I work LOTS with guitar amps. I don't have a bad opinion on EH's tubes.......the reliability has been OK. You're right though......sometimes you just get a "bum" tube in your order... even if you dealer fully tests things.
YES, me as well! But but but, zero sign the amp is coming any time soon. However I'm lining up an awesome selection of vintage tubes to try, and I even have a mod planned, that will allow the use of even more tube types.
@@tubelab194 I ordered mine early this month so I am really looking forward to a build quality and improvement honest review. I went with EL 34 but will be interested in Pre rolling differences. I just hope Red base RCA are not unbelievable, that would hurt the pocket.
@@snowrs1 Chinese New Year, is probably part of the slow down and I'm pretty sure they're selling amps that aren't built yet! I'll find some amazing vintage tubes for everyone - I always work to find a 'best buy' and a 'best overall', as well as a selection for different listening preferences.
You should have a look in my store, I have lots of EL84 inventory, including a Soviet equivalent 6p14p-k an exact equivalent to the higher spec'd 7189, and the regular equivalent to the EL84 (6p14p). I have enough inventory of the Soviet tubes that a good high testing matched quad or pair is guaranteed. Note the store is currently experiencing extremely high volume, so if you see something you like....
Local drug store for us! Grandpa and Dad would pull every tube and put them in a shoe box on a Saturday morning and off we went, everyone praying we'd find the bad tube on the store tester, otherwise it meant a service call - both the tv and stereo console required movers to shift even a couple of feet!
I bought 100s of tubes and a b&k 707 tube tester from the widow of an eBay seller. I recently have gotten into building guitar amps, so I'm super lucky to have found this lady. I have a question about 'matching' tubes. Am I correct in assuming when I test a tube and it reads , for instance, 88 on the meter, does that mean that another tube is a match if it also reads 88 , or 89 etc. Thanks for any insight!
Exactly! In our store we consider a 5% or better (95/100) to be a perfect match and for older or hard to find tubes, 10% is acceptable. Remember the testing result is only as good as the calibration and the last calibration test on the B&K's is section 1 & 2 balance. Also all testers have a +/- accuracy of about 1.0 - 2.0%, so don't fuss too much with numbers like 99.5, just decide to average every half value either down (99) or up (100). The B&K testers are great tools, but all of them are now at least 45 years old (we have an original model that is 60+) and will need a number of upgrades/replacements in order to operate accurately. Number one is replacing all electrolytic capacitors, next convert the tube rectifier over to solid state (easy), solder the leads to the pair of wee light bulbs on the left hand side, deoxit all pot and switches. Run it on a variac at 117vac and always test at that voltage. And of course recalibrate after doing any work. Doing all of the above will give you a versatile, accurate Gm (mutual conductance) percentage meter. And as you get more into testing tubes you'll find you need testing parameters that the B&K was never setup for, but with a wee bit of work you can convert an unused socket over to the new tube type. Lastly the B&K is NOT a power tube tester, the best it will tell you is if a power tube is operating, the Gm % is virtually meaningless, for power tubes you need a proper emissions tester. Cheers!
@tubelab194 thanks so much for this info. I'm told that the previous owner had it serviced. I'll have to verify. And I didn't know it was less useful for power tubes. Thank you. I just spent an hour testing vintage 6v6. I was getting different readings than were written on the decals . So I see why
@tubelab194 I've read up on a mod to test 12ax7 more accurately. And I'll replace the rectifier tube with diodes. I've also got a triplett tester from the 40s that tests 12ax7 after I've modded it. Maybe I should use this for power tubes as well.
@@soapboxearth2 I doubt the Triplett can properly test power tubes for emissions. The limiting factor for most tubes is plate voltage which needs to be at least 250v and as high as 1Kv, depending on the tube being tested. And having the ability to bias the tube to a good operating point. If you get more into tube testing and have an electrical bench, making your own basic emissions tester isn't that hard. We provide basic schematics in our store under Information for such a tester.
I just purchased a BAT rex3 power amp it came with sovtek Russian 6NS7 x6 I purchased NOS RCA. ( 4 ) & two Sylvania all match grade ? will it be ok to run the four RCAs & the Two sylvania the amp does auto Bias
Oh my god what have you bought! Yes the amp will work fine with mixed 6sn7's, but it will sound kaka. The general rule is, each stage should be an identical matched tube (Gm matched as well of course). And honestly it would be smart to find a quality vintage set that is all matched up. And at least one matched spare. Remember "The Tubes ARE The Amplifiers" not the box, that's just for show!
Ain't no description as precise as a frequency response graph from 20Hz up to 20KHz to show how they sound, your tone descriptions for each is just as figurative as wine tasters with their illusive characterization. But still interesting though...
To know if a tube will works in an amp, you need the manufacturer and the model. I'm not an expert on guitar amps. What I suggest you do, is research your amp online and if that doesn't tell you what tubes it takes, then join one of the many Facebook groups dedicated to tube guitar amps and ask them for help. The 6v6 is of course a very common guitar amplifier tube, but not all amps will use this tube. The Delco brand is probably a rebranded RCA for your info.
Awesome info 👌
I work LOTS with guitar amps. I don't have a bad opinion on EH's tubes.......the reliability has been OK. You're right though......sometimes you just get a "bum" tube in your order... even if you dealer fully tests things.
Really looking forward to your Willsenton series
YES, me as well! But but but, zero sign the amp is coming any time soon. However I'm lining up an awesome selection of vintage tubes to try, and I even have a mod planned, that will allow the use of even more tube types.
@@tubelab194 I ordered mine early this month so I am really looking forward to a build quality and improvement honest review. I went with EL 34 but will be interested in Pre rolling differences. I just hope Red base RCA are not unbelievable, that would hurt the pocket.
@@snowrs1 Chinese New Year, is probably part of the slow down and I'm pretty sure they're selling amps that aren't built yet! I'll find some amazing vintage tubes for everyone - I always work to find a 'best buy' and a 'best overall', as well as a selection for different listening preferences.
I would really like to find new old stock of EL84's cause most of my amp's run on them with exception of 2 with 6V6's
You should have a look in my store, I have lots of EL84 inventory, including a Soviet equivalent 6p14p-k an exact equivalent to the higher spec'd 7189, and the regular equivalent to the EL84 (6p14p). I have enough inventory of the Soviet tubes that a good high testing matched quad or pair is guaranteed.
Note the store is currently experiencing extremely high volume, so if you see something you like....
we used to go to the Piggly Wiggly to test our TV tubes
Local drug store for us! Grandpa and Dad would pull every tube and put them in a shoe box on a Saturday morning and off we went, everyone praying we'd find the bad tube on the store tester, otherwise it meant a service call - both the tv and stereo console required movers to shift even a couple of feet!
I bought 100s of tubes and a b&k 707 tube tester from the widow of an eBay seller. I recently have gotten into building guitar amps, so I'm super lucky to have found this lady.
I have a question about 'matching' tubes. Am I correct in assuming when I test a tube and it reads , for instance, 88 on the meter, does that mean that another tube is a match if it also reads 88 , or 89 etc.
Thanks for any insight!
Exactly! In our store we consider a 5% or better (95/100) to be a perfect match and for older or hard to find tubes, 10% is acceptable. Remember the testing result is only as good as the calibration and the last calibration test on the B&K's is section 1 & 2 balance. Also all testers have a +/- accuracy of about 1.0 - 2.0%, so don't fuss too much with numbers like 99.5, just decide to average every half value either down (99) or up (100).
The B&K testers are great tools, but all of them are now at least 45 years old (we have an original model that is 60+) and will need a number of upgrades/replacements in order to operate accurately. Number one is replacing all electrolytic capacitors, next convert the tube rectifier over to solid state (easy), solder the leads to the pair of wee light bulbs on the left hand side, deoxit all pot and switches. Run it on a variac at 117vac and always test at that voltage. And of course recalibrate after doing any work.
Doing all of the above will give you a versatile, accurate Gm (mutual conductance) percentage meter. And as you get more into testing tubes you'll find you need testing parameters that the B&K was never setup for, but with a wee bit of work you can convert an unused socket over to the new tube type. Lastly the B&K is NOT a power tube tester, the best it will tell you is if a power tube is operating, the Gm % is virtually meaningless, for power tubes you need a proper emissions tester. Cheers!
@tubelab194 thanks so much for this info. I'm told that the previous owner had it serviced. I'll have to verify. And I didn't know it was less useful for power tubes. Thank you. I just spent an hour testing vintage 6v6. I was getting different readings than were written on the decals . So I see why
@tubelab194 I've read up on a mod to test 12ax7 more accurately. And I'll replace the rectifier tube with diodes. I've also got a triplett tester from the 40s that tests 12ax7 after I've modded it. Maybe I should use this for power tubes as well.
@@soapboxearth2 I doubt the Triplett can properly test power tubes for emissions. The limiting factor for most tubes is plate voltage which needs to be at least 250v and as high as 1Kv, depending on the tube being tested. And having the ability to bias the tube to a good operating point. If you get more into tube testing and have an electrical bench, making your own basic emissions tester isn't that hard. We provide basic schematics in our store under Information for such a tester.
Mower safety kill switch cable
I just purchased a BAT rex3 power amp it came with sovtek Russian 6NS7 x6 I purchased NOS RCA. ( 4 ) & two Sylvania all match grade ? will it be ok to run the four RCAs & the Two sylvania the amp does auto Bias
Oh my god what have you bought! Yes the amp will work fine with mixed 6sn7's, but it will sound kaka. The general rule is, each stage should be an identical matched tube (Gm matched as well of course). And honestly it would be smart to find a quality vintage set that is all matched up. And at least one matched spare. Remember "The Tubes ARE The Amplifiers" not the box, that's just for show!
Ain't no description as precise as a frequency response graph from 20Hz up to 20KHz to show how they sound, your tone descriptions for each is just as figurative as wine tasters with their illusive characterization. But still interesting though...
no sound test?
I have a Delco 6v6gt tube do you have any info if I can put it into a guitar tube amplifier?
To know if a tube will works in an amp, you need the manufacturer and the model. I'm not an expert on guitar amps. What I suggest you do, is research your amp online and if that doesn't tell you what tubes it takes, then join one of the many Facebook groups dedicated to tube guitar amps and ask them for help. The 6v6 is of course a very common guitar amplifier tube, but not all amps will use this tube. The Delco brand is probably a rebranded RCA for your info.
Beam powet tetrode : to avoid the phillips penthode patend
Thanks for adding to the history! Yes patent dodging was a game all tube manufacturers had to play, sometimes they even came up with something better!
There is a 6v6gty the best military tube and very dependable all Russian tubes are very cheap to get but not worth it