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Post by bowie on Dec 21, 2016 1:31:44 GMT -6
Here's my question to Mr. Bowie (glad you joined the forum). Who is your apprentice that you are training that I can contact when you decide to hang it up and retire? You obviously are THE tube authority and I hugely respect that. I've been meaning to get a hold of you to buy a few tubes. But what am I gonna do when people with your knowledge go away? You'll be screwed! Ha ha! Absolutely kidding of course. There are many people out there who know a lot about tubes. Quite a few of them have more technical knowledge than I do about electronics in general. Though, (without trying to sound boastful) I probably do a lot more listening and comparing tubes, and I might be one of the few tube guys who thoroughly understands pro-audio. I think that's how I found this niche market (or it found me), because I'm able to communicate with engineers in great detail. And, then there's that customer service stuff too. As long as people keep asking for tubes, I'll keep wanting to find good ones for them. Retirement is a long way off as I'm relatively young for this type of work (40) and tube money doesn't afford one early retirement. If I don't land as a musician or inherit the family business, I'll be happy to do this for a while to come, supplementing income with gear building, repairs, and engineering. You bring up a great subject though, which is the wealth of technical knowledge that is disappearing. It's particularly concerning in the mic field. We lost an asset to the gear building community when Oliver A passed a couple years back. I think a lot of guys in niche fields do the most demanding work by themselves, and sometimes even work alone, meaning there is a lack of passing on info and technique.
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Post by EmRR on Dec 21, 2016 8:55:52 GMT -6
Yes to that. Bowie is the one guy I see selling tubes in pro audio circles. There are tons of old school guys who know more than we ever will who deal in tubes, but they mostly see HAM guys, radio restorers, etc, not pro audio, so they don't have to test for our applications.
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Post by jimwilliams on Dec 21, 2016 10:48:56 GMT -6
Build it and they will come. Most of the tube experts I've known are retired or dead now. Someone always comes along to pick up the flag. Get an AP and curve tracer and you are in the tube biz.
The NOS tube market is full of potential problems. Many of the tried and true tubes have already been tested/selected and the rejects put back out on the market. Back in 1996, Peter Freeman of Rode bought the last large batch of NOS GE 6072A tubes, 50k of them. He tested/selected the 10% that met specs and then sold the rest off. Many of those rejects are still floating around.
For my custom tube mic preamps I use NOS Telefunken 12AX7A smooth plates, best I've found by far. The output tubes are GE 12BH7's.
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Dec 21, 2016 11:07:48 GMT -6
Build it and they will come. Most of the tube experts I've known are retired or dead now. Someone always comes along to pick up the flag. Get an AP and curve tracer and you are in the tube biz. The NOS tube market is full of potential problems. Many of the tried and true tubes have already been tested/selected and the rejects put back out on the market. Back in 1996, Peter Freeman of Rode bought the last large batch of NOS GE 6072A tubes, 50k of them. He tested/selected the 10% that met specs and then sold the rest off. Many of those rejects are still floating around. For my custom tube mic preamps I use NOS Telefunken 12AX7A smooth plates, best I've found by far. The output tubes are GE 12BH7's. Custom tube pre Jim? Have you been holding out on us? Do tell us more! Pretty please!
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Post by EmRR on Dec 21, 2016 13:01:22 GMT -6
Yeah, I remember those $5 1997 6072A's that were EVERYWHERE, seemed like they were gonna be an endless supply cheap tube, and they turned out to be not so great, even in guitar amps. 1986ish production if I remember.
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Post by Guitar on Dec 21, 2016 16:20:56 GMT -6
NOS tubes on eBay, for example, can be a bit of a crapshoot, so I can see how buying from Bowie or someone else with a good record of testing tubes could save some time and/or money. I got a couple decent GE 6072A from KCA NOS tubes also, that guy has been around for a while.
I did some silly thing and bought two GE tubes from China, of all places, and one of them turned out to be too noisy to use in a microphone, so there goes $50 down the toilet or whatever.
In a guitar amplifier, I am quite a bit more ready to use current production valves. Some of the better brands sound quite good to my ears.
In a microphone, I want the best that I can get, so NOS seems to be the way to go. Along with all the potential pitfalls or expenses.
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Post by EmRR on Dec 21, 2016 16:36:23 GMT -6
I'd trust pretty much nothing from an Asian seller, not because I think they are untrustworthy, but they are entirely Hi-Fi market, not small (or microscopic) signal level market. A lot of those guys solely plug CD player outputs into tube playback chains, so it's high signal level from the start, swamping all noise.
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Post by ericn on Dec 21, 2016 18:05:05 GMT -6
I'd trust pretty much nothing from an Asian seller, not because I think they are untrustworthy, but they are entirely Hi-Fi market, not small (or microscopic) signal level market. A lot of those guys solely plug CD player outputs into tube playback chains, so it's high signal level from the start, swamping all noise. lots of HIFI Tube moving coil phono preamps as well.
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