer in howmuch exact power a tube may draw.
Now, consider the fact that almost every other company that rebadges tubes does this, I dont see what the difference is! Be it Groove, Ruby, Eurotubes or whoever, they test AND match their tubes for duets, quads, sectets, whatever the hell you need, for AMPLIFIER use, meaning that their tubes are going to be well within the tolerance level of a Mesas mesa boogies fixed bias rating. At worst, it may run a little hotter or colder than any of Mesas offerings, but its not likely to be a very big difference, besides perhaps a slight (but undectable to the vast majority of guitarists) difference in dynamics, and a perhaps a very slight difference in tube life.
Also, IVE NEVER EVER EVER EVER heard of anybody damaging a boogie from using non-Mesa tubes that were still in the correct family of tube required for their amp.
I will point out this being the case for the Peavy XXX, which apparently gets burned from using JJ E34L tubes, yes, E34L, not EL34. But once again, which was a result of Peavy using cheap components. But again, this is practicaly unheard of for other amps, Especially Mesa.
Think about it, this ploy of Mesas is almost a contradiction to one of their strongest traits, ROCK SOLID RELIABILITY! You mean to tell me this thing can take a nose dive off a 10ft stage at full volume and not miss a note, but the components cant handle non-Mesa badged tubes??
Well if you believe that, guess what? We have 7 bridges in the Bay Area, and I happen to own all of them and I will sell them to you for VERY cheap. :twisted:
