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Post subject: The life span of a tube
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 6:28 am
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Aspiring Musician
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I realize that tubes can go at any time - sometimes without much warning - but I'm beginning to wonder if I'm just unlucky or if my history with tubes is a case of situation normal. I've had to replace the preamp tubes in my HRD three times in less than 3 years and now most recently my less than 2-year old Blues Jr. is making crackling and popping sounds which suggest a tube is going microphonic.

Anyone with similar tube experience?

Cheers and thanks!
BM

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Post subject: Re: The life span of a tube
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 7:45 am
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I bought my DRRI in 2011, I almost immediately swapped out all the stock tubes for JJs. Admittedly I don't use the amp every day, but I'm still using the same tubes w/o problems. I did swap the v1 & v2 tubes for tung sols but just for tone shaping.


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Post subject: Re: The life span of a tube
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 9:35 am
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With modern-made bottles it's a crap-shoot. I've seen pre-amp tubes go microphonic within a month of installation and power tubes that were marginal right out of the box. OTOH, sometimes luck prevails and they'll play for decades. I bought a used DRRI in 2006 that was built in 1994 and its original Groove Tube GZ34 rectifier was still performing its role. And miracle upon miracle, it's still in the amp and working fine.

(fingers crossed that I haven't now jinxed it)

:wink:

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: The life span of a tube
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 10:06 am
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Retroverbial wrote:
With modern-made bottles it's a crap-shoot. I've seen pre-amp tubes go microphonic within a month of installation and power tubes that were marginal right out of the box. OTOH, sometimes luck prevails and they'll play for decades. I bought a used DRRI in 2006 that was built in 1994 and its original Groove Tube GZ34 rectifier was still performing its role. And miracle upon miracle, it's still in the amp and working fine.

(fingers crossed that I haven't now jinxed it)

:wink:

Arjay


+1. I have really good consistency with TAD tubes. So far both power and preamp tubes have been remarkable, not had a single issue, no micro phonics, no blown power tubes.

I haven't tried their rectifiers yet, since I had a pretty good stash of NOS for these.

FWIW

T2

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Post subject: Re: The life span of a tube
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 10:56 am
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Retroverbial wrote:
With modern-made bottles it's a crap-shoot. I've seen pre-amp tubes go microphonic within a month of installation and power tubes that were marginal right out of the box. OTOH, sometimes luck prevails and they'll play for decades. ...
I guess I'll be placing another order with the Tube Depot and rolling the dice on a pair of 12AX7. Any suggestions/recommendations to make or perhaps model are welcome.

Cheers!
BM

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Post subject: Re: The life span of a tube
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 11:53 am
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The new Gold Lion 12AX7 is a pretty fair sonic approximation of an NOS RCA or Sylvania tube. Can't speak to its durability since I've only been testing one for about seven months. Thus far though, it seems to be holding its own.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: The life span of a tube
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 1:26 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
The new Gold Lion 12AX7 is a pretty fair sonic approximation of an NOS RCA or Sylvania tube. Can't speak to its durability since I've only been testing one for about seven months. Thus far though, it seems to be holding its own. Arjay
Thanks, Arjay.

I checked out the Tube Depot and found the Genalex - Gold Lion 12AX7 for $24.95 which seems reasonable. Also saw the Mullard 12AX7 "New Production" tube for $16.95. Then I did a double-take. At first I thought typo, then considered the possibility that this particular 12AX7 comes with its own guitar amp.

    BLACK SABLE Mullard ECC83 / 12AX7 $549.95 BSCT-12AX7-

I'm thinking there must be a difference between the Black Sable Mullard and the Genalex Gold Lion. :x

Cheers!
BM

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Post subject: Re: The life span of a tube
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 2:58 pm
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Bluer Monkey wrote:
...making crackling and popping sounds which suggest a tube is going microphonic...


A microphonic tube would exhibit feedback, not crackling and popping. While the crackling and popping could be indicative of a bad tube (noisy, not microphonic), considering that you've already gone through several tubes, you might have another problem. You might try re-tensioning your tube sockets before changing tubes again.

http://billmaudio.com/wp/?page_id=171

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Post subject: Re: The life span of a tube
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 3:36 pm
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Bluer Monkey wrote:
I'm thinking there must be a difference between the Black Sable Mullard and the Genalex Gold Lion.


Ya think?

:shock:

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: The life span of a tube
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 3:46 pm
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shimmilou wrote:
Bluer Monkey wrote:
...making crackling and popping sounds which suggest a tube is going microphonic...


A microphonic tube would exhibit feedback, not crackling and popping. While the crackling and popping could be indicative of a bad tube (noisy, not microphonic), considering that you've already gone through several tubes, you might have another problem. You might try re-tensioning your tube sockets before changing tubes again.

http://billmaudio.com/wp/?page_id=171
Actually this is the first tube issue with the BJr. The other tube changes were on my HRD and Vibro Champ. Thanks for the link, shimmilou.

Cheers!
BM

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Post subject: Re: The life span of a tube
Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2015 12:29 pm
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shimmilou wrote:
A microphonic tube would exhibit feedback, not crackling and popping. While the crackling and popping could be indicative of a bad tube (noisy, not microphonic), ...
I think your Spidey senses were on the right path, shimmilou.

Yesterday I was set to re-tension the tube sockets when I noticed that one of the preamp tubes looked a little crooked. Not much, but enough to set it apart from the others. I removed each tube one at a time and felt a healthy amount of resistance which suggested to me that the sockets were nice and snug. A visual examination showed the same thing. Nothing looked like it needed tensioning. After removing every tube and reseating it, I turned on the amp and everything was back to normal. No snap, crackle, pop, or other unwanted noises.

Hope it stays this way ....

Thanks & Cheers!
BM

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