Hi All,
I've been running some tube gear for a number of years now and have been very satisfied with the performance of my system. But as the system and the tubes in particular are getting older I was considering getting a tube tester to check the status of the tubes on occasion and not rely on out right failure to know when they need to be changed. Although I expect that the sound will change prior to that to let me know something is not right. But them which tubes could be the problem? Anyway, I found a few tube testers locally and thought I'd see what experience people had with the different testers.
Here's the testers available;
- Hickok 800 $300.00
- Eico 667 $150.00
- Precision series 10-12 $100.00
- Conar Instruments model 223 $100.00
I would be surprised if any of these are refurbed or recently calibrated, they are all supposed to be operational. I'm leaning towards the PACO Series 10-12, for 2 reasons, one is that I've found some very good info on the interwebs about calibrating this unit and even refurbishing it, and it is housed in a cool looking wooden box
.
The Hickok units seem to be kind of a standard, but not sure what makes it any better than the others. Any help is appreciated.
