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fishyfishfish

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Due to the cash crunch I had to dig in the old tube box to find some 6l6's, only came up with a Boogie pair of STR 440's and a pair of STR 425's. Not bad I must say!. I think the 5881's cut down on the fizz that I couldn't handle with straight 440's. I think I'm going to leave them in.
Anybody else mix pairs and get good results?
 
I asked about doing this in my Triple when I first joined the board. I was gunna mix 440's and 454's but everyone that responded to it advised against it, and they were even the same color codes.
 
You know this really is not a problem, in theory. I say in theory because if the tubes fall within Mesa's specs for idling current and can take the voltages in the amp, mixing brands, alone, is not a recipe for problems.

They likely won't be well "matched" even if same idle (bias) rating, because different brands will likely reproduce a different waveform and thereby sound different, but that alone won't hurt the amp (or the tube).

I have seen this done by friends (I haven't tried it myself; I always had a full set of one brand) without harm and the sound may end up being something unique you may actually like. In fact I have heard some argue that tubes that are not matched result in a 'grungier' tone that they prefer.

As usual, check, or have checked, the idle current to be sure, but if they are in range (and mesa tubes certainly should be unless defective) you should be fine. Your ears might know the difference, but the amp won't care.

Good luck :D
 
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