Bottlehead Forum
General Category => Tech Tools => Topic started by: 4krow on December 12, 2012, 08:13:13 AM
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Well, I am at the point where I am strongly considering buying a tube tester. Around here, you get to pay the tech for tube testing, and thats getting to be pretty old. Any suggestions?
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I was kind of wondering about that as well. I have a friend who plays guitar and uses tube amps, who asked me about that the other day. I felt like I should have known about that. He has 6 tubes in his amp, and kind of gets sick of replacing them all at the same time.
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Tube testers have gotten crazy expensive compared to when I started out 20 years ago. Not really worth getting anything less than a TV-7 or TV-10 or Hickok. You guys probbably don't want to know that I bought my TV-10 for $50 in 1992 or so. I sold a TV-2 a while back for around $700.
Anyway, you have voltages in the manual for your Bottlehead gear. If a tube is getting old the operating point will shift, typically the plate voltage will drop. That is just as good an indicator as plugging it into a tube tester.
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I got one on ebay a few years ago. Not very expensive and I think it was B&K or something like that. It came in a suitcase with handle and all. I never got to using it, cause I raided a electronic street near my house where in there were young guys who were ready to get rid of tubes that their Dad's used to sell for a living years ago. To give you an idea I got E88CC Siemens, Mullars and Tele's for a $ each.
Then I get a call one day from one of the guys who wants me to pick up all the tubes he discovered in the back of his shop as he needed more space. He would not let me pick and choose so I got the whole lot.... about 5 boxes 18" by18" . I have not bothered to check what is inside, but will do it one of these days. So with so many tubes, the tester remained unused ;)
shreekant :)
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Feast or famine, that's life.
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That was probably a B&K 707. Not quite as good as the Hickocks, but a pretty good tester.
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I have a B&K 700 that needs a new home. It is tester number 4 and gets no use. I have a Hickok 533A, Mercury 2000 and last but not least a B&K 747 that all get used from time to time. actually the 533A sits on my bench and the 2000 goes on the road. The 747 is really my backup. I got the 700 a while ago and never really put it to use.
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I love my B&K 747. Easy to use, solid state design and best of all, you can calibrate it yourself. :)
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any idea what you might ask for it?