Whats the best tube tester?

[les_paul_gold_top]

Thinking about getting one - seem several on ebay - whats the best, and what features paramters should I be looking for.

Tim

 

[stokes]

The best tube tester is the actual circuit the tube will be used in.A good tube tester will set you back quite a few $$$.Stay away from the emissions testers,most of the ones going for about $100 or less are those.You want a tester that tests for gm,or transconductance.The main problem with the emissions tester is they will only tell you a tube is good or bad,they use very low plate volts,100 volts at best.A tube that tests "good" at 100 volts may fail miserably at closer to real life voltage.A lot of the "good" gm teaters will also have less than ideal voltages as well,often under 200 volts.Do your homework and find one that will get you over 200 volts on the plate.I presently have a Triplett 3444,which is closer to a lab grade tester.They are a bit rarer than any of the Hickoks,which are considered an industry standard for service grade testers,the Hickoks are good,but in my experience the 3444 is a better tester.The 539 series Hickoks are good,but I like the Triplett better,but they are probably on the same level.Another important feature is a gas test or grid current feature.I had a pair of 6V6's from an old Fender I was working on that were obviously shot,very weak,put out about half power in the amp.They tested like new in my Weston gm tester,I got the Triplett and again they tested like new for gm,but the grid current test showed them to be gassy,drawing about 8ma's at the grid.Another thing to consider is the fact that any tube tester you see on ebay is old and will be in need of calibration at the least and most likely some degree of restoration.Even a tester that is advertised as working perfectly is going to need some work as it can seem to work perfectly,but if the calibration is off,your results will be off.As far as I know the only one making tube testers today is an outfit called Amplitrex,they make one called the AT-1000,but it goes for about $2500.There is someone else making a kit that looks okay for about $700,I think they are called Transcendant Sound.But a kit is only as good as the builder,and the parts looked kind of shabby to me.Check www.alltubetesters.com Roger Kennedy has a lot of good info there about different testers.I paid $800 for my Triplett,it was in very good shape,but still needed to be calibrated,new caps and rectifiers also helped to bring voltages into spec.Had to change a couple of out of spec resistors as well just to check the calibration.So expect to pay a lot of $$$ and do some maintenance as well.

 

[Bill11]

Hi stokes,

Thanks for the detailed reply. Very nice.

 

[stokes]

Hi stokes,

Thanks for the detailed reply. Very nice.

No problem,hope it helped.

 

[MrMarkIII]

I use the two that are attached to the side of my head.