Orange Valve Tester Mark II - My experience (so far) on how it fares against other matchers/testers?

I got an Orange Tube Tester Mk2 off Sweetwater a few weeks ago, and I love it..
I tested all the tubes in the amps I bought used, and I actually found a worn tube or two.

The one strange thing I found, is that It doesn't test KT77's very well with the KT77 setting,
which sucks cuz I love KT77s and have a few amps with them.
The Mk2 tested all my best KT77's as Fail.
Then I ran the EL34 test, and it worked (Good, 5)
Go figure.

Otherwise, it's paid itself off in my mind already.
If you buy used amps, get one of these. You won't be sorry.
 
Ordered some new 12AX7s to fuck around with some amps and here are my results...

Preferred Series 7025 (Shuguang rebranded?)
  • Green = 9 blinking 7 (b side & a side)
  • Microphony = 0, tapping up to 3
Tung-Sol
  • Green = 11 (solid, so both sides match)
  • Microphony = 0, tapping stayed at 0
Mullard
  • Green = 10 blinking 11 (b & a)
  • Microphony = 0, tapping 7
Mullard CV4004
  • Green = 9 blinking 10 (b & a)
  • Microphony = 0, tapping 0

I had used https://www.thetubestore.com/12ax7-tube-reviews-chart to decide which ones to pickup (plus whatever input I've read on threads here lately). Probably not great to infer much off single data points for each model tube, but the only tube that they rated 5/5/5 was their own and was worse than the others (who were all variations of 5/5/4 or 5/4/5 or 4/5/5).

Thinking of putting the CV4004 in V1 of my Marshall and the Tung-Sol in the PI...though little tempted to try that in a higher gain amp's V1.
 
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Was in a mood it seems, so pulled all the tubes from my Ceriatone JCM51 (Plexi + JCM800 + Super Bass mod).

EHX (V1)
  • Green = 9 blinking 10
  • MP = 0 tapping, maybe 1
JJ (V2)
  • Green = 10, blinking 13
  • MP = 0 tapping, maybe 1
JJ (V3/PI)
  • Green = 11, blinking 12
  • MP = 0, even with tapping
Also did the power tubes while I had it opened...
  • JJ E34L = Green / 8
  • JJ E34L = Green / 8
I haven't been loving this amp since I got it a month ago, doesn't sound anywhere near as good as the Plexi Reissue I had (even before I had Friedman mod it to his '68 spec). Sounds like there's a blanket over it and not enough gain.

I also didn't love the E34Ls I've tried in a couple other of my amps, so wondering if maybe they're the issue here. I may try to swapping the PI JJ to the Tung-Sol I mentioned above, but leaning more towards power tubes than preamps at the moment.
 
ners said:
haven't been loving this amp since I got it a month ago, doesn't sound anywhere near as good as the Plexi Reissue I had (even before I had Friedman mod it to his '68 spec). Sounds like there's a blanket over it and not enough gain.
Click to expand...
Earlier ceriatones didn't have a bright cap, might want to check.
 
acceptance said:
Earlier ceriatones didn't have a bright cap, might want to check.
Click to expand...
It's a new build, only like 1.5 months old. Has a 3 way switch for bright cap (100pF/none/1000pF for the plexi channel), but I feel like I read somewhere that 500pF was actually the most common plexi bright cap so maybe that's just what I had in my previous few Marshalls and am used to it (because none of the options sound right to me lol).

Having said that, threw the Tung-Sol in the PI just now and now that I know the power tubes are E34L I'm fairly confident that those are my issue (because I felt the same way about my previous two amps that I tried them in). The Tung-Sol seemed to really bring out the E34L flavor compared to the original JJ, not sure if it added clarity or just more gain (despite them both being rated at 11 by my tester). Threw the JJ back in for a quick A/B and it definitely tamed some of the E34L gainy buzzy-ness but I'm definitely going to order new (proper) EL34s for this amp.
 
You might need 4700 on the bright cap for the real bite, but I know Greg Germino uses the 500 when he does bright caps.

But anyhoo, fascinating reads here, my local shop has the Orange tester and I´m taking in a box of random preamp tubes, old and new, to sort through when I get the time.
 
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EL34s walk that line of harshness. Good for cutting through, but can be a bit much. Seems like you got it figured out. I would have thrown a Mullard in V1, a long plate in PI and I'd grab some NOS EL34s to throw in. Good luck!
 
Dave L said:
You might need 4700 on the bright cap for the real bite, but I know Greg Germino uses the 500 when he does bright caps.
Click to expand...
So I emailed Dave Friedman, since he modded a previous plexi I owned to his '68 spec, and he said he prefers a 4700. My shitty soldering skills should be able to handle swapping out that 1000 for a 4700.
 
Got some proper measurements on power tubes to compare...

Orange tester measured a pair of EL34-Bs I just put in a Marshall clone as 9 & 10, and they measured 32ma & 37ma.

So assuming the Orange tester is a linear scale then one notch off means a difference of 5ma. Would need to measure more tubes to confirm if their scale is linear; maybe I'll email them with my results.
 
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