Boogie combo - tubes?

I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this one, but I figured I'd check just to make sure.
I have a Boogie Rocket 44 amp, got it in 2000 or 2001.
Recently, there's been issues with the sound fading in and out, sometimes with a staticky, crackling sound.
Yesterday, I looked in the back of the amp, and one pair of EL84s is glowing very orange.
I shut down, let things cool. Last night I swapped the pairs of tubes, and started playing it again.
One of those origional tubes was glowing again, in its new spot.
I presume it's time to change out the power tubes at this point?
I don't want to spend a ton on new ones, tops would be $20 each. Looking at THe Tube Store there;'s a bunch of options.
Are there any that are more or less recommended by the group brain? I don't play super high gain, I like to have a good clean and a nice crunch from the amp, though |I don't use the overdrive channel a lot - I usually use pedals for my dirt sound.

jrgtr42 said:

I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this one, but I figured I'd check just to make sure.
I have a Boogie Rocket 44 amp, got it in 2000 or 2001.
Recently, there's been issues with the sound fading in and out, sometimes with a staticky, crackling sound.
Yesterday, I looked in the back of the amp, and one pair of EL84s is glowing very orange.
I shut down, let things cool. Last night I swapped the pairs of tubes, and started playing it again.
One of those origional tubes was glowing again, in its new spot.
I presume it's time to change out the power tubes at this point?
I don't want to spend a ton on new ones, tops would be $20 each. Looking at THe Tube Store there;'s a bunch of options.
Are there any that are more or less recommended by the group brain? I don't play super high gain, I like to have a good clean and a nice crunch from the amp, though |I don't use the overdrive channel a lot - I usually use pedals for my dirt sound.

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I'm surprised an electronics guru hasn't responded, and I instantly defer to a genuine expert, but I had Boogies for twenty years, and in my anecdotal experience they performed on whatever I fed them. I bought expensive matched 6L6 duets and quartets, on the one hand, and I bought surplus single 12AX7s by rooting around in spares bins when I had to. None of what I used was so obviously superior that I stuck with it. And I now mostly play a Blues Jr. that I just retubed, and I couldn't tell you what brand I got online but it sounds fine. I would say, though, that if you are getting twenty years out of a set of tubes, you're doing okay! (Is there a fan in the Boogie Rocket 44?)

That is a fixed biased amp. It does not have an adjustment for that bias voltage. Ime, it is good to know the bias numbers. This is important when one is replacing power tubes so that one can get back to the same bias point IF one has graded tubes. One simply buys the same tubes from the same distributor in order to maintain the operational specs and sound of the amp.
Are these original power tubes? If so and if you liked what was going on before these tubes got worn out, then buy those same tubes. That would mean you buy Boogie tubes. If you want to go the other route, you might want to have a tech...or learn how to take bias measurements on your own. A bias probe that reads both current draw and plate voltage is necessary. However, the bias is not adjustable as it is. That means that IF you want to break free from Boogie tubes, you would need to have a trim pot added to the bias circuit in order to set the bias. Imho, this would be advisable because there is a wide range or usable bias. It is good to have that versatility. Or....some informed distributors might know what EL84 would ‘match’ what Mesa puts in that amp with regard to operational parameters.
Fwiw, I have never installed a set of non-Mesa tubes in a Boogie and found that the bias point was unusable. In general, Boogie biases cold...at least in the MK amps. I always take measurements and know for sure how the tubes are running.
Have you talked to Mesa? Have you talked to any distributors?

Eurotubes sells a complete retube set, but you don’t need the 12A-7s. Sweetwater has the Mesa tubes in duets. You need a quartet, IFone could trust that two duets were closely matched...and they should be imho but I don’t KNOW that, then two duets are right at $100. They have a discount program until Nov. 9. No affiliation. Talk to Mesa about buying two duets for your amp. If they say two duets would match up, that might be the simplest route for you. Out one tube from each duet on each side....mix the duets.

Buy a new set of Mesa tubes and be done with it. If you don't know what you need, just call Mesa tech support. It really is as simple as buying new tubes and putting them in. Gently pull/wiggle the old ones out cold (because burning fingers suck) and put the new ones in using a clean oil free cloth to cover them with. Plug the amp into the speakers and guitar and behold the new tones. No shop, no tools, no voodoo required.

I've had a few different Mesa amps over the years but due to just playing at home now I have the little Mark V 25. One thing is pretty consistent - the Mesa replacement tubes work without fuss and in 20 years I haven't had a set that I've put in that's been "bad." Occasionally I'll get a preamp tube that's a little noisy in the first pre-amp tube socket and I'll swap it with one in a later part of the preamp and life will be good.

I've never had a set stay good for more than 2 years - then again I now size my amps to what I need, so something like the Mark V 25 is great for home and gets used at practice but as it sees the volume at past 2 o'clock, those power tubes ain't lasting 20 years - 20 months more like and only then if I'm lucky. When I was younger and "more dumberer" and had a Triple Recto, I was in awe that the tubes lasted so long. When you have an amp that goes from nothing to complete hearing loss in a small room at the slight turn of a knob, it's understandable.