Tubes tester !

Guy 13 · « **on:** 14 Sep 2016, 02:16 am »

I remember that tube tester,
the pharmacy near my parent's house had one
and I did use it a few times and it was fun.
Good souvenirs when I was 18 years old,
that's 50 years ago.

Guy 13
on planet Vietnam.

JohnR · « **Reply #1 on:** 14 Sep 2016, 07:07 am »

I think I saw one of those before I knew what it was...

These days, of course, every serious tube enthusiast needs some sort of tester. I guess I'm out of touch but is there any reasonably priced modern tester? (My TV-7 is still going fine, but it won't last forever, and having tried to repair a Hickok tester in the past I can confidently say that I am out of my depth on that one...)

Guy 13 · « **Reply #2 on:** 14 Sep 2016, 08:23 am »

Quote from: JohnR on 14 Sep 2016, 07:07 am

I think I saw one of those before I knew what it was...

These days, of course, every serious tube enthusiast needs some sort of tester. I guess I'm out of touch but is there any reasonably priced modern tester? (My TV-7 is still going fine, but it won't last forever, and having tried to repair a Hickok tester in the past I can confidently say that I am out of my depth on that one...)

Hi JohnR,
some time ago, just for fun, I did a search on GOOGLE for tube tester
and found quite a few vintage units,
but all of them were mush smaller units than the one shown here.
Sorry, don't have the links anymore.

Guy 13
on planet Vietnam.

JohnR · « **Reply #3 on:** 14 Sep 2016, 08:28 am »

Not vintage, modern.

Sorry if OT, just wondering

sfox7076 · « **Reply #4 on:** 14 Sep 2016, 12:49 pm »

UTracer does it all but gas and shorts. DIY, so it is not too expensive. Amplitrex is the other modern tester. It's 10x+ the price of the Utracer. There are a few others out there... I have restored a few Precise 111 and 113 models now. They are actually really great and easy to work on. They were sold as kits, so the schematics are easy to get. The hard piece is if you some how break a switch. That is the hardest thing to repair.

bajaed · « **Reply #5 on:** 14 Sep 2016, 04:42 pm »

A few years before I got into tube audio I gave/threw away my dad's old homemade tube console, tube tester and about a hundred tubes.

Still kicking myself over it.

danabunner · « **Reply #6 on:** 16 Sep 2016, 03:25 pm »

I was recently in Full Compass, a large musicians store near Madison Wisconsin, and they still have a big tube tester on their floor. Just a simple emissions tester. But fun to still see around.

JohnR · « **Reply #7 on:** 20 Sep 2016, 08:28 am »

Quote from: sfox7076 on 14 Sep 2016, 12:49 pm

UTracer does it all but gas and shorts. DIY, so it is not too expensive.

Thanks for that - very interesting.

I really liked the first one on the builders' page where they had made separate modules for different tube types.