Hi again,
I may be just a bit paranoid about this but wanted to get opinions. I got my 5998 earlier this week from vacuumtubes.net and so far it's been wonderful. I did a small test yesterday for a couple of hours with a 12BH7 with it, but without making any circuit alterations, just to get a feel for the difference before I decide whether to change the 9-pin LEDs with resistors as documented elsewhere for use with speedball.
Later in the afternoon I noticed that the lower half of the 5998 was getting a "smoky" effect on the glass. I've tried to take a picture of it as shown here. It hasn't come out terribly well but basically if you draw a line roughly from the top of the transformer across to the bottom of the plate assembly, the glass below that is greyish, and above it is still completely clear. My question is, is this normal or was I in danger of frying the 5998 yesterday? It didn't seem to be particularly hotter to the touch than it would be with the stock 12AU7.
Cheers
Paul.