Rogue Audio. Reliability issues? Anyone?

russ69,

So much attention went into matched tubes. How am I supposed to just replace one tube and throw out all that paid-for attention to detail? I guess maybe the answer is to pony up more money for ANOTHER matched quad. Feels like a very, very expensive endeavor that makes the tube game silly. Do you think finding a used KT-120 with low hours will fit the bill?

@nickrobotron "I have friends, two to be exact, inform me that Rogue is notorious for this crap and their amplifiers are money pits."

Do your friends have firsthand experience with Rogue amps to make this claim? If they do which amps and what were the problems. I had a Rogue Cronus integrated for a few years, zero trouble with it. Also, and maybe I've missed them , but I don't recall seeing threads here or elsewhere thrashing Rogue amplifier reliability. Feel free to correct me on that by posting some links.

@nickrobotron matched tubes is of greatly exaggerated value.  Especially if your amp has good bias control.  

Now you're having trouble with bias (is my guess).  This is why I greatly prefer manual bias control.  So don't even consider paying for a matched set until you get everything back under control. Your amp will sound fine.

Finally, if you are using new production tubes they will be very close to the same.  Unmatched NOS tubes that may have even been manufactured in different plants and diferent years can have much more variance.

Jerry

How am I supposed to just replace one tube and throw out all that paid-for attention to detail? I guess maybe the answer is to pony up more money for ANOTHER matched quad. Feels like a very, very expensive endeavor that makes the tube game silly. 

If the power tubes have a lot of hours on them and one tube fails, it's a good clue that the tubes may be near the end of their lifespan and it might be a good time to replace the set. If a single tube fails early on, a single replacement can be found that matches your existing set. Yes, tubes can be expensive. I don't want to replace my dozen six-pac tubes unless I have to. Even cheap tubes times 12 get very expensive.  The cost of running tube gear may not be within your budget, perhaps you should think about going back to solid state. Tubes are not suitable for everybody. 

It’s a very very easy fix. Just one cathode resistor and a new tube. 
amd YES Rogue overbiases their KT88 amps so user beware.