Changing power amp tubes on a Mesa Lonestar

[Doughboy]

I want to switch from 6L6s to EL34s in my Mesa Lonestar.

Mesa says to ONLY use Mesa tubes, as it's a self biasing amp & other tube brands will not work properly for the self bias mode.

Is this true? Has anyone used any other brands of EL34s with a Lonestar & used the bias switch successfully?

I'm torn between JJs, Winged C or the Mesas.

 

[moltenmetalburn]

Bullshit lol, put anything in there as long as the quad is matched. Since you can't adjust bias the tone you get is what you get, mesa pre sorts tubes into distortion speed ratings allowing a fine tune of the final tone. Save some cash .

 

[Mudder]

You can trial and error testing tubes, but when I've had questions about which ones sound best I find that there are plenty of folks that already know. Laura/Valvequeen or Doug at Dougs Tubes are the 2 I'd go to. See what they recommend.

 

[Lord Toneking]

Lol, my buddy has a mark v and will not even think about putting other tubes in his. He called Mesa and they gave him this big lecture on how other tubes could/would damage his amp. I told him that Mesa tubes I believe are just relabeled jjs but he is in the agreement that the manufacturer knows what's best

Oh well, his money not mine

 

[Doughboy]

Lol, my buddy has a mark v and will not even think about putting other tubes in his. He called Mesa and they gave him this big lecture on how other tubes could/would damage his amp. I told him that Mesa tubes I believe are just relabeled jjs but he is in the agreement that the manufacturer knows what's best

Oh well, his money not mine

So I can put a set of matched JJ EL34s in my Mesa Lonestar, flick the bias switch & all will be well?

 

[fishyfishfish]

Pretty much, my current draw with a set of el34s was 14 mA
If I remember correctly, way safe for 34s
They came out with a simple DIY bias kit for that amp right
After I sold it. Something to look at if you want your own tubes

 

[amiller]

MESA amps have a fixed bias. They can do this because the tubes they sell you match the bias of the amp. In other words, instead of setting the bias of the amp to match the tubes Mesa sells tubes that match the fixed bias of the amp. Having said that, I'm sure there are third party tube vendors that know what the bias of a particular MESA model is and they should be able to sell you (or suggest) the tubes you need.

The above is my understanding of what MESA does based on their manuals.

I've always used MESA tubes in my MESA amps and have never had an issue. On one occasion, however, I bought third part tubes for my Lonestar. One of the tubes shorted out after a week of use but did not cause any damage to the amp. Since then I've stuck with MESA's...'superstition...maybe.

 

[Lord Toneking]

Lol, my buddy has a mark v and will not even think about putting other tubes in his. He called Mesa and they gave him this big lecture on how other tubes could/would damage his amp. I told him that Mesa tubes I believe are just relabeled jjs but he is in the agreement that the manufacturer knows what's best

Oh well, his money not mine

So I can put a set of matched JJ EL34s in my Mesa Lonestar, flick the bias switch & all will be well?

I've used sed's EH's JJ's and Rubys in my Mesa amps in the past with no issues

 

[Chris6870]

I wouldn't buytubes off Ebay or anything because you don't know what they are rated at and you can't adjust the amp to suit the tube. Buy from a good tube vendor and tell them what amp it's for and they will give you the right tube.