Retensioning Tube Sockets and Preamp Tube Leakage Tests

Описание: There is some truth to the old saying "Don't mess with it if it is working." Well, being slightly OCD prevents me from doing that. In this video, I show you how to tighten (retension) the socket contacts.
And, I show you how to test tubes for leakage using an old tube tester.

With amps, I like to check them just to be sure they are working properly. In this case, I gave myself a little scare. I just removed the power tubes to check their bias setting and when I put them back in, the amp would cut out when I would hit a big bass note or chord. So, I ended up taking the chassis out to check everything. It's a pain but I am glad I did. I discovered a tube that may have been bad although the amp was still sounding good. My original goal was to improve the sound of the 1966 Super Reverb as compared to this 1964 SR. I ended up screwing up the sound of the 1964 but eventually got it back to sounding better. These old amps can do that. That is why I love them so much. You can tweak them here and there until you get them dialed in.

I suspected that I had a bad contact somewhere in the power tube sockets because that is all I had touched. It is much easier to check the sockets when it is sitting face up on a bench. It turns out, all they needed was a little retensioning and some good old DeoxIT D100 contact cleaner. http://store.caig.com/s.nl/it.I/id.93/.f

Also in the process, I decided to check the old 12AT7's in V3 and V6 which are important and found that one of my old tubes showed some leakage between the heater and cathode. I just happened to have some Philips ECG NOS tubes that I just purchase and they worked perfectly.