• WARNING: Tube/Valve amplifiers use potentially LETHAL HIGH VOLTAGES.
    Building, troubleshooting and testing of these amplifiers should only be
    performed by someone who is thoroughly familiar with
    the safety precautions around high voltages.

Crappy EL84 SE Amp

Plate resistance is going to vary with operating point and drive level. Measurements can have errors, especially with crude instrumentation. Transformers aren’t perfect. Simulation models aren’t perfect. Any number of these can lead to a different answer between measured and calculated (simulated). But the result of getting a handful of ohms in triode or ultra linear mode and tens of ohms in pentode is what you will and should get.