tube questions

right i know the difference between the preamp, poweramp, and rectifier tubes. i was just curious if i buy 2 sets of tubes (gonna go with mesa tubes probably), are there specific spots i should put each one in? like for instance, my dual rec has 4 power tubes in it. let's say from left to right, they are 1, 2, 3, and 4. should i put the tubes from one pair in 1 & 4 and the other set in 2 & 3 (or some other combination to match them) or doesn't that matter? just trying to clear things up before i go spend my hard earned money (poor college student musician here. lol)

I really don't think it matters. But if you were particularly trying to match them, you would be evenly matching tubes on opposite ends of the output transformer's primary winding. In sets of 4, usually the two tubes on each side are on the same side of the primary. So changing out one left one and one right one would be the same, whether you did the two outside ones, the two inside ones, or #1 and #3, or #2 and #4. Changing both left ones or both right ones would be "unbalanced." But in a situation with 4 tubes, I'd replace all 4 at once just as I'd replace both in an amp with 2 output tubes.

As I said, I don't believe tube matching is really important. (I've argued the point with other members here who strongly believe in matching; we agree to disagree.) But it's more important if you're using the old trick of removing two of four tubes to reduce output power. You probably don't want both tubes removed from the same side. That's as unmatched as you can get.

I think Mesa is one company that actually encourages you to try different tubes. Just a thought. A lot of people consider this a good, cheap mod.

hueseph - i like the sound of my amp right now, so i guess, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. plus, i figure if i do somehow screw something up, it'll look better if i have mesa tubes in it than someone else's. lol. plus, mesa tubes aren't really any more expensive than others, so i'll probably just stick with them.