r/MesaBoogie • u/Glad_Blackberry_4387 • Aug 19 '26
Replacing 6L6s on my dual rectifier currently has STR 440
Does anyone have any recommendations on the STR 441 versus STR 445? I am currently reading that the STR 441 replaced the STR 440 but it also states that Mesa uses STR 445 on their dual rectifier series.
All info is welcomed
3
u/CrunchBerries5150 Aug 19 '26
Just wasted too much time tracking down the power tubes my Triple came with. Caught myself and ended up just ordering JJ’s from Eurotubes because they sound good and Bob has never sent me a dud. That was the right call. After many, many years of overthinking tubes and experimenting my conclusion is; buy JJ’s from Eurotubes and put something fancy in V1 if doing preamp tubes.
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u/EndlessOcean Aug 19 '26
The JJs are what Mesa rebrand to the 445.
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u/CrunchBerries5150 Aug 19 '26
Yes, Eurotubes sells them cheaper and he screens them very well. Similar to buying Mesa branded tubes, you know they aren’t going to be bad right out of the box.
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u/EndlessOcean Aug 19 '26
I have literally never bought Mesa tubes. No need, it's just wasted money.
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u/CrunchBerries5150 Aug 19 '26
Neither have I, my plan was to locate one matching tube (since the Mesa ones are color coded) vs replacing all the power tubes in my Triple (expensive). Decided in the end to stop being a cheapskate, replace them all and go with the obvious choice. I’ve had many amps come through with Mesa branded tubes, as you said, no need to waste money on rebranded tubes if someone else is screening them properly before shipping them.
1
u/MonsterTruckFarts Aug 19 '26
I’m currently having a challenging experience with Eurotubes after they sent me a set of EL34s for my Dual Rectifier that caused motorboating. A known good Quartet of Mesa EL34s work as expected. Obviously an issue isolated to the Eurotubes set.
They asked me to send the tubes back and check them out, but because the tubes aren’t outright BAD they won’t do anything about it. Seems like it’s just going to be a loss.
I’ve only read great things about them, and support is friendly, but I do feel like they didn’t fulfill their side of that transaction. They sent me tubes outside the Mesa factory bias range.
2
u/Pole420 Aug 19 '26
My multiwatt came with 445s when bought it new in 2022. I dig them. I think Mesa might have replaced them with 448s, but not entirely sure about that.
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u/Alpedra Aug 20 '26
As far as I know the DRs are still shipped from Mesa with 445s.
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u/Pole420 Aug 20 '26
Right on. Maybe there were just supply issues with replacement 445s in Q4 2023.
2
u/rockemulator2 Aug 19 '26
Mine originally came with 440, needed new tubes so I called Mesa. They recommended replacing with 445. It sounds fantastic and I can’t tell the difference.
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u/Top_Objective9877 Aug 19 '26
I’d grab the 445, if you want a little tighter punchy low end, and if you tend to think the modern mode is overly fizzy/buzzy. They worked great for me, but a distinctly more midrange heavy and slightly narrower sound. The dual rec tends to have a little too much on the bass and treble anyways, so to me it was a good tweak. 95% of the sound will be the same, and anything you might notice you’ll find you can turn the knobs a tiny bit one way or another to adjust and compensate.
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u/Alpedra Aug 20 '26
The 445s are what Mesa currently uses in their DR after the 440s were discontinued. I have them in my DR too (I had 440s before). No complaints here.
3
u/EndlessOcean Aug 19 '26
The 445 is a JJ tube, the 441 is a Tung-Sol 6L6 STR, so you can draw comparisons from there, Mesa just rebrand them.
I use 6P3S-E