Me
Member
Hello,
How do you "tighten" tube sockets?
I had some problems with my Herbie since I got it blowing power tubes, and in the end it went back to Peter to be checked, but he couldn't seem to find anything wrong with it, so re-tubed the whole thing, and sent it back again and we assumed I was just REALLY unlucky with tubes.
A few weeks back I stupidly ran it into no load for about 5 secs at low volume, after forgetting to plug the speaker lead in (about 1 watt output volume or less judging by the volume of my 0.5watt Z-Vex nano head), and a few days later it blew another set of tubes, and took out the mains fuse this time. Although I was still worried it might be faulty as it still hasn't had many hours playing since it came back from germany I figured since I'd ran it into no load it was probably my fault, and hence retubed it all again! (about the 5th set of tubes since it was brand new in december!).
Then I noticed at a gig on friday night about 5 minutes after I'd turned it on that tube 1 and tube 5 didn't seem to have any glow. It's tube pair 1&6, and 2&5 that have gone in the past (never had a problem with 3&4 as far as I remember). Luckily I hadn't put the back grille on after retubing it so quickly gave them a good wiggle in the sockets, then a second or 2 later they started to glow. Therefore I think the problem all along has been the tubes are not contacting with the sockets very well and that either a power tube or heater is becoming disconnected. Even if this isn't the cause of my Herbert munching through tube sets 2 heaters definitely weren't working friday until I gave them a good wiggle so there's obviously some kinda socket problem. It's not this set tubes as they've been running fine in my marshall for a few months.
I know that it is possible to clean, but also to tighten up the springs in tube sockets. How exactly do you do this and what should I look out for? I don't want to stuff the end of a pair of pliers in there meaning well, bend the pins badly and completely bugger up the sockets. I've had enough problems already without having to send it away again or fit a whole load of new tube sockets. I could just try to bend them as best as possible but I just want to know if there's some kinda technique that should be employed, or hints or tricks.
Hopefully after this I might finally get a whole year or 2 out of it on one set of tubes and start to be able to trust it. I love my diezel to bits and it sh*ts all over other amps I've tried, but I haven't had it run for more than a month and a half yet without it dying on me, and I only play it once or twice a week half the time. I can't afford for this thing to eat any more tubes as I don't have any money left!
How do you "tighten" tube sockets?
I had some problems with my Herbie since I got it blowing power tubes, and in the end it went back to Peter to be checked, but he couldn't seem to find anything wrong with it, so re-tubed the whole thing, and sent it back again and we assumed I was just REALLY unlucky with tubes.
A few weeks back I stupidly ran it into no load for about 5 secs at low volume, after forgetting to plug the speaker lead in (about 1 watt output volume or less judging by the volume of my 0.5watt Z-Vex nano head), and a few days later it blew another set of tubes, and took out the mains fuse this time. Although I was still worried it might be faulty as it still hasn't had many hours playing since it came back from germany I figured since I'd ran it into no load it was probably my fault, and hence retubed it all again! (about the 5th set of tubes since it was brand new in december!).
Then I noticed at a gig on friday night about 5 minutes after I'd turned it on that tube 1 and tube 5 didn't seem to have any glow. It's tube pair 1&6, and 2&5 that have gone in the past (never had a problem with 3&4 as far as I remember). Luckily I hadn't put the back grille on after retubing it so quickly gave them a good wiggle in the sockets, then a second or 2 later they started to glow. Therefore I think the problem all along has been the tubes are not contacting with the sockets very well and that either a power tube or heater is becoming disconnected. Even if this isn't the cause of my Herbert munching through tube sets 2 heaters definitely weren't working friday until I gave them a good wiggle so there's obviously some kinda socket problem. It's not this set tubes as they've been running fine in my marshall for a few months.
I know that it is possible to clean, but also to tighten up the springs in tube sockets. How exactly do you do this and what should I look out for? I don't want to stuff the end of a pair of pliers in there meaning well, bend the pins badly and completely bugger up the sockets. I've had enough problems already without having to send it away again or fit a whole load of new tube sockets. I could just try to bend them as best as possible but I just want to know if there's some kinda technique that should be employed, or hints or tricks.
Hopefully after this I might finally get a whole year or 2 out of it on one set of tubes and start to be able to trust it. I love my diezel to bits and it sh*ts all over other amps I've tried, but I haven't had it run for more than a month and a half yet without it dying on me, and I only play it once or twice a week half the time. I can't afford for this thing to eat any more tubes as I don't have any money left!
