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So today, my preamp which uses 2 sovtek 6h30 started to make strange slight squealing noise in one of the channels. I shut it down and restarted the pre, and the noise was gone, but still, it made me nervous.
when I got the pre, it was used, so I had no idea of the hours on the tubes, so I bought fresh sovteks from the tube store. They worked very well, for almost 4 years, until today when one of them protested.
I reinstalled the factory sovteks that came from ARC, and I compared the arc sourced one, and the tube store sourced, they looked identical, except the arc one has a larger, yet skinnier getter halo. What's that about?
At any rate, I feel like the old tubes that I had on the shelf for he last 3.5 years, probably have more life in them, than the ones I've been using. They also sound a little more delicate, but the noise floor creeped up ever so slightly. I might try some cryoset EH 6h30 ac the next set.
Thoughts?
Follow Ups:
Clean the tube pins & sockets with DeOxit.
Thanks for the tip. I did do that.
Yes you obviously discovered that they are indeed only minor variants of the tubes you had been using. Three and a half to 4 years is a long time, only if you played your preamp a lot? How many hours do you estimate are on your tubes?
It can't hurt to experiment with a different brand that's been cryoed, but make sure you let them burn in before any judgment.
Steve
Steve, I'm estimating about 2500-3500 hours are on these tubes. There are times that I will run the amp for 12 hours a day, 1 hour a day, not use the amp for weeks, etc. but I would say, that's where I'm at. Either way. That weird noise made me nervous, and it makes me think that the tube is failing. It is possible isn't it? Do they make any cumulative type of timer that I could put on the twelve volt trigger and allow me to track the tube hours? Similar to what's already in my arc power amp? That would be awesome.
Swap channel and see if the squeal follows the tube. You have another tube to substitute?
When the Tube squealed I turned the preamp off. When I turned it back on, it was silent. I didnt swap channels, but to be on the safe side, I pulled both tubes out and replaced them with the orignal tubes. The orignal tubes are playing just fine. Not sure what happened to be honest. I will be ordering another set of fresh tubes soon. I'm going to be monitoring the new set by utilizing the hour counter in my power amp as reference. I'm going to change them out at 3.5 k hours like clock work. I don't want to take chances at hurting the circuit.
Ya know what? I think im going to just bite the bullet and buy new 6h30's from ARC. Yes, they are very expensive by comparison, but from what I'm reading, I'll be sure to get tubes that are matched perfectly, and optimized for the parameters of my circuit... If I'm only changing them out every 4 years or so, who gives a crap. At least I know that these are the best selection for MY gear.
Sounds good. Keep us posted, on how the new tubes work out in your unit.
To answer you- yes it could be the tube that is responsible foor the sound, and no there aren't any tube time keepers I am aware of, but some gear keeps a log of the number of hours it has been used.
Steve
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