Should I change my tubes?

swatguitar85 · #1 03-22-2004, 10:53 PM

I've had my Boogie Single Rect-o-Verb for almost a year now and haven't changed tubes yet. My clean sound is started to get a little muddy, does this mean I should change my tubes?

microdmitry · #2 03-23-2004, 02:50 AM

How often do you play? How long are your practice sessions? How often do you run your amp "at 11"?

swatguitar85 · #3 03-23-2004, 11:06 AM

I play everyday on it for about 2 hours, somtimes longer, but I never get it up to "11." Even when we have band practice it still stays around 4.

microdmitry · #4 03-24-2004, 02:47 AM

Then you don't have to change the tubes. The rule of thumb is, if you play at REALLY high volumes really often (say, every day), you need to change power tubes once a year or when they burn out. Preamp tubes last pretty much forever, change them every 3 years if you like.

gkelm · #5 03-24-2004, 08:49 AM

You might try picking up on 12AX7 and swap it out one at time to see if you get any change. A more accurate approach might be to find out from Mesa which tube (s) might most affect the clean channel and focus on that. A single tube is cheap and good to have on hand anyway.
Greg

swatguitar85 · #6 03-24-2004, 10:39 AM

Yea, when I bought my amp, I got enough tubes with it to change them all. I don't think it's my power tubes because I was told that I would notice a difference on my volume at different settings. I just am not sure about the preamp tubes. I'm gonna contact Mesa Boogie though.

swatguitar85 · #7 03-24-2004, 04:19 PM

I was just messing around with my amp, and found that once I hit about 5 on the ouput, nothing changes as I turn it up louder. The volume stays the same, I just get massive feedback. Any ideas?