How do you change Tubes in a Blue Voodoo?

[adrenaline junkie]

I've got a BV 60, Are there Bias adjustments? Can I put EL34's in it, and if so do I need to make any adjustments or changes for them?

[adrenaline junkie]

Re: How do you change Tubes in a Blue Voodoo?

Ok, I see it's got a bias pot, so I can bias it, can I change it over to EL34's, or is that possible?

[zeegler]

Re: How do you change Tubes in a Blue Voodoo?

Originally posted by adrenaline junkie:
I've got a BV 60, Are there Bias adjustments? Can I put EL34's in it, and if so do I need to make any adjustments or changes for them?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Is it a combo or a head?

Combos used to have the autobias feature, so you could change out the tubes whenever you wanted without adjusting anything.

[adrenaline junkie]

Re: How do you change Tubes in a Blue Voodoo?

It's the head version. It's got a bias pot on the circuit board, but I don't see any switchs or anything like that there, or on the back of the amp. Can you put EL34's in a BV?

[toejam]

Re: How do you change Tubes in a Blue Voodoo?

What tubes are in it now, and what does the switch say?

[adrenaline junkie]

Re: How do you change Tubes in a Blue Voodoo?

Right now, it's got Mesa 6L6's in it. What switch?

[toejam]

Re: How do you change Tubes in a Blue Voodoo?

I mean the bias pot. Some Mesas have switches... you push it one way for 6L6s, push it the other way for EL34s. Does the pot tell you which way to turn it for which tubes?

[adrenaline junkie]

Re: How do you change Tubes in a Blue Voodoo?

No, There aren't any switchs, and it doesn't have anything on the bias pot at all. It just has the word Spain on it. I'm thinking this is a 6L6 only model.

[toejam]

Re: How do you change Tubes in a Blue Voodoo?

Hmm, strange there's a pot but it doesn't tell you what it does. I don't know much about tube amps, as I just got mine (Mesa F-30) and it doesn't have any adjustment. As long as I replace it with the same Mesa tubes, I won't need to have it biased. I'd contact Crate and get info on your amp to see what exactly you'd need to do, if you can use different tubes or not.

[zeegler]

Re: How do you change Tubes in a Blue Voodoo?

According to the Crate tech guy (I asked a similar question about my BV120 recently) the heads are not equipped with the Autobias feature, and it is recommended that when replacing the tubes with 6L6s you should still have the bias checked and corrected if necessary. He also told me that you can switch the tubes with EL34s if the amp is rebiased.

[adrenaline junkie]

Re: How do you change Tubes in a Blue Voodoo?

So, just stick the EL34's in, and bias it? Cool! I can handle that. Thanks!

[Chuckracer]

Re: How do you change Tubes in a Blue Voodoo?

STOP!
There's more to it than that!
If you want to run EL34s, take it to a good tech. There are mods that will have to be done.
I seriously doubt the bias pot has the range to bias from 6L6 settings to EL34 settings.

[JerryP]

Re: How do you change Tubes in a Blue Voodoo?

Originally posted by adrenaline junkie:
I've got a BV 60, Are there Bias adjustments? Can I put EL34's in it, and if so do I need to make any adjustments or changes for them?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The BV60 is auto-biasing. You can just plug in the EL34's. The BV60H is not. The heads aren't either.
Jerry

[Chuckracer]

Re: How do you change Tubes in a Blue Voodoo?

Err...never mind!

[Ric1983]

Re: How do you change Tubes in a Blue Voodoo?

I just got new 5881's in my BV 60 head. You must have these amps rebiased each tube change or they sound like ass also can be a costly repair too boot. Mine also required new caps. Not a bad sounding amp either.


Ric