I thought I would try and make sense of why do we like  the sound of valve versus solid state amps.  ” Solid state” is the name that was banded about in the 1960’s to sell the new transistorised technology. I am old enough to remember this new  technology coming on the market. We were told that it was more reliable, much better sound quality, lower distortion, lower noise. This sold us all on solid-state”? […]
How many of you have wondered , ” How Old is the Valve (Tube) technology in my amp?” Valves as we call them in the UK have been around for about a 100 years !! Â I decided to check out when the common valves ( ones that we sell) first came on the market. When checking this information sometimes there was some arguement on the exact year so if you alllow give or take one
How Old is the Valve (Tube) Technology in My Amp? Read More »
I was on the hunt for a nice original Vox AC30 from the 1960′ s and it got me thinking on why I wanted it and what work it would need.  Now I have worked on AC30’s in the past and my first AC30 was GIVEN to me as it was considered beyond repair. The player had sat a pint of beer on top of the amp, by all accounts the pint glass  was almost
I came across this video, by accident  on Youtube of French radio amateur,  Claude Paillard ( Callsign F2F0) who makes his own valves by hand in the traditional way. It gives you an idea of what it takes to make your valves.  He is making a triode so if you do this twice and put in one glass tube you have an ECC81 / ECC83/ ECC99. The video is made in France so the few
I have come across a bit of a mystery regarding Svetlana valves ( tubes) and perhaps some readers could explain. Svetlana valves are made in Russia and are good quality products. My understanding is that an American corporation owns the rights to the  Svetlana so the company JSC Svetlana lost the rights to use the Svetlana name. JSC Svetlana  made their  valves in St Petersburg in Russia and adopted the Winged C log with C
Amplifier valves get hot and there are very high voltages present, so make sure the amp is switched off and and the valves are cold. Hot amp valves can give you a bad burn ! The output valves , the rectifier, and ECC99’s all get especially hot ! Â My most recent burn was off the little output valve in the picture above, the EL84 output pentode The first basic question is how often to replace
Steps to follow when changing your valves in your amp Read More »