Finding Gassy Tubes.

[lockingnut]

Hey Guys - Got it 65 RI Super that intermittently goes noisy with the tell-tale gassy tube sound. It's so infrequent I haven't been able to swap tubes while it's happening. So far all but the rectifier tube been swapped. My question has anyone had a rectifier tube go gassy?

Thanks,

Don

[Rob Mercure]

I'm not sure what the "tell-tale" gassy tube sound is - other that some "shot" noise sorta symptoms that aren't always caused by a gassy tube. Anyhoo tubes tend either to be gassy or not so "intermittent" isn't a term that I'd apply so I suspect that you've got something else going on such as a resistor breaking down. As far as your question goes any tube can become gassy but rectifiers, like any other power tube, tend to show their gas when it ionizes with a blue or purple glow. Also in the 38 years or so I've been fooling with this stuff I've found very gassy tube problems - and most of these were back in the 1970s in color TVs.

Rob

[lockingnut]

I think I agree, what I hear probably is not coming from a tube after all. It's white noise, occasional clicks. Sometimes the click starts the white noise, other times it goes away. I'm beginning to think there's a loose ground somewhere, maybe a bad solder joint or tube socket. I used to play with this stuff back in the 60's-70's and am relying on memory which. . . well never mind.

Thanks for the get-back.

Don