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In Reply to: Atma-Centric tube tester (trial baloon) posted by Legendre on November 23, 2004 at 09:06:17:
Option two makes more sense than option one since there are testers already for the small tubes.But option 2 doesn't make much sense to me when you can just use the amps to test the sections of the 6AS7 (I'm assuming that is what you mean by DC load test). Why not just include the test tip jacks in atma-shere amps in the first place? Seems like a simple, cheap thing to do, that adds real value to the customer. And they are pretty much invisible. Maybe only put the jacks in the back rows of an amp if asthectics are impacted. Is there a safety issue with this?
One final thought. Rather than building a batch of testers up, why not offer a 6AS7 test service at the 'factory'? Might be too much of a hassle I suppose.
Follow Ups:
The primary reason for making a tester that does both the small triodes and the power tubes, is that the owner might *not* have access to a tester for the small tubes.As far as using the amps themselves as testers, there are two issues:
1) Wear and tear on the sockets in the amps. Wearing them out from tube-testing use is not a nice way to treat the equipment. Replacing 16,28, or 40 bagged-out sockets is not a cheap operation.
2) Using the amp as a tester for small groups of new tubes isn't all that practical.
The idea of using tip-jacks isn't a bad one, in fact, we're doing a custom mod on a pair of M-60's right now, that incorporates installing a tip jack for each power triode section. There is no real safety concern, as the jacks are just a volt or two above chassis potential.
That said, installing jacks on every piece of equipment will result in a price increase; something we try to avoid. Aesthetically, they are not too bad, but there is another issue.
A prospective buyer looks at an amp with 16 or 28 jacks on it, and the logical assumptions are 1) they are there for a reason 2) I will need to stick something into them on a regular basis, maybe just to check bias 3) I will have to understand the how & why of it. These are not good selling points, IMO.
Again, I just brought this up for the sake of groupthink..
Perhaps a 6AS7-only tester, with like 8 sockets in it.. so that whole batches can be quickly compared? Just thinking..
About $500 max, I'd be game for a 6AS7G tester
> > Again, I just brought this up for the sake of groupthink..\Well, I guess we'll see how much of the asog spirit lives on here.
As for what potential customers would think about the jacks I see what what you are saying, and you are probably quite right. It's too bad that people wouldn't see this an 'feature' rather than something scary. How many amps on the market allow you to measure how tube sections are actually behaving in the circuit? That's a damn selling point to me, but to someone not familiar with the amps it would probably scare them off. I installed jacks in 4 positions in one of my M60s so I can measure batches of 4 with ease. I've found some wild section mismatches this way. And I have not noticed any wear on the sockets yet, but thanks for the heads up - I hadn't thought of that.
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