Poetic, hard to understand. Not for everyone
DON:T WAIT! Replace Those Old Power Tubes!
For several years I've cobbled together the required quad of 6L6GC power tubes for my Raven Audio Integrated amp. I say 'cobbled' because out of two sets I culled four which would perform what I perceived as reasonably decent sounding. Being on the last best four I feared one more failing tube would put me out of the music. So, I ordered another quad from Raven Dave (Thomson). At first I thought to just saved them for an emergency but on a whim I decided to just put all the Chinese New Old Stock (NOS) in place. APPARENTLY, and obviously, my smorgasbord set in place previously had various quirks including but not limited to: hum, occasional buzzing, and a bloated`slow tone. My wife immediately stated: I don't hear anything in the background. Indeed there isn't anything but dead silence. NOS tubes are always a "Russian roulette" deal but their unique and amazing "real-ness" is worth the gamble. (IMO) So if you have been waiting until you absolutely have to, DON'T WAIT any longer. The improvement is profound. These tubes are as old as I am! Only difference is I've not been in a box traveling around the world for over 60 years!
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I have a Hickok 800 , it seems pretty accurate with a few tubes that I have that were matched on a modern Amplitrex tester. Sure it's great to know how strong a tube is but it is far more important to check for shorts and gas. I was lucky, the one I picked up looks like it was in a museum. It was serviced a few years ago and gives consistent readings. Not usually the case with old testers. |
@oddiofyl that's right, testers are great for weeding out shorted or bad tubes, not so much for tube life or even for matching. Testers don't test tubes at real world operating voltage and current. |
Some testers, like the Amplitrex, do test at full power and do give one an idea of how much life is left in the tube. This tester, if attached to a computer, will curve trace the tube. Someone who owns dozens of modern and vintage testers told me that he likes the E-Tracer which is bought from Taiwan as a kit; it too curve traces and delivers very close readings to the Amplitrex. Another supposedly good tester/tracer that comes as a kit is the Sofia tester. A local shop uses a TV7 tester as its main unit. It is good for finding bad tubes and weak ones, but, it tends to be a bit generous in its rating—it will give strong readings for tubes that the Amplitrex says is not that strong. This shop also uses a modern, very compact tester called the Orange, but they mainly use it for small signal tubes. |
The Raven Audio amps seem to be tough because due to my overuse of nano contact enhancer on tube pins I shorted out, red plated a couple power tubes. Very scary when a tube glows bright red in the main body of the tube and a horrific howl blasts from one's speaker. Being a complete novice and never even knowing about or ever seeing such an event I was both terrified and intrigued. Immediately put it off. let it cool, removed offender and "kept calm and carried on". (All nano enhancer has been cleaned off now on tube pins TIP: Use sparingly, extremely sparingly) Occasionally a tube would begin to "red plate" I will shut off unit, reseat tube, and it will act normal again. But as I said, these amps can withstand a lot of user misuse.My normal idea of learning by experience may be on my tomb stone. "Experience Is The Perfect Teacher to He Who Lives Forever" (For mere mortals, read the instruction book) |
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