SET Asylum

RE: Dumb question - how to tell valves are spent?

65.205.15.220

In Reply to: RE: Dumb question - how to tell valves are spent? posted by Neillo on November 28, 2007 at 10:54:41

Because wear is gradual, it is actually a bit hard to clearly determine when sound has degraded to the point where you would want to replace the tubes. Generally, the sound becomes dull and lifeless or the tubes become more noisy.

Since one inevitably has to replace tubes at some point, the best way to tell if tubes are going bad is to have a complete replacement set on hand. If replacing any or all of the tubes makes the amp sound better, then you have a benchmark as to how much deterioration has occurred and whether it is worthwhile changing the tubes.

In some respects, this is better than having a tube tester. I have a tube tester and it indicates that one of my pairs of Tungsol 6sn7s is nearly dead. But, these tubes still sound good, certainly better than any current production tubes I can find. I asked the manufacturer of my amp about this and he explained that the amp puts so little stress on that tube that one that is weak, according to measurement, can still perform well sonically for a long time.

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