Orange Valve Tester MKII

Yup. I have one. I got a 20% off deal at the time direct from Orange. Normally you can get a 5% off if you sign up on their site. I use it every other day when an amp comes in with issues to test all of the tubes or something comes in from rental that is broken down. Works much better than the previous generation. I have a bad tube that I keep around in my bench. On the previous generation unit, that tube would test as fine but very low. This new unit, it is an instant fail. I was fixing an older Jet City 50 combo on Saturday of the past week and found one of the power tubes to be very low and this unit was spot on identifying that. Changed, checked bias (it was cold and the pot still actually worked!) and all good now!
 
ners said:
Anyone keep an eye on this thing?

https://orangeamps.com/product/valve-tester-mkii/

Thinking of picking one up as I start to learn more about amp repair/biasing/etc. Price seems wildly steep, though the only competitor I can find is a Maximatcher and that costs more (for both preamp & power tubes).
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Yes, I bought one to work on my many tube amps. Works great easy to use and quick way to diagnose bad or microphonic tubes. I looked at getting two separate test kits from other amp repair places but would cost twice as much and require more advanced electronics amp knowledge. Helped me determine which preamp tubes were bad or microphonic.
 
peterc52 said:
But youre not able to see if tubes match?
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It will match them but it's on a scale of like 1-10 or something and it doesn't give you actual numbers for GM, etc.. It runs the test on the tube, and then provides the "match number" with the LED scale on the tester. Then you just match power tubes that show 5 with another 5, or 8 with 8, etc.. Same thing with matching the two sides of the preamp tubes. There with be a solid LED, and a blinking LED after the test. The closer they are together, the more balanced the two halves of the tube are. If you get just one LED, it's supposedly a perfectly balanced tube. The higher or lower those solid/blinking LEDs are on the scale of 1-10 shows the gain of the preamp tube. I'm quoting all this from memory, so I may be off a bit.. but that's the basic gist of it.
 
For me as a novice wanting to learn amp and tube repair, this is a great first tool for quick diagnosis. I want to learn more as it is fun working on electronics. It does match but not at the same level of fancier more expensive tools. Now I need tools to rebias my amps.
 
If anyone is interested, Sweetwater has them listed on eBay right now for like $1079 with free shipping and "make an offer". I put one on my watch page, and they offered me ~$50 off. Not enough to make me jump on one though. If they would do a 20% off deal on it, I might just have to pick one up.
 
Geo said:
Maybe you guys can list a couple.
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https://maximatcher.com/product/maximatcher-ii/

https://maximatcher.com/product/maxipreamp-ii/

I have no experience with these but they are what I considered buying after I sold the VT1000.

I since bought a vintage Jackson tester that I have never even powered on.

Honestly, a bias probe is all I really need.

I generally test a ton of tubes in each amp to see if there is a specific combination I like best. A tester couldn't tell me this.

I've had power tubes fail, sometimes taking out the screen grid resistors and fuse. Sometimes not. A tester couldn't have prevented this.

Hell, I even like mismatched power tubes in old Fender amps...

Just my thoughts.
 
dead-pan said:
https://maximatcher.com/product/maximatcher-ii/

https://maximatcher.com/product/maxipreamp-ii/

I have no experience with these but they are what I considered buying after I sold the VT1000.

I since bought a vintage Jackson tester that I have never even powered on.

Honestly, a bias probe is all I really need.

I generally test a ton of tubes in each amp to see if there is a specific combination I like best. A tester couldn't tell me this.

I've had power tubes fail, sometimes taking out the screen grid resistors and fuse. Sometimes not. A tester couldn't have prevented this.

Hell, I even like mismatched power tubes in old Fender amps...

Just my thoughts.
Click to expand...
Thank you
 
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