New noisy tues

[Chuck H]

One of my favorite ways to acquire good preamp tubes was digging through the boxes of pulls at a salvage electronics store I use to live near. The boxes were vaguely marked for voltage and socket, but pretty mixed up. Maybe fifty large cardboard boxes full! There was a tube tester on site which was really only good for identifying duds. I would select tubes that "looked" like they still had all of their flashing and little to no browning near plate holes. In a couple of hours I could walk out with maybe a dozen preamp tubes and a pair or two of power tubes to test for tone and microphonics at home in an actual amp. These tubes were priced accordingly at a one to three bucks each. I got to learn every damn model synonym for "12ax7" (there are a lot BTW). These were the old brands like Bugle Boy, Telefunken, Mullard, Brimar, etc. I got about the same ratio of good tubes that way as I do now buying new tubes. This is my only experience with the old brands. IME they actually DO last longer than new production tubes without becoming microphonic and sound just great. I still have maybe eight left (somewhere). I'm sure those boxes must be gone now. They were pretty mixed up and picked through when "I" was going in there. But if you ever get the chance and find a place like that it's worth the time. Well, provided the seller isn't charging too much because "Dem is da good old toobs and deys 'spensive now." I think the real advantage to buying these "good pulls" is that they weren't NOT sold at one time for any mystery reason. You actually KNOW they were in use and likely working well in a piece of gear before they were salvaged. Because as Leo pointed out, there's some unscrupulous venders in the NOS biz that are happy to sell old rejects or tubes that aren't even batch culled from the original MFG. The likelihood of getting an expensive reject keeps me out of the NOS market. Though I have bought tested NOS tubes (gray plate RCA 12ax7a's, my favorite) when the price was right.

[Justin Thomas]

I got a huge box of "potentials" for $50 at our local computer shop; but I had to tell the guy to keep the 7868s, given someone with a Hindu may want them. But I scored a pair of 807s, buncha 6AQ5, 6BK5, 6W6, 6K6, lots of missile-anus triode & pentode, octal preamp tubes, etc. All stuff that, while not common, is not unheard of, along with some dual-triodes and a couple 12AT7s. Lots to "play with." Pretty much all NOS. Once I'm out of school, I may be asking lots of "what the heck is THIS?"

Justin

[Chuck H]

Oh, that was some good fun for me too when I was scrounging. I'd occasionally find something cool I wanted to learn more about and buy it. It almost never worked out that I got something useful, but still fun. In fact it was doing just that when I bought my first 12dw7. They weren't used in many amps and I was interested to try one. I've designed with them a couple of times now. And here's something neat... An elderly lady at a retirement apartment I use to do maintenance painting for asked me if I could fix the old Hammond in the lobby so her choir group could have accompaniment again. I did the work for free and that very first 12dw7 was used as part of the repair.

[Justin Thomas]

I've actually been surfing through RC30 lately. There's all kinds of goodies that are "identical to type ______" or are low-power audio power tubes, all available for ~$4/each on the interwebs. Sure, it may not get you a Fender clone, but it might make a nice little jam amp. And none of the modelers will ever sound like YOU.

It's kind of nice that tubes are neither "precision" instruments nor unforgiving of stress. Makes it a whole lot more fun, and allows room for screwing up, most of the time. No sudden instant smokeless death. I often wonder if I was born in the wrong decade.

Justin

[Chuck H]

It's kind of nice that tubes are neither "precision" instruments nor unforgiving of stress. Makes it a whole lot more fun, and allows room for screwing up, most of the time. No sudden instant smokeless death.

"smokeless death" LOL!

+1 That's always been the frustrating part of silicooties for me. A lot less leeway between best performance and failure than with tubes. Get something wrong with a transistor and then... Just nothing, ever again. Get it right and there's still no glow, No heat, no blue flashes and not as much voltage bouncing around on the bench gear. Tubes will let you know one way or the other if you got it right or wrong.

[bsco]

Oh, that was some good fun for me too when I was scrounging. I'd occasionally find something cool I wanted to learn more about and buy it. It almost never worked out that I got something useful, but still fun. In fact it was doing just that when I bought my first 12dw7. They weren't used in many amps and I was interested to try one. I've designed with them a couple of times now. And here's something neat... An elderly lady at a retirement apartment I use to do maintenance painting for asked me if I could fix the old Hammond in the lobby so her choir group could have accompaniment again. I did the work for free and that very first 12dw7 was used as part of the repair.

I have a guy here in town that used to have a full blown music store.......and they also sold church organs ......,,,Rodgers, Hammond, wurltizer, etc....acoustic pianos.....they down-sized and now only have the piano and organ segment.......so I have been "Roped in" so to speak to help repair the organs.....massive brutes to move around and work on.....tons of wiring......and a great experience and joy to work on...but can sometimes be daunting and intiminating....(excuse my spelling)....have you done much work on these types of instruments??

[Chuck H]

have you done much work on these types of instruments??

Aw hell no. I know enough about the amps inside, but I also know that if I started working on them I'd have to learn about how the rest of the scary beast operates. I made sure the issue with the one I fixed was strictly amp related before agreeing to it. Too many damn hobbies already to start learning about old church organs.

I hope that was just frank and not offensive

[Justin Thomas]

We get ourselves into more trouble by not setting boundaries than about any other way. Props to you, Chuck - not because you're incompetent or incapable, but just knowing what you want to and DON'T want to get into. And jeez, finding parts has got to be a nightmare.

Not to take anything from bsco, though - I respect the fact that you're willing to dive in and learn something new. And it's a dying art... But I just know, like Chuck, I am not willing to make that investment!

Justin

[bsco]

We get ourselves into more trouble by not setting boundaries than about any other way. Props to you, Chuck - not because you're incompetent or incapable, but just knowing what you want to and DON'T want to get into. And jeez, finding parts has got to be a nightmare.

Not to take anything from bsco, though - I respect the fact that you're willing to dive in and learn something new. And it's a dying art... But I just know, like Chuck, I am not willing to make that investment!

Justin

It is a challenge for sure...so far I have repaired about 7 or 8 various brands of church organs.....And I actually have 3 Hammonds and 2 Leslies to dive into.....
It is nice to have something different but they are very time consuming......especially where I don't have the technical training that was supplied years ago by the different manufacturers....I am learning as I am going....and if I don't offer to look at what people ask they don't have anybody else to turn to and I will miss out on the opportunity to learn something different.....but I make it well known....they will not be getting it done right away.......it will take some time to go through it.....I just replaced elect caps in the Hammond L111 that I have stripped down...only the ones that I found bad.....now I have to remove the drawbars and clean them up....once I figure out how these ones come out.....after that It should be good to go...I already freed up the tone generator...wouldn't turn....people have a habit on not oiling it and it eventually stops turning...but when it comes to equipment that is full of SMD and runs on proprietry software, I usually do not take it....I don't have the proper equip to work on that stuff so I try to stay away from that stuff whenever I can...outside of that, anything is free game.....

[bsco]

Aw hell no. I know enough about the amps inside, but I also know that if I started working on them I'd have to learn about how the rest of the scary beast operates. I made sure the issue with the one I fixed was strictly amp related before agreeing to it. Too many damn hobbies already to start learning about old church organs.

I hope that was just frank and not offensive

No offense taken...Parts can be tricky but I manage to find what I am looking for....and they are scary beasts......they were built like a tank which is why they still work....as far as hobbies are concerned......my wife and I play in bands for years...when we teamed up, we started to write original material.....and we recorded some of it.....we had a 2 piece back when we first met, mainly because we couldn't find any dependable musicians....we sold 2000 cd's at $10 a piece in a three year period playing around the province....then we finally hooked into an excellent bass player and drummer.......and finally dropped the bars and booked our own shows....we charged $10 in advance and $20 at the door.....we played lodges, community centers, Lions clubs, etc....no pool tables and no VLT machines and no drunks.....it was like playing in Heaven.....we haven't done any recording in awhile and this summer might put together a little studio so we can do more recording....strickly analogue......no digital....

[bsco]

Hey g1...I forgot to mention...we had two acts put together with the same four people and booked it as two shows.....two different set-ups...and different types of music.....the first was convention style music.....and dressed in suits or tuxes etc.....the second act was all heavy rock but danceable....and dress anyway you like..... we had drum solos, and I had a white Fender Strat that I used to throw around on the dance floor and do the Ritchie Blackmore smash-up thing...play with your feet, have people come up and help me play it with my feet, kick it around, snap off whammy bars, etc.....used a violin bow on my Les Paul...used a wireless system and used to set up the tables close to the stage in such as way as I could jump off the stage and run around the tables playing solos...we also had a portable dressing room so my wife could change costumes on stage during the sets......she was into the glamour and glitter of things and I was into the rock.....worked out perfect....and a lot of work....but fun to do.......and the audience loved it......