Mesa Boogie branded tubes

S

StrikeoftheBeast

New member
About a month ago my Badlander 100 Red plated two power tubes during band practice. Had the same stock tubes for almost 2 years and was pushing it pretty hard every week for a few hours at a time so it was bound to happen. Started getting random squeals and feedback leading up to it too so I knew it was coming....(didnt help that I cranked the hell out of it for science right before it happened *DUMBASS MOVE*)

Obviously needed to buy new tubes to replace and went with Mesa Branded 6l6's this time around.

My question for all the Mesa guys on here:

Do you really HAVE to buy Mesa power tubes? I know its a warranty issue and all that but have you had any issues if you put other matched tube sets from other manufacturers in there? Looking to save money in the future as the Mesa tubes are steep compared to most other brands and Im broke these days.
 
You can use any tube you want just have to figure out what the tube rating you will need to keep you in the bias range. It’s been awhile but for some reason 36 for the tube rating is what it is?
 
You can use whatever brand you want. Whether they will work w/o redplating is another story.
Most Mesa amps are cathode bias and fairly easy to work with.
 
Thanks for the feedback. Guess next time around I’ll give one of these other places a shot. I usually order tubes from The Tube Depot for my Marshall (I bias it myself) but this is the first time with my Mesa and there fixed bias style so I wasn’t sure.
 
Watch the new tubes closely the first few minutes for signs of redplating. If they do shut off the amp and try other tubes.
 
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