Help me know, please

[HarveyGraves]

I've come across older posts suggesting that unmatched tubes can produce a sweeter tone, and I've noticed this in my own experience a few years ago, particularly with my 18 where the tubes are approximately 8mA apart, resulting in a pleasing tone. Since my PT lacks CT for heating, I used two 100-ohm resistors. My question is, would a linear pot with 250 ohms help mitigate the hum from unmatched tubes? Also, is there an upper limit to using unmatched tubes?

[ironwolf]

What reason do you have to suspect the mismatch is causing the hum?

[JMPGuitars]

Hum cancelling is lost when power tubes are very far from matched. What's considered matched or unmatched is a matter of opinion anyway.

To learn more, read this thread, and especially pay attention to what Phil says: viewtopic.php?t=23653

[ironwolf]

How far apart is the plate dissipation? I’ve got a 5f11 clone with a mismatched PD of 8 watts and no added noise. The current is about 10 mA apart if I recall.