LiturghianPope Posted March 11, 2023 Share Posted March 11, 2023 Hello, Our band's mesa dual rectifier amp has a broken rectifier lamp. Is it safe for us to remove the lamp and use the amp on diode tracking? Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassmanPaul Posted March 11, 2023 Share Posted March 11, 2023 (edited) It's not a lamp it's an electron tube/valve. No it's not safe to use. GZ34/5AR4 tubes are readily available and are simple to install. Pull the broken one out and push in the replacement tube in it's place rotating the tube as needed to let the key into the socket base. it's that simple. Edit: Apparently the two rectifier tubes are 5U4G. I beg your pardon. Same applies though. Edited March 11, 2023 by BassmanPaul 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassmanPaul Posted March 12, 2023 Share Posted March 12, 2023 To explain a bit more: a 5U4, or a GZ34 for that matter, can power a typical 50W amp. The Mesa amp being 100W needs more current from its power supply. Thus two rectifier tubes to supply that. If you try to run the amp on one rectifier you risk blowing the tube which could possibly take out a high voltage secondary winding on the power transformer. It's something that you just don't want! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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