Gosh, I am either having bad luck or just learning on the fly..

Tubes Asylum

Questions about tubes and gear that glows. FAQ

about the perils of buying old tubes.

I have a love affair that I have previously spoken about with the Ken Rad 12AX7 from circa 1950, give or take a year. The ones with the nickel 'scratchy' silver plates. I have aquired 7 of these so far. Of those seven, I can only say 3 of them have been problem free. All the rest have had issues with microphonics and noise... pops, crackles, static, etc. On a couple of these tubes the noise was intermittent, and fingers crossed, has gone away after deoxit treatment, and letting them 'burn in' for several hours each.

I don't know if these are just super fragile tubes that don't like being knocked around in shipping, or if they just haven't been able to stand the test of time as well as other tubes from the era. I can't imagine between four different resellers they all have knowingly sold me noisy tubes, thus my theory on the fragility of the tube.

Anyone with experience of this tube? Anyone else had similar issues with multiple examples?

Thanks!
Andrew

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Topic - Gosh, I am either having bad luck or just learning on the fly.. - MLGrado 15:36:09 05/08/15 (6)

Prolly not inherently fragile - FenderLover 22:40:26 05/08/15 (0)

RE: Gosh, I am either having bad luck or just learning on the fly.. - Chip647 16:50:16 05/08/15 (4)

I experiance the opposite with used tubes - Byrd69 07:11:11 05/09/15 (1)

RE: I experiance the opposite with used tubes - Mechans 08:50:19 05/11/15 (0)

RE: Gosh, I am either having bad luck or just learning on the fly.. - MLGrado 18:05:26 05/08/15 (1)

RE: Gosh, I am either having bad luck or just learning on the fly.. - Jonesy 09:11:19 05/09/15 (0)

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