Modern Tube computing

From: Gordon JC Pearce <gordonjcp_at_gjcp.net>
Date: Wed Jan 21 10:04:40 2004

On Wed, 2004-01-21 at 15:43, William Donzelli wrote:
> > The problem with NOS is that the glass is slightly porous and the valves
> > will have gone a bit soft by now.
>
> This is basically false.

Well, I call it as I see it. I have literally dozens of new old stock
valves, in their original cardboard sleeves. Some are useable, some are
absolutely shagged. It's not all just cheap brands, too.

> Just like the old devices, some NOS tubes are awful (various Chinese
> brands). The same holds true for the oldies (Arcturus, Penn, Rad Tel,
> etc.). Good stuff is good stuff, crap is crap.

Which is why I only really use Sovtek stuff now. It's real genuine
Mullard parts, just like the handbook for my amp specifies, but with a
different screen-print on the glass...
 
> This is why I really can't stand the tube audio world - there is too much
> junk science, snake oil, prejudice, and false rumors. Anything to make the
> rare old stock "sound" better.

I don't know why anyone would use a valve hi-fi amp, that just seems
silly. But they look good...
In guitar amps, it's a very different story of course.

Gordon.
Received on Wed Jan 21 2004 - 10:04:40 GMT