might be time to stock up on tubes: free tube matching at tubes and more

[DankStar]

I forget how much difference in price there is, but I do recall matched sets being more. Free matching through June 30th.

https://www.tubesandmore.com/products/vacuum_tubes?filters=Type=Power

 

[LLL]

Re: might be time to stock up on tubes: free tube matching at tubes and more

As an aside along the topic of matching:

powertube matching is logical and has real-world usage...

...but preamp triode matching is nothing but snake oil.

 

[DankStar]

Re: might be time to stock up on tubes: free tube matching at tubes and more

yeah, I didn't know there was such a thing as matching preamp tubes, aside from using what an amp is designed for

 

[LLL]

Re: might be time to stock up on tubes: free tube matching at tubes and more

yeah, I didn't know there was such a thing as matching preamp tubes, aside from using what an amp is designed for

Yeah some tube sellers tout matching triodes.

 

[Demanic]

Re: might be time to stock up on tubes: free tube matching at tubes and more

Burned in? I'd prefer to do that myself.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: might be time to stock up on tubes: free tube matching at tubes and more

Burned in? I'd prefer to do that myself.

No you dont. The burning in process is to weed out tubes that will die a premature death. With a non burned in quad there is actually a decent chance that one of the tubes if it doesnt outright fail wont continue to perform at spec. This at the very best will result in increased noise as the current draws are unbalanced at worst it can cause most tubes to fail quicker cause they are trying to take up the slack for the bum tube.

Matching without burning in is actually pretty close to worthless as tubes and especially modern tubes their bias points will actually drift quite a bit during the burn in process.


The matched triodes for preamp tubes actually came from the hi-fi crowd and there has some merit. Unbalanced triodes can cause noise in some hi fi equipment. In guitar amp circuits it matters little to none. Some guys say you need balanced for a good PI tube I think its just another way to soak you out of 5 bucks.

 

[Securb]

Re: might be time to stock up on tubes: free tube matching at tubes and more

I forget how much difference in price there is, but I do recall matched sets being more. Free matching through June 30th.

https://www.tubesandmore.com/products/vacuum_tubes?filters=Type=Power

Thanks man I need to do the preamp tubes in my Fender Quad. I may as well retube the DSL while I am at it.