Tubes Asylum

Posted by Lynn (A) on May 11, 2008 at 18:45:20

Hi everyone,

My current circumstances requires that I sell a substantial portion of my tube collection. Over the years, I have purchased *way* too many vintage and new tubes.

My dilemma is that I want to be sure that I represent the condition of the tubes properly, and I am not sure I have the means to do so.

I have a very old (and rather funky) Hickock tube tester. I am not sure when (if?) it was calibrated. I had thought testing a couple of dozen new tubes would give me a reference for the vintage tubes.

However, I have found that new tubes of the same type (lets say 12AX7 as an example) test differently. Tungsram is bit lower than JJ, while Sovtek tests very strong. In fact, new tubes of from the same manufacturer can test very different (sometimes +/- 20%).

So, it appears I cannot create the baseline I had hoped using new tubes and I do not wish to send the Hickock for calibration due to cost and the potential damage of shipping such a fragile unit.

Is the variance of new tubes normal? If so, any suggestions for how I properly represent the condition of the vintage tubes?

Thanks for your help,
Lynn

Edits: 05/11/08

• No problem... - lelandaudio 09:28:24 05/13/08 (0)
• Tube testers are not exact as tubes are not exact. . . - John PA 20:09:22 05/11/08 (1)
  • RE: Tube testers are not exact as tubes are not exact. . . - Chris O 15:58:34 05/12/08 (0)

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