BTW you really should try Genalex Gold Lion KT-77's by far the best EL34 variant I've heard. I use them in my own EL34 pp amp.
Did I just ruin my amp
First, this is my first tube amp hence the dumb mistake. Over the past few days my stereo has been making an intermittent high pitch squealing sound which I thought was caused by some ground or feedback issue but now see was a power tube dying. Yesterday my wife said she heard some weird sound coming from the speakers. She called me in and I saw what looked like fire in one of the power tubes. I immediately unplugged everything and that is where things now stand. Help on what to do next would be appreciated. I have a full set of extra power tubes which I was thinking of putting in the amp but I wanted to hear from more experienced people before doing this. Thanks.
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Agree with @jond about the Genalex KT-77s but if the price is a barrier there are several good options. I would recommend you get in touch with Jim McShane. Incredibly knowledgeable and helpful with fully tested tubes at fair prices. I don't buy tubes from anyone else. www.mcshanedesign.net/ |
As others mentioned I think you did see a tube arcing. If your power tube went bad, that doesn't necessarily mean you blew a fuse. If the fuse is not blown there is no reason to replace it, unless it makes you feel better. As mentioned when replacing tubes, some require bias adjustments while other amps have self-bias of tubes. It also doesn't mean that any other part of the amp is damaged. Should you continue to have this problem I'd suggest having the unit professionally checked out. When tubes go bad sometimes it's a quiet venture and other time it can produce very loud weird noises. Let us know how it all turns out. |
I want to again thank everyone for the helpful tips. I had already purchased some preferred series tubes from thetubestore but was waiting to put those and some expensive northern electric 6sn7 tubes till after Xmas but instead threw them in and the amp sounds better than new. Can’t wait to put the 6sn7 in! |
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