Biasing, 5992 tube Question/help

[S Effren]

I have just purchased a "matched" set of Bendix 5992 tubes to replace the 6V6's (four of them) in my 40w Gries. Should these bias between 15-25mV like regular 6V6's?

More importantly, what constitutes a matched set? How much of a voltage differential is acceptable? I measure a 45% difference between the lowest and highest measured mV values with my multimeter on my 5992 tubes. That can't possibly be right. Right? I got them from a fairly well known tube dealer as matched, so I'm kind of wiggin over the disparity. Sounds much better than the JJ's already, I just don't want to piss through the tube life way too prematurely.

I should mention that I'm not sure I'm measuring right. I've never biased before. I've always bought matched sets and slapped them in and rolled with it. On my multimeter, I set the dial to 200 in the "Ohm" portion of the dial and put the black wire into the "Com" and the red one into the "V". For what its worth, those are the only settings that results in readings remotely resembling values I've seen posted as appropriate for 6V6's.

Any info on the 5992's and biasing in general would be most appreciated.

[Blue Strat]

15 to 25mA (measured as mV if you're using a bias probe or measuring across a 1 ohm resistor) is the correct range.

5mA or closer is considered matched. I usually try for 3mA or closer if I have enough tubes to work with.

You should be using the V or mV scale on the meter, certainly not the "ohms" setting. How/where are you measuring? Why am I doing customer technical support for your dealer? ;)

[Blue Strat]

When ordering "matched" power tubes, check with your dealer about how the matching is done. Here's what's posted on our website.
http://www.kcanostubes.com/content/newsletter_details.asp?ArticleID=7

[S Effren]

Is this right? With these settings, the tubes read 14, 17, 18.5, and 25 respectively.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v323/poddoc27/P1010185.jpg

[S Effren]

anybody?

[Tuberoast]

I use the 200mA (1 notch below the 200V you have it plugged into). And I believe the red goes into the other far side (200ma fused)

[Dave C]

You have it on the right voltage range even if the leads are reversed at the meter. The bias test points are measuring voltage drop across a resister(most likely 1 ohm)
As far as your numbers go ....they look ok except for the one that reads 25ma. That one is too high compared to the rest of the quartet for a decent match. I'd suggest trying them all individually in the same socket to rule out any differences in cathode resisters. Hope this helps.
Dave C

[S Effren]

Thanks doods