Tubes / Valves Condition / Maintenance / Jargons

Hi.....

Just wondering on the following :

1. How do you identify a used Tube
2. How do you identify a Out of life Tube / Valve or about to kaput tube ?
3. What's Tube Rolling or NOS / NIB ?
4. Pitfalls ?
5. Compatability Tube List ?
6. Tube care

Expanding my Audio knowledgebase before venturing into all things Tube-y.

Cheers

3. changing tubes to different makes like stock tubes to amperex or mullard. NOS = new old stock, NIB = New in box. meaning for NOS = old tubes that is still new & never been use. it can be from 50s, 60s etc.

1. Experience and tell tale signs, measurement with tube tester may offer more info.
2. 2 ways, use tube tester or plug in and it doesn't work.
3. Line up the tubes and roll them down your staircase.
4. They deteriorate or kaput after a few years of constant use
5. Google the model numbers on the internet.
6. You can wash them under the sink if you insist on them looking clean.

Thanks guys....

some of it seems pratical....especially item 3 - Robustness and rigidity test and 6 - after which can hang it up as chandelier .

That's the reason why we seek experienced persons feedback.....Ha Ha Ha ...... . So we do not make the same mistake....

cheers

What the tube really need is a really great circuit designed around it. Tubes are only half the story. The other components are of great importance too.

cmboy,

I especially like Nos 3 & 6.

Errrrrr.............maybe i'll try them on those Mullard & Siemens GZ34 that have been with me for a while now.

cheers & shalom
teleman51

Cmboy....couldn't agree more

CM....

Jokes aside, yes, getting the right balance between all the various components is crucial to get the sweet spot. ( music )

Auditioned a Dared Tube Amp ( killing time to the next appointment ) and what a difference compared to my integrated.

So generated these thread to get the feel and weigh my options.

cheers

Wingman: There's a great deal more science than just jargon and tube rolling.
Allow me to direct you to this link where there's lots of technical books for your reading pleasure and further understanding of tube electronics.

http://www.pmillett.com/technical_books_online.htm

cmboy thanks for the link. Gonna keep me occupied for a while.

CM.....

Thank you and sure would keep myself busy.....

cheers

Best wishes for you all to gain more knowledge in due course.

Gaining knowledge is a day to day affair......no one can say they have learnt everything.....

It's even better with sharing the gained knowledge.....

Some WEB sites selling tubes :

www.thetubestore.com
www.audiotubes.com


cheers

Ebay is also a good source to buy tubes (or anything else related), but read and know exactly what you're buying.

I found pretty good article regarding vacuum tubes including how to identify used tubes...

http://www.greenbulletmics.com/VACUUM_TUBES.html

without tube tester, what we can try to differntial used tube and new tube is

1) look at the coper rod inside the tube, used tube normally may show some oxydise (darker bronze colour)
2) look at the plate

basically is look at the metal part to see any changes of colour.

Further to the above look at the condition of the silver flash getters inside each tubes, very used tubes will have white outline around those getters which indicates more than 50 percent of tube life is used up...

Anybody use tube dampers? Do they really change the sound or is it just another snake oil.

Arremie,
for those equipment which r noisy u may need it, but if your equipment sound quiet n fast, u don't need any of that.

What do you mean by noisy equipment? Excessive hiss or hum?

Arremie,

What I mean is tube equipment/ tube that sound slow or not so clean may need it. But good tube that sound good may not need it.
Last time I do put it on my tube n it sound quieter. But as my equipment become more quiet n have more speed, after modding it. I need to take it off, bcos tube damper did compress my highs.

I see. I guess I have to try then. I did purchase some from ebay just to satisfy my curiosity. Lucky I'm not a cat

My experience with these dampers is that only some model of tubes need it, use it wrongly on some tube type and the overall sound stage width and height will drop. Typical american made tube models need it more esp the 5687 and 5751 variants...

Definitely not snake oil... sole purpose for me it snaps the focus of images and tightens up the sound. Some tubes are inherently microphonic by nature.

Put it on any 6922/ECC88 type and it will sound horrendous....

For me I will not use tube damper, it may suspress your sound. I will avoid using microphony tube like 5687, they r microphony, how can they sound quiet n neutral??

So meaning it's good to use damper if wanna tame that brightness a bit?

arremie wrote:So meaning it's good to use damper if wanna tame that brightness a bit?

Not really in that context of taming brightness, more like snapping things into focus, tightening things a bit.

noodle88 wrote:For me I will not use tube damper, it may suspress your sound. I will avoid using microphony tube like 5687, they r microphony, how can they sound quiet n neutral??

Thats why I never like 5687's. but their superb hard and impossible to find military use equivalents which is the Bendix or Tung Sol 6900's are excellent as driver tubes.

But then again the 5687 is widely used in the Kondo Ongaku amp, as drivers but never in input/gain stages. Still hate them though...

Is TJ Full Music 12AU7 worth the price? Pretty expensive.

...or any TJ Full Music series for that matters.

Nah, unfortunately not... any American or European nos equivalents are already way way ahead...

TJ's are only popular for their mesh plate 300B's...

I read good reviews for TJ 12AU7. Gonna get me a pair. Still don't quite like the JJ I'm using now.