Ibanez Valbee - some help here..

[Reth]

Cool, BB! But unfortunately, I don't have cash now.. Will probably get if from Shanghai.
Yeah, i know a little about tubes. But since i know nuts about biasing and stuff, it'll be done by a tech.

Oh, i think there is only 1 tube in the preamp, and 1 in the poweramp

I hope shanghai has it. Could probably fit in my suitcase.
My dad did that with my first 25w amp, as he brought back my first squier in a case too

Shanghai should be pretty well-stocked yeah? Anyone has any idea?

 

[subversion]

do consider that maintaining a tube amp is not so straightforward.

You need to change the tube once in a while and before you can use the new tube, you need to bias the tube. Pardon me if you've already known about this.

contrary to conventional belief, tube maintenance is not as cumbersome as you'd have thought. i've owned 3 tube amps to date, none had tube-related issues. there isn't a need to swap tubes just because they have been resident in the amp over a period of time & subjected to wear. if you don't hear any tonal deficiencies, leave them be. the pros maintain constant change in theirs simply because they crank their amps way up during live performances. their amps' tubes (especially power amp units) wear out at a faster rate & at higer volume levels, tonal deficiencies are more aparant.

the key to maintaining a good tube amp life, i believe, is about turning it ON/ OFF appropriately, simple it may be but totally disregarded by many players.

power amp tubes need to be biased upon replacement, the pre-amp ones are virtually plug & play. these days, there are self-biasing amps for those of us who aren't too keen to pay others for biasing works each & every time we swap tubes.