Re: Tube replacement help...


"Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:433B407D.405DCE80@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Arfa Daily wrote:
>>
>> No, I still repair " much " that is currently manufactured and used by
>> musicians as PA equipment. Whilst some of it is quite expensive, at least
>> an
>> equal amount is very reasonably priced, and certainly on a par with
>> similarly rated solid state equipment.
>>
>> Some tubed hi fi is very high end price wise - I currently have a
>> Shanling
>> SP-80 on the bench, and the price tag on that is for an amount that would
>> have bought you a decent secondhand car a few years ago - but there are
>> also
>> reasonably priced items around, and tube designs have been making a real
>> comeback over the last couple of years in the home constructor market.
>>
>> Arfa
>
>
> There is only a fraction of a percent of new tube gear built per
> year, compared to even the late '70s when the tube was well on its way
> out of the mainstream. I'll bet you could stop 100 people on the street
> and not find more than one person with a tube in anything, other than a
> CRT, unless you rigged the survey. People used to have 50 to 100 tubes
> in various pieces of equipment around the house.
>
> Even high power radio and TV transmitters ate going all solid state.
>
> BTW, don't try to impress me about vacuum tube musical equipment. I
> serviced it for over 30 years and I know where several Hammond organs,
> and a few Leslie speakers are in use about a half mile from here. I use
> to buy 100 6GH8 tubes at a time for TV repair, and had over 5000 new
> tubes in stock between our two TV shops and five service trucks. I
> repaired a lot of West, Sunn, Fender, and other tube musical amps. I
> have worked with subminiature 1 volt tubes all the way up to 65 KW EEV
> Klystron tubes used in UHF TV transmitters. Those tubes were over
> $45,000 US, each, plus special freight charges.
>
> --
> ?
>
> Michael A. Terrell
> Central Florida

I'm not trying to " impress " you, or anyone else about my abilities. In the
case of the majority of amateurs who ask questions on here, and whom as a
professional, I try to help, they probably would be impressed as a matter of
course, in much the same as that I, being only an amateur carpenter, or
plumber, or car mechanic, am impressed by the knowledge of people engaged in
those fields.

I too have repaired this equipment for some 30 odd years, and, whilst I have
not worked with tubes bigger than a kW, I have certainly worked with sub
miniature types - in fact I recently rebuilt a military radio transceiver
which used them, and didn't have much difficulty obtaining them either. So,
by the same token that you claim I am trying to impress you, don't try to do
it back to me.

The only point I was trying to make, is that there is still a considerable
amount of vacuum tube equipment being currently manufactured, which many
amateurs, and probably more than a few professionals don't realise. It is
NOT all vintage, and tinkered with by ancient proffessor longhairs. Whilst
there is no longer TV sets and tape recorders being manufactured with tubes
in - and nobody, amateur or professional needs to be told this - the sector
of the market producing tube amplifiers is still alive and as well as it
ever was.

Fender, Ampeg, Orange, Marshall are all names that immediately spring to
mind. If you like, I'll check with one of the equipment shops that I do work
for, and see how he thinks that the market for tube amps is, in comparison
to 30 years ago.

I really don't know what has happened to newsgroups in recent years. People
now seem to treat them as forums, and chime in with all manner of unhelpful
replies to posters. It used to be that if someone- often an amateur - wanted
to know something, they posted and asked, and some kindly soul, who knew the
answer, posted back. The original questioner then either posted back to the
group, or direct, and said " Thank you for your help. The problem is now
cured." End of.

Now, all manner of other posters will chip in with half assed replies, and
often getting quite nasty saying " Go Google it, and don't be so lazy " and
other such stuff. This is not helpful to amateurs.
Recently, a poster on here had asked how to get into a Bose sub. Despite how
clever all the self styled moderators on here are, it's not at all obvious,
unless you know. Helpfully, the first reply was " Use a chopsaw ... "

On many occasions, I have spent hours on the net trying to track down info
on something, and then posted on an appropriate group, and got an immediate
answer from a professional in that field.

I still try to be one of those " professionals in the field " , and try to
help, constructively, where I can. If people want to be " impressed " by
that, then so be it, but don't imply that I am actively trying to impress. I
know my abilities and limitations, and have been around for far too long to
need to play silly games of how good I am.

Arfa


.

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