Bugera Tube Life Monitoring works!
 

I started getting a little static-like crackling from my Bugera V22 Infinium amp. I didn't think too much about it since it was pretty minor. Sometime later, however, I looked over at the amp and the power light was flashing! I looked on the back and one of the power tube LEDs was flashing as well.

The power tubes were JJs that I bought after I purchased the amp last August. I swapped in one of the original Bugera tubes and both the flashing and the crackling went away!

I'm a little upset that one of my tubes died so quickly, but I like the fact the Bugera Tube Life Monitoring function works. I also like the fact that this amp doesn't require tube biasing.

I just ordered a new matched pair of the JJs, even though Bugera says matched tubes aren't required.

Ah, the fragility of tubes. Less than a year for a tube isn't long. Have you moved your amp at all, perhaps putting it down hard, or a hard bump? That shouldn't cause any tube issues but it has in the past.

Let us know how the new JJs sound.

Well that is pretty cool! I made it twenty years on a set of Svetlanas in my Marshall. We replaced them with JJ/Teslas and they seem to be doing fine. Fingers crossed.

Bob

My Bugera makes some odd rattling noises at certain volumes. Not sure why, all tubes are inserted correctly.

Is it possible something is loose inside the chassis?

aknow wrote:
phcorrigan replied:
+1. Check to make sure all the screws are tight.

Told ya... :up:

Yes you did.

Thanks!

Some tubes are microphonic in all applications, and some have the tendency when used in a loud combo amp. One fix that might work is a some form of dampener - here are 2 to consider:

https://www.eurotubes.com/store/pc/v...p?idCategory=8

https://tubedepot.com/products/pre-a...SABEgJurPD_BwE

Thanks, that was the 1st thing I checked. Sounds like the noise comes from tubes. Very odd.

As ChrisN said, some tubes are microphonic and some have elements that can rattle under certain circumstances. Unlike solid-state components, vacuum tubes can be very inconsistent and do not always operate in exactly the same way.

When I was a kid, a friend and I used to dumpster-dive behind the TV repair shops for tubes. The next day, we'd take the tubes to a self-serve tube tester, and many would test "good." It took a while to realize that tube testers couldn't test for everything, and that some tubes will work fine in some applications and not in others.

If it were me, I'd swap out the tubes. Tonaltubes.com has JJs at pretty reasonable prices.

That's pretty cool I had never heard of that.

A few years back I had my '72 Twin retubed and the amp tech was astonished to find that I still had Westinghouse tubes in it probably from the 70's :D

Glad to hear it works. I have a G20 that's several years old with a couple matched pairs of replacement tubes ready. I play mostly acoustic so stock tubes are still in. Really glad you were able to correct the problem.

I just received the replacement JJ power tubes today and installed them, so I now have the original factory tubes and one JJ as backups.

It does indeed work, in fact it's worked twice for me in the last 6 months, which seems a bit odd. Both times were due to a burned out power tube (dark shadow inside the top side of the tube) that suddenly got very noisy.

I've been using the preferred EL84s from the tubestore and their customer service has been awesome with supporting the 6 month warranty, but it makes me wonder if something else is going on.

Each time prior to the warning light and flashing power light, I've heard a loud pop that I wrote off as static electricity build-up. (The relative humidity in my room is currently at 20%.). Could some other issue be causing early burn-out?