space_cowboy Posted February 25, 2003 Share Posted February 25, 2003 I'm completely new to tubes and need advice. I have the ASL WAV-8 amps and think a tube has gone bad. The top of one is kinda "blacked out" as some light bulbs used to do when they blew. After the amp is on for about a minute a "howling" sound would come through the right speaker for about 1 second; I swapped the tubes, and the problem moved to the other channel, so I guess that's the problem. The only identifier I can find for the tube type is "6BM8". Are these common enough to be found in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area or reliable mail order? Thanks for any advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted February 25, 2003 Share Posted February 25, 2003 Certainly seems like that is the problem how long have you had these it seems too early for the tube to be so bad, besides, tubes really have to be worn out to fail so quickly, perhaps it was bad to begin with, I would contact ASL for other tubes, different tubes and suggestions of vendors, it might be under warranty, but it is probably not, nonetheless, the tube should not go so bad so quickly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbflash Posted February 25, 2003 Share Posted February 25, 2003 I replaced the tubes in my Waves. I ordered 4 6BM8 Svetlana tubes from Thetubestore.com last March for about $60.00. I think that you can also use ECL82 tubes, but the 6BM8's are easy to find. Danny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
space_cowboy Posted February 26, 2003 Author Share Posted February 26, 2003 Thanks for the responses... Colin - The amps are only about 6 months old, so maybe I just got a bad tube. Am contacting the distributor for advice. dbflash - Did you install the Svetlana tubes from the start, or as a maintenance replacement? Could you tell a difference between those and what was shipped with the ASL's? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbflash Posted February 27, 2003 Share Posted February 27, 2003 Space, I changed them out about a week after the Waves arrived. I read somewhere that the improvement was worth the upgrade. I thought what the hey it's only $60. At the time I had no house or car payment. I really can't tell you the difference. I used the new tubes for about a week and put everything up. I moved into a house in May. I used the Waves for about another 2 weeks and then bought a pair of Wright's which I have been using since. Last Friday I installed the Waves in my bedroom. I am using a SS pre with a pair of Heresy's. My source is a Rega. From what I remember it was a smoother sound. This is why from now on I am going to get us to what I buy before I upgrade. Danny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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