Vacuum tubes

[Nick D]

This is an excellent video of a man making his own vacuum tubes:

http://paillard.claude.free.fr/

I remember growing up my papa had over 50,000 vacuum tubes in his basement. He was an electrician and fixed TVs and radios as a hobby.

 

[Flivver]

When I was in college in the early 1970s we had something called "intersession" in January. It lasted three weeks and you could take short prescribed courses or design your own (with faculty approval).

I used intersession one year to make vacuum tubes from scratch. And I conned a friend into doing it too. We had many failed attempts along the way, but, in the end, we were each able to make a few successful tubes that actually worked in a simple one tube radio circuit. It was great fun!

I still have my homemade tubes...somewhere.

 

[Edward]

This is an excellent video of a man making his own vacuum tubes:

http://paillard.claude.free.fr/

I remember growing up my papa had over 50,000 vacuum tubes in his basement. He was an electrician and fixed TVs and radios as a hobby.

There's probably guitar players out there would be well interested in vintage tubes if you still had them! I love the sound of tubes myself, but to be honest I've found good quality modern digital equipment that gives me as close as I need to that sound for much less hassle. Still, my digitaL Vox amp does have a couple of tubes in the preamp, and while I know I shouldn't, I'm currently eyeing a little 5w two-tube affair....

 

[anon`]

There's probably guitar players out there would be well interested in vintage tubes if you still had them! I love the sound of tubes myself, but to be honest I've found good quality modern digital equipment that gives me as close as I need to that sound for much less hassle. Still, my digitaL Vox amp does have a couple of tubes in the preamp, and while I know I shouldn't, I'm currently eyeing a little 5w two-tube affair....

Nevermind the guitar players, there're crazed audiophiles out there who'll drop insane amounts on vintage NOS tubes for headphone amps alone!

And then there are the guitar players, too

 

[LizzieMaine]

Tubes are still readily available -- there's enough old stock left to fill the demand for years and years to come, so one must *really* be ********* to go to all the trouble of rolling their own. The excessive prices for certain types of tubes are pure marketing hype.

The folks who give me pause, though, are the crowd that insists on gold-plated connectors and matched sets of capacitors. No doubt there's someone out there who can't sleep at night until all his connections are made with audiophile approved solder.

 

[DblCoronaMS]

As an amateur radio operator (ham radio), I found that fascinating!

AE5DW

 

[Johnnysan]

WOW...very cool. Thanks for sharing this. :eusa_clap

 

[Edward]

Tubes are still readily available -- there's enough old stock left to fill the demand for years and years to come, so one must *really* be ********* to go to all the trouble of rolling their own. The excessive prices for certain types of tubes are pure marketing hype.

The folks who give me pause, though, are the crowd that insists on gold-plated connectors and matched sets of capacitors. No doubt there's someone out there who can't sleep at night until all his connections are made with audiophile approved solder.

Believe me, I see it all. There's folks out there who often get all too caught up in the equipment spec and forget about the sound: it's a wood / trees thing, I think. A guy that worked with my dad years ago used to regularly anger the office audiophiles, showing off about their systems, by saying that there was no point spending over X amount (GBP200 in those days, probably about a grand sterling now) on a home stereo system, because once you got to equipment at over that price, sure you could measure supriority, but if you can't hear it with the naked ear, why go to the extra expense? I can certainly see his point.

Some folks just get caught up in marketing hype, I guess. In the guitar world, the biggest hype of all is that "vintage is best, new = inferior." What people will pay for an old Fender or Gibson especially from back in the fifties or early sixties beggers belief. No matter how plentiful tubes are nowadays, I'm sure you could fetch a princely sum for "genuine vintage tubes!" over and above new ones no matter how much more reliable the latter might be.

 

[Flivver]

The folks who give me pause, though, are the crowd that insists on gold-plated connectors and matched sets of capacitors. No doubt there's someone out there who can't sleep at night until all his connections are made with audiophile approved solder.

About ten years ago, these "audiophools" were in a lather about the orientation of the molecules in copper wire!

And I believe they also get worked up about the production run that various output tubes come from. Something about tubes with grey coated plates sounding better than tubes with black coated plates, believe it or not!

At one time around 20 years ago, I was convinced I could tell the difference between tube sound and solid state sound. A friend thought he could hear the difference too. So we set up a little test. We arranged to switch between a Dynaco Stereo 70 (tubes) and a solid state Marantz receiver, operated through the same loudspeakers.

When we knew what we were listening to, the tube amp sounded *much* better. But when we did the test blindfolded, it all sounded the same. (We actually used a borrowed sound pressure level meter to ensure the same sound intensity from both amps since if they were unequal, the louder amp would always sound "better").

The immagination can be a powerful thing!

 

[anon`]

About ten years ago, these "audiophools" were in a lather about the orientation of the molecules in copper wire!

Uhh... this debate is still alive and well. Only now it's moved onto debates over various conductors (primarily silver versus copper. Did you know that silver produces a brighter sound than copper, which is most often described as "warmer"? Yeah--I don't get it, either).

And I believe they also get worked up about the production run that various output tubes come from. Something about tubes with grey coated plates sounding better than tubes with black coated plates, believe it or not!

Now in all fairness, there is some truth to this, and that truth usually stems from quanitfiable measurements such as gain and microphonics. I mean, I can clearly hear a difference between 5751 and 12ax7 input tubes on my headphone amp, but I highly doubt that I could differentiate between, say, a Tung-Sol and an Electro Harmonix 5751.

 

[Flivver]

Now in all fairness, there is some truth to this, and that truth usually stems from quanitfiable measurements such as gain and microphonics. I mean, I can clearly hear a difference between 5751 and 12ax7 input tubes on my headphone amp, but I highly doubt that I could differentiate between, say, a Tung-Sol and an Electro Harmonix 5751.

You're right about the mil-spec tubes like the 5751 sounding better than the civillian 12AX7. They were built to much tighter tolerances and more closely and regulaly meet the "design specs" intended for the tube. I use those in my equipment too.

The biggest advantage of mil-spec tubes, however, is extended service life. And that's the prime reason they were created in the first place.

 

[mtechthang]

An old thread, nonetheless, . . .

Uhh... this debate is still alive and well. Only now it's moved onto debates over various conductors (primarily silver versus copper. Did you know that silver produces a brighter sound than copper, which is most often described as "warmer"? Yeah--I don't get it, either).

anon- good for you. This is bordering on synesthesthetic metaphor (that really is a term!). But it also identified how purely subjective this nonsense can be. Clearly "brighter" could be "cooler" as easily as warmer. That they like "brighter" in this sense makes it warmer- because they like that too. And what is the opposite or comparison? Duller? Less bright? But you are absolutely correct :eusa_clap that this is how some present it in their little journals. lol

Now in all fairness, there is some truth to this, and that truth usually stems from quantifiable measurements such as gain and microphonics. I mean, I can clearly hear a difference between 5751 and 12ax7 input tubes on my headphone amp, but I highly doubt that I could differentiate between, say, a Tung-Sol and an Electro Harmonix 5751.

Well. True. The problem is you are speaking clearly. :eusa_clap Thus, you said, clearly and carefully, "I can tell the difference". The lunacy of the audiophools (as someone characterized them) is that one is better than the other. They make such claims even when there is no measurable difference. Of course, they continue to make the same claims about clearly "un-hearable" differences that can be measured (measurable differences outside the limits of known human perceptual discrimination). Thus the $1,500 per foot speaker cables and $50,000 tube amps (which must be run bridged-mono in matched pairs)!! [huh]