need to purchase a calibrated , small signal tube tester-why so difficult?!


Tired of not being able to test my own tubes.

 

I know enough to not just blindly go to ebay and buy a vintage one….even if says “calibrated.” I’ve contacted some of the legacy folks/sources, they really don’t seem interested in making money.

 

Any recommendations to get me into an affordable, accurate, and easy to use tester? I don’t care if it’s rusty or anything else, if it works reliably . im willing to pay $500-750 ish——-for emissions and conductance capability.

Is this too much to ask?! Where to go?  Other advice re. which testers may be moost appropriate, and why, would be more than welcomed,

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Bump….

 

 

any last thoughts….I’m likely pullong the trigger on the mini2 when I put together the funds.

 

if I do purchase one, I’ll report back. No…I actually will😉

The biggest problem exists with emissions only testers. They really kind of suck, can damage small signal tubes and can have a very spastic leakage test. Transconductance is a better way to test a tube and much more accurately duplicates the demands of a circuit. Now if you can find a tester that does both transconductance and emissions this is a plus but not as much as some would think.  I have a Maxi-Matcher power tube tester and it is O.K. I have had consistently great results with my vintage Triplett and Hickok testers. Hagerman Audio Labs used to make tube testers, I would tend to go this route if these 2 choices are still available. Hagerman designs audio equipment that uses tubes and I think he might understand the art as well as the science.