Bias Probe instructions

Congratulations! By owning a bias probe you re not at the mercy of a tech anymore
and you are now in control of your tone.
There are two different kinds of bias probes, one type that uses a resister in t
he circuit and measures in millivolts
and the second type that does not use a resister and measures directly in millia
mps.
Ohm s law states that one volt equals one amp so the measurements are the same.
Our probes measure directly in DC Milliamps so you will need to set your multime
ter to the DCA mode (DC Amps, NOT VOLTS!)
and if the meter is not auto sensing then select the 200mA scale. If you have pu
rchased one of our Cheap Multimeters
then you will find this setting right between 3 to 4 O clock. Insert the black plu
g from the probe into the Common
input and the red plug into the positive input which is usually marked mA.
DO NOT CHANGE THE FUNCTION SWITCH ON YOUR MULTIMETER WHILE IT IS HOOKED UP TO TH
E AMP!
This will blow the fuse in the meter and you will need to replace it! Make sure
the meter is set properly and the probe
is plugged into the meter before you plug the probe into your amp.Remove one of
your power tubes and plug the probe in.
Place the tube into the top of the probe. If you had to remove the amp from the
chassis then
make sure that you have plugged the speaker back in. You must have a speaker loa
d on the amp when you are adjusting
the bias!Turn on the meter and then turn on the amp leaving it in the standby mo
de for about a minute,
then switch to the play mode. Your meter will read out the plate current in mill
iamps. Turn the trim pot to adjust
the plate current to the desired setting. Wait about 5 to 10 minutes with the am
p in the play mode and do a
final bias adjustment after the tubes are hot.Congratulations again! You have ju
st biased your amp

The following info is for octal power tubes.

If you measure the DC plate voltage from pin #3 of any power tube
to ground then you can use the formula below to calculate the current draw.The f
ormula for biasing is the plate dissipation
of the tube divided by the plate voltage (let s use 480 for this example), multipl
ied by 0.7 or 70%.
This will get you out of crossover distortion and is a good setting for most app
lications.
You can go as high as 85% percent but you will wear out the tubes quicker!
Plate Dissipation:
25 watts for 6L6 s, EL34 s, EL34II s, E34L s, 6CA7 s or KT77 s.
23 Watts For the JJ 5881 s 14 watts for 6V6 s 35 watts for KT88 s and 6550 sExample:
25 watts divided by 480 = .0520 or 52 milliamps X .7 = .036 or 36 milliampsMost
50 and 100 watt amps using these
tubes will have between 450 to 480 plate volts so even if you do not measure you

r plate voltage you will find that

a setting between 35 to 40mA will be acceptable.

The following info is for EL84 and EL844 power tubes.

If you measure the DC plate voltage from pin #7 of any power
tube to ground then you can use the formula below to calculate the current draw.
The formula for biasing is the plate dissipation of the tube (12 watts for stand
ard EL84 s or 9 watts for the JJ EL844 s)
divided by the plate voltage (let s use 350 for this example) times .7 will just g
et you out of crossover distortion
and you can go as high as .85 percent but you will wear out the tubes quicker!
12 watts divided by 350 = .034 or 34 milliamps X .7 = .024 or 24 milliampsOr if
you re biasing the JJ EL844 s the formula
would be as follows9 watts divided by 350 = .0257 or 26 milliamps X .7 = .0182 o
r 18 milliampsIf you re verifying
the bias on a Class A or Cathode biased amp you ll find that most manufacturers ru
n the tubes at 100% of the tubes maximum dissipation.
This is standard/normal