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Post by chesterbrown on Mar 11, 2020 22:12:49 GMT -7
Has anyone else been going through power tubes? I’ve had my Zplus for just over a year and I’m on my fourth set of power tubes. Went from stock to EHX to Rubys back to new JJs. After 2-3 months I get a low/mid frequency distortion when I play certain notes(especially D note on the G string on 7th fret) The first power tube after the preamp section seems to go microphonic in every set. When I tap on it it comes through the speaker. I play in half mode a lot. I run volume at 12 T-12/1 M-12 B-11 Cut-2 and master all the way up.
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on Mar 15, 2020 18:00:36 GMT -7
I've had my Z-Plus over a year and still have the original tubes, but I'm not running mine as hard as you. How many hours a month are you running it at those settings?
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Post by daddyelmis (Greg) on Mar 15, 2020 18:51:02 GMT -7
^^same here.
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Post by headshrinker (Marc) on Mar 15, 2020 19:53:54 GMT -7
I'm still on my first set of power tubes too and I've gigged it a lot since I got it and that was when they first were released. I'm pretty sure that the power tube right after the preamp tubes is the one that you are hearing when you are in half power mode, but not positive. I always run mine full power with the volume up almost all the way and the master at noon my tone settings are in the ballpark of yours. Try reversing the tubes and see if it goes away.
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Post by j4gitr (John) on Mar 16, 2020 5:46:39 GMT -7
I’ve had mine since July 2018 and have not a need to replace a power tube.
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Post by vanceen on Mar 16, 2020 16:37:10 GMT -7
This may or not be helpful or correct, but I wonder if there could be a problem with the cathode resistor on that power tube that's causing it run hot. Maybe it's drifted or was just out of spec when it went in. I don't think that would explain the microphonics problem, but it would explain the short power tube life.
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Post by chesterbrown on Mar 17, 2020 0:48:35 GMT -7
Thanks for the insight. I will try reversing the tube order next time it happens. This was a display model from Sweetwater. When I got it the V1 tube was bad and I know how people can really abuse a display amp. So I wasn’t surprised by the stock tubes possibly being wore out. I do play alot. Rehearsal with band 5 hrs a week run in full power and probably an hour + a day in half power. Gigs twice a month on average. I’ve put in a lot more time on other 6v6 amps and had tubes last for years. I’m going to keep an eye(or ear) on it for a bit longer than contact DrZ. They seem to have great customer service. I really appreciate all the feedback. This forumn has helped me with a ton of things!
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carl
New Member
Posts: 1
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Post by carl on Mar 24, 2020 11:23:24 GMT -7
I've had mine just over a year and the output tubes test borderline..... Run mine full power with volumes low due to a very lively church room. Id say its hardly working hard at all. I was expecting longer life.
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