How to identify a bad tube in a Linear Tube Audio integrated amplifier

If you're hearing a scratchy, static-like noise, or you're not hearing anything, in one channel of your Linear Tube Audio integrated amplifier, there's a good chance a tube has gone bad. The challenge, with ten tubes in each amp, is figuring out which tube has gone bad.
In this video, Nicholas walks you through the procedure to identify the problem tube. Once you find the bad tube, contact us. We warranty our tubes for a full year.
Linear Tube Audio: www.lineartube...
Z10 Integrated Amplifier: www.lineartube...
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Music by Otis McDonald: www.otismacmus...

[@brentsockness3162]

Helpful. Keep em coming!

[@LinearTubeAudio]

Good to hear! Thank for the encouragement, Brent!

[@paulchiu]

I see you do not cover your amplifiers at the shop. Would you suggest some covering for high dust areas, especially for tube amplifiers?

[@LinearTubeAudio]

We always suggest covering the amps, mostly for safety reasons. We leave the amps uncovered temporarily during burn-in and testing.

[@kaybhee6]

too many permutatins...headache..... are your tubes matched, to what parameteres.........after one year, we must buy new tubes... any recomendations... , what about RE BIASING.... for new tubes.

[@LinearTubeAudio]

It takes a bit of time, but it's easy to do. Yes, we gain match the tubes and some positions require other parameters to be matched for optimal performance. We can make tube recommendations based on your sonic preferences if you ever want different tubes; we only sell tubes to LTA customers, not the general public. Our amps use an auto-bias circuit for the output tubes, so there are never any bias adjustments to be made. Hope this helps.

[@923west]

Question: If a tube swap doesn't switch the channel where noise appears, what is the reason behind swapping the tubes back to their original positions? Wouldn't it be fine to just leave them where they are?

[@LinearTubeAudio]

LTA amps have auto-bias circuits for the power tubes, so you could not switch them back. If your amp doesn’t have an auto-bias circuit, you would definitely want to switch them back. I always switch the tubes back to their original positions no matter what, just to know I’m working from the same starting point and only testing one change. Scientific method of sorts.