[Rob S.]

Hi, 
I'm looking for an economical tube damper for my preamps 12at7's, 12au7 and 6sn7's.   All I'm finding is the $25+ ones.  I remember seeing these red ones but now I'm coming up short.

Where can I find them?

Rob S

[FullRangeMan]

Seems what you want are tube dampers from Herbie Audio Lab, post this question again on this circle:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?board=160.0

Surely Herbie himself will respond to you.
Best

[bregez]

I think those are silicone o-rings.  McMaster-Carr has them is stock.

[kernelbob]

I've used various damping rings on my ARC REF3 preamp, but found Herbies tube dampers to perform much better.  The sound becomes cleaner with better low level detail, but without the smearing quality and reduction of soundstage I found with damping rings.  My impression is that damping rings store and release the vibrational energy resulting in that smearing quality.  The tube dampers control the vibrations without returning back to the tubes.  By the way, the larger brothers of the Herbies tube dampers work wonders on the T1610 tubes of my Kronzillas, without them they sound broken by comparison.  I use three per tube on those, one per tube on my preamp tubes.

[FullRangeMan]

Indeed, Herbie dampers are the only brand praised by various tube audiophiles from my country.
The ship service also are good.

[Len_Dreyer]

I use Herbie's too but you can find the red ones on ebay.

[Rob S.]

Thanks for the suggestions. 

Has anyone used the budget mid/fi dampers here?  http://herbiesaudiolab.net/midfi.htm

I have several of herb's expensive dampers and don't want to buy those for the 11 tubes in my preamp.....  Chances are nervosa will continue into the other amps tubes ( 40+ )

Rob S

[lustformusic]

 I get all mine at the bearing services. Just ask for high temp silicone O rings , their used in hydraulics. Take your tubes along to get the right fit.   Paul P

[jtsnead]

I got mine from very nice people on ebay

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TUBE-AMP-PREAMP-DAMPERS-12AX7-12AU7-12AT7-ECC83-EL84-6922-EL84-5751-5687-/350526684394?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item519d04bcea

they were the only ones that helped microphonics in the 7119 tubes I was using at the time,

Good Luck,
JT

[cheap-Jack]

Thanks for the suggestions. 

Has anyone used the budget mid/fi dampers here?  http://herbiesaudiolab.net/midfi.htm

I have several of herb's expensive dampers and don't want to buy those for the 11 tubes in my preamp.....  Chances are nervosa will continue into the other amps tubes ( 40+ )

Rob S

Why NEED to finance the damper vendors when I can make them myself dirt cheap?

Believe it or not, I built & installed dampers to the tubes in my phonstages & driver stage of my power amp for less than 2 bucks! They all work bigtime.

Just a little thinking.  Get a rubber mouse pad from any dollar mart & a small roll of plumber Teflon sealer tape from any hardware stores. That's all you need!!

Cut a ring to tailer-fit the tube body from the mouse pad & put it onto the tube body. To ensure no over heating the rubbber ring, wrap a few roungs of the Teflon sealer tape to the tube body fiist before putting
on the rubber ring. So easy.

WARNING - I have found damper rings may over damp the tube & make the music sound dead & lost of brilliance & dynamics. If overdamping happens, take out the dampers!

c-J

[R_burke]

I think those are silicone o-rings.  McMaster-Carr has them is stock.

As do many O-Ring suppliers, just do a search for silicone o-rings - I'm guessing that most of the e-bay sellers buy them in large quantities extremely cheap and re-package and sell them in smaller quantities at a profit. A good hardware or electronic parts store would carry them also.  I use them (got mine at Santa Cruz Electronics) and they seem to work fine

[jlafrenz]

I have been looking at some of the red silicone dampers available on eBay to try out for myself. I do have a question in regards to the different thicknesses available. I see that the ones being sold as tube dampers are around 5mm thick. The ones that are sold as silicone o-rings are around 1/16 to 3/32 thick. Just curious if the thicker ones are better/worse? What about a single thicker ring compared to 2 thinner rings (one top, one bottom) would compare or if either way really matters?

[audiobat]

Cheap-Jack is 100% correct!
I tried them but had to remove them from my tubes, took out all the life!