Just remember, most are pretty crappy. Nice ones cost $$$ but are worth it
Advice on a tube tester
Well I just got kicked off Facebook for the weekend so I'll probably be active here. Not sure if that is a plus or a minus for Audiogon. 😎
I'm looking to buy my first tube tester. I want to be able to identify bad tubes, verify readings on "NOS" or "used, measures like new" in tubes I buy, and I need to sell off a bunch of tubes and I'd like to be able to test them before I sell them. Selling a bad tube, refunding the money, leaves me out shipping, a lot of work and 3 good tubes in limbo.
So I'm looking at a B&K 707/747 or a hickok 539A or similar, mostly just based on what I see that fits my needs and seems to be $500 or less. I see tested and calibrated tube testers for $1500 on ebay but I think I can get by for a lot less.
Tubes I have to test are 6l6 series, EL84, OA3/4, 6922, WE396, KT88 and maybe a few others. it would be nice to test 300B/350B tubes but I think most testers doen't do that.
So I'd appreciate guidance from people who have been testing tubes for a while.
Thanks,
Jerry
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- 31 posts total
For checking if a tube is bad or not the tv-7 ( i had one in excellent condition), tv-10 are perfect for the job, most likely they would require calibration but are easy to maintain. For what matters most, to match tubes properly very few can do it. Transconductance is not the way to match signal tubes but power ones. It depends how accurate you want to be as i understand your tube menu varies. Would it be better to chase a modern tester that can do both?
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Thanks @petg60 . Which TV-7 did you have? Do you know what the differnce is between the TV-7 A/U, B/U, C/u and D/U is? |
I had the 7B/U, the only one different, if i am not wrong, was the 7D/U which had an extra range (F) for higher transconductance tubes. The other difference is that the later ones had more ferrite beads attached to the wires going to the tube sockets, thus eliminating oscillation (especially when measuring 6dj8 family tubes). Another nice feature from this family of testers was that you could test a tube for noise, as the tube could pass all tests (short, leakage, trans) but could be noisy on one or both channels. It was pretty good and straightforward to operate. |
- 31 posts total