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Found out my EL84 tubes were running way hotter than they should
I've been building little 5-watt guitar amps for a couple years now, just as a hobby. Last week I finally bought one of those cheap infrared thermometer guns off Amazon for like 15 bucks. Decided to check the temperature on my power tubes while it was cranked up. Turns out my EL84s were hitting almost 210 degrees on the glass. I looked it up on a few amp forums and apparently 150-170 is the normal range for those tubes. So I've been cooking them extra hot this whole time without knowing. My bias was probably off or my plate voltage was too high, I'm still figuring out which. Has anyone else had a similar scare with tube temps after finally getting a thermometer?
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finley93912d ago
Right? That "once you have the tool you start finding problems everywhere" thing hit me hard when I found out my coffee maker was barely heating water.
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julia28612d ago
Is it just me or does this kind of stuff make you wonder what else we're missing in our daily routines? I got one of those cheap temperature guns for checking the ducts in my house and ended up finding out my fridge wasn't cooling right in one spot. It's like once you have the tool you start finding problems everywhere. Probably a good thing with the tubes though, running them that hot can't be good for their lifespan or the sound.
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