Mattfig
Well-known member
Just ordered one to replace my old Hickock tube tester...If this thing lives up to the hype, this should be a great tool...
Anyone out there seen one in action?
Anyone out there seen one in action?
Orange VT1000
- Thread starter Mattfig
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Mattfig
Well-known member
deadpan said:
Thanks for chiming in and welcome! So do you find tubes that fail under pressure often? i.e. that "pass" the VT1000??
Thanks.
Thanks for the welcome!
I have many tubes. The only one that tested bad was one that actually blew, talking flash of light and smoke (not visible but it smelled up the room, scared the $h1t3 out of me.) The tube it doesn't detect the fault in is a JJ EL34L. When the amp is first turned on these tubes work fine though when I give it a little volume they cut out and the amp admits a pulsating sound that is independant of the volume control. I contacted Orange customer service who told me it could be a socket tension issue. This is not the case as I have tried these tubes in 3 different amps and all do the same thing. On my old Sencore tester one of the tubes took quite a while to test good on the grid leakage so...
One thing the VT1000 does good is test the output of the tube. If it wasn't so expensive I would say it is a good buy for this alone as you can take the guess work out of arranging the tubes for better sound.
The problem is I have yet to see a tube test worn. I have many tubes that I have had and used daily for a long time that test good and they have noticably less volume than they should...
I have many tubes. The only one that tested bad was one that actually blew, talking flash of light and smoke (not visible but it smelled up the room, scared the $h1t3 out of me.) The tube it doesn't detect the fault in is a JJ EL34L. When the amp is first turned on these tubes work fine though when I give it a little volume they cut out and the amp admits a pulsating sound that is independant of the volume control. I contacted Orange customer service who told me it could be a socket tension issue. This is not the case as I have tried these tubes in 3 different amps and all do the same thing. On my old Sencore tester one of the tubes took quite a while to test good on the grid leakage so...
One thing the VT1000 does good is test the output of the tube. If it wasn't so expensive I would say it is a good buy for this alone as you can take the guess work out of arranging the tubes for better sound.
The problem is I have yet to see a tube test worn. I have many tubes that I have had and used daily for a long time that test good and they have noticably less volume than they should...
Mattfig
Well-known member
Thanks for the input! I put a best offer at 425 on Ebay and got it for that....Not great but not horrible either....It arrives tomorrow....I'm hoping it will help me sort my tubes...That's all....Best, good, OK, Crap...I wish those settings were in the unit... 
Mattfig
Well-known member
Very useful device...I like it...It's boring as it's test equipment but to a dork like me, I'm in heaven...My drawer of tubes can be properly sorted....
Mattfig
Well-known member
Well, I've been testing a lot of tubes this weekend, mostly in the middle of the night...And have come to a conclusion...
The Tube Store's preferred series are the worst tubes I have ever bought...For years I have tried them in amp and mods to no good result despite the rave online reviews...They all tested worn - even unused new ones...What crap...They came from different orders and batches too...None tested well and none have seen much use...
The Tube Store's preferred series are the worst tubes I have ever bought...For years I have tried them in amp and mods to no good result despite the rave online reviews...They all tested worn - even unused new ones...What crap...They came from different orders and batches too...None tested well and none have seen much use...
