Matched Balanced Pre-Amp Valves

How Are Pre-Amp Valves Matched/Balanced?

You might not be aware but no valve manufacturer will test for matched balanced pre-amp valves.  So quality valve sellers invest in good quality test and characterisation equipment so that matched balanced pre-amp valves can be identified.  This means we have to individually test every pre-amp valve we have in our stock so that we can find the matched ones.

This is a slow process as we need to wait until the valve has warmed up and is stable before making measurements.

Limits of Valve Technology

Keep in mind that valves are old technolology and they are mechanical devices fulfilling and electronics function. Manufacture includes metal bending and glass blowing !  As a result the electrical specificstions of any valve from,any manufacturer are very wide.  This is to account for the variations from batch to batch of the valves.
We typically find that about 8-10% of any batch are good enough to be classed as matched.

Need Pre-amp valves matched to each other ?

Sometimes , we have requests to have two matched balanced pre-amp valves that are not only matched but also matched to each other. These could be needed for example in a stereo amplifier or two channels of an amp. Having them matched does make the amp truly and accurately balanced. We have supplied matched sets for our customers but only if we can find for example two that are actually matched.
if you have such a need, then feel free to contact us and ask if we have what meets your needs. We don’t have them as a standard product because we never have enough available so we handle this by special request.

What We Offer

All matched balanced pre-amp valves come with a test certificate and we brand this as Supermatch.
We sell a wide range of matched balanced pre-amp valves from  Electro Harmonix, JJ Electronic, Sovtek, and Tung Sol and example types are 5751, 12AT7 ( ECC81), 12AU7 (ECC82), 12AX7 (ECC83), 12AY7, 12BH7.  All the offerings including gold pins and other variants are listed in the pre-amp valve category.