Are 6L6 tubes usually difficult to fully seat?

[67mike]

I changed the quad of 6L6's in my Mark V for the first time the other day......the new tubes were a real bugger to try and push all the way in their sockets so they were fully seated?!? (And yes I had the keyway lined up).

Not sure if this is a common occurance with putting in new 6L6's as my other amps have used EL84's which slide in like a greased pig?????

What ye sayeth 6L6 experts?

[Chops Malone]

It shouldn't take a lot of pressure to seat any tube.

Is there any pitting or corrosion on the tube socket?

Are the tube's pins straight?

[gb74]

yeah that doesn't sound normal but as long as they are fully seated and working fine now, leave it alone...

[67mike]

The amp is brand new (7 months old...basement use...10 hours on it) so I would say negative to corroded socket. The tubes had some solder at the ends of pins, one friggen tube had some filiment wire protruding from pin ends by 1/16th inch or so....trimmed those with sidecutters...made no difference.

I guess it might be the solder on the pintips...causing a tight fit?

Got a call into Mesa to see what they say.

[gb74]

The amp is brand new (7 months old...basement use...10 hours on it) so I would say negative to corroded socket. The tubes had some solder at the ends of pins, one friggen tube had some filiment wire protruding from pin ends by 1/16th inch or so....trimmed those with sidecutters...made no difference.

I guess it might be the solder on the pintips...causing a tight fit?

Got a call into Mesa to see what they say.

oh wtf? are these supposed to be new tubes??? Yeah call Mesa about this for sure...

[rock flag and eagle]

I've got a Peavey Ultra that I use EL84 convertors with it but switch out back and forth between those and the 6L6's - EL84's slide right in, 6L6's take a little more to get fully seated, one time I had one that I didn't fully seat and I went ahead and turned the amp on. Bad idea, it blew a fuse, so make sure you full seat them.

[Devin]

The 6L6's don't *fully* seat in my Fender Prosonic; there is like a 2 mm gap between the socket and the base of the tube where you can see the pins, but it still works perfectly. I do need to swap the sockets out for some new ones though because one has a lot of wiggle room

[67mike]

Mine were about 1mm out from bottoming out...I pushed and rocked the bastards till the snugged up.