Stupid tube tricks

F1nut
F1nut Posts: 50,565
edited November 2009 in 2 Channel Audio
Earlier tonight I blew up one of my $100.00 NOS 1957 Sylvania 5751 tubes doing something I knew I shouldn't be doing.

AGH!!!




Rant over :mad:
Political Correctness'.........defined

"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

President of Club Polk

Post edited by F1nut on
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  • SolidSqual
    SolidSqual Posts: 5,218
    edited July 2009
    Oh god I feel for ya' This kinda reminds me of the time I tried to replace the batteries to my Dodd Pre with an all metal screwdriver.
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  • engtaz
    engtaz Posts: 7,663
    edited July 2009
    Sorry to hear.
    engtaz

    I love how music can brighten up a bad day.
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  • wutadumsn23
    wutadumsn23 Posts: 3,702
    edited July 2009
    <~~~ knocks on wood, I can't afford to have any "problems" :-)
    HT Rig
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    It's not that I'm insensitive, I just don't care.. :D
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  • george daniel
    george daniel Posts: 12,096
    edited July 2009
    I once(this year) caused two EL-34's,on seperate ocassions, to light up like I've never seen them do,,sitting back,,looking/listening,,they start to glow at first, then it's on to cherry red,,almost like a saturn rocket lifting off,, I'll tell you what,, that'll make you move your ****,in a hurry,,LOL,,yep,,for me,,it was stupid,,just could not wait to get those puppies unboxed,biased,and in the system,, fortunately,,we have a great tube guy in Atlanta,, seems I was a little too generous with the bias,,BTW,,they did sound sweet,just before the tubes went up.:o

    Also,, never open a box with a tube inside while walking back from the mailbox,,if you have to,,make sure that you are on the grass.
    JC approves....he told me so. (F-1 nut)
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  • nikolas812
    nikolas812 Posts: 2,915
    edited July 2009
    george daniel wrote: »
    I once(this year) caused two EL-34's,on seperate ocassions, to light up like I've never seen them do,,sitting back,,looking/listening,,they start to glow at first, then it's on to cherry red,,almost like a saturn rocket lifting off,, I'll tell you what,, that'll make you move your ****,in a hurry,,LOL,,yep,,for me,,it was stupid,,just could not wait to get those puppies unboxed,biased,and in the system,, fortunately,,we have a great tube guy in Atlanta,, seems I was a little too generous with the bias,,BTW,,they did sound sweet,just before the tubes went up.:o

    Also,, never open a box with a tube inside while walking back from the mailbox,,if you have to,,make sure that you are on the grass.



    Geez. Must have been a LOT of bias to do that??


    I also have lit up a tube like I have NEVER seen before... When building my tube amp I wired it up wrong and ended up sending the voltage that was supposed to go to, two power tubes. All to one.:eek:


    I have also dropped a rectifier tube coming back from the mail box. It was toast after that... Good thing it was relatively cheap..




    Nick
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  • AudioGenics
    AudioGenics Posts: 2,567
    edited July 2009
    1957... that was a good year
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  • NJPOLKER
    NJPOLKER Posts: 3,474
    edited July 2009
    F1nut wrote: »
    Earlier tonight I blew up one of my $100.00 NOS 1957 Sylvania 5751 tubes doing something I knew I shouldn't be doing.

    AGH!!!




    Rant over :mad:

    What were you doing?
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  • jimmydep
    jimmydep Posts: 1,305
    edited July 2009
    The phrase an audiophile never wants to hear............


    OOPS........followed by.......OH $HIT!!!!!!!



    Sorry for your loss

    Jimmy
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  • TNRabbit
    TNRabbit Posts: 2,168
    edited July 2009
    NJPOLKER wrote: »
    What were you doing?


    The REAL question is, did you get VIDEO of it?!?     :p
    TNRabbit
    NO Polk Audio Equipment :eek:
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  • hearingimpared
    hearingimpared Posts: 21,137
    edited July 2009
    Bummer!!!!
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  • janmike
    janmike Posts: 6,146
    edited July 2009
    That's the pits. So, ...
    Michael ;)
    In the beginning, all knowledge was new!
    NORTH of 60°
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  • madmax
    madmax Posts: 12,434
    edited July 2009
    I once tapped on a power tube with a pencil to see if I could hear it ring through the speakers. Exciting yes, good idea no... The fireworks were amazing though.
    madmax
    Vinyl, the final frontier...

    Avantgarde horns, 300b tubes, thats the kinda crap I want... :D
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  • Face
    Face Posts: 14,340
    edited July 2009
    I knew I should have kept those tubes. :D
    "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
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  • TNRabbit
    TNRabbit Posts: 2,168
    edited July 2009
    so.....connecting them to the speaker wires & cranking it all the way to 11 is NOT the way to treat tubes?!?
    TNRabbit
    NO Polk Audio Equipment :eek:
    Sunfire TG-IV
    Ashly 1001 Active Crossover
    Rane PEQ-15 Parametric Equalizers x 2
    Sunfire Cinema Grand Signature Seven
    Carver AL-III Speakers
    Klipsch RT-12d Subwoofer
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  • george daniel
    george daniel Posts: 12,096
    edited July 2009
    come on,, keep em' coming,, we've all done things to tubes,,that we may not be proud of,, now is the time and opportunity to confess,, all will be forgiven by the Great Tube,, but hurry,,as this window will close soon,,, I am the undisputed "KING" of the Master Bias.
    JC approves....he told me so. (F-1 nut)
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  • kawizx9r
    kawizx9r Posts: 5,150
    edited July 2009
    :eek: well im reading up on this and putting it in my list of things NOT to do. Just went tube last week so this is all new to me, all I know is I love the sound quality i get from it
    Truck setup
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    heiney9 wrote: »
    Any clue how to use the internet? Found it in about 10 sec.
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  • zingo
    zingo Posts: 11,258
    edited July 2009
    NJPOLKER wrote: »
    What were you doing?
    +1


    I have also tapped on tubes to see if I could "hear" them. Turns out you can and it doesn't sound good. I once tried to run them submerged under water as I heard it makes the tube glow look REALLY cool...
    Jake
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  • madmax
    madmax Posts: 12,434
    edited July 2009
    zingo wrote: »


    I once tried to run them submerged under water as I heard it makes the tube glow look REALLY cool...

    Interesting concept. Did it sound more liquid?
    Vinyl, the final frontier...

    Avantgarde horns, 300b tubes, thats the kinda crap I want... :D
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  • W WALDECKER
    W WALDECKER Posts: 900
    edited July 2009
    I had a Teslovak KT88 Let go in my Sonic Frontiers SFS 80 a few years ago and it looked like a lightning storm in a bottle :eek:
    Rogue Audio stereo 100 tube amplifier - Lector Zoe preamplifier with 6H30 pi's
    .Audience AU24SE speaker and ic cables- Chord Qutest DAC - Black Cat Silverstar II 75ohm digital cable-Tyler Acoustics Linbrook Signature system with large bass cabinets to accommodate 10" Seas magnesium woofers.2xhmpsuownoj.jpg
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,565
    edited July 2009
    NJPOLKER wrote: »
    What were you doing?

    I ain't tellin'
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,165
    edited July 2009
    F1nut wrote: »
    I ain't tellin'

    I do hope you didn't injure your ****. A man shouldn't go thru life with a non fucktioning ****.

    H9
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • dkg999
    dkg999 Posts: 5,647
    edited July 2009
    Jesse - did you try to clean the inside of the tubes again?
    DKG999
    HT System: LSi9, LSiCx2, LSiFX, LSi7, SVS 20-39 PC+, B&K 507.s2 AVR, B&K Ref 125.2, Tripplite LCR-2400, Cambridge 650BD, Signal Cable PC/SC, BJC IC, Samsung 55" LED

    Music System: Magnepan 1.6QR, SVS SB12+, ARC pre, Parasound HCA1500 vertically bi-amped, Jolida CDP, Pro-Ject RM5.1SE TT, Pro-Ject TubeBox SE phono pre, SBT, PS Audio DLIII DAC
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  • SCompRacer
    SCompRacer Posts: 8,500
    edited July 2009
    Were you juggling tubes while hot swapping and dropped one? I can juggle two tubes OK, but not a quad.
    Salk SoundScape 8's * Audio Research Reference 3 * Bottlehead Eros Phono * Park's Audio Budgie SUT * Krell KSA-250 * Harmonic Technology Pro 9+ * Signature Series Sonore Music Server w/Deux PS * Roon * Gustard R26 DAC / Singxer SU-6 DDC * Heavy Plinth Lenco L75 Idler Drive * AA MG-1 Linear Air Bearing Arm * AT33PTG/II & Denon 103R * Richard Gray 600S * NHT B-12d subs * GIK Acoustic Treatments * Sennheiser HD650 *
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,565
    edited July 2009
    Funny stuff guys :D
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • Ern Dog
    Ern Dog Posts: 2,237
    edited July 2009
    Ok ok, I'll confess. I once was too excited to hear how a nos RCA 12AX7 sounded and I was going too fast and didn't notice that one of the pins was bent and didn't go into the little hole, then powered up my amp.....

    I heard this Really loud whistling sound and it scared the **** outta me. I moved quickly like a ninja to turn it off. Luckily no damage :o
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  • BlueFox
    BlueFox Posts: 15,251
    edited July 2009
    Earlier tonight I blew up one of my $100.00 NOS 1957 Sylvania 5751 tubes doing something I knew I shouldn't be doing.

    NJPOLKER wrote: »
    What were you doing?


    Pissing on B+, or, more likely, pissing off B+. ;)
    Lumin X1 file player, Westminster Labs interconnect cable
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    Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
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  • nadams
    nadams Posts: 5,877
    edited July 2009
    Wow... some of the stuff you guys are posting on here brings a whole new meaning to "bottle rocket"
    Ludicrous gibs!
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  • zingo
    zingo Posts: 11,258
    edited July 2009
    madmax wrote: »
    Interesting concept. Did it sound more liquid?

    It does create an unbelievably liquid mid range...


    I still like the CL ad that was posted here a while back where the seller had removed the glass from around the tube to try to improve the sound. He claimed the tubes were still in "like new" condition.
    Jake
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  • sucks2beme
    sucks2beme Posts: 5,601
    edited July 2009
    My tube stuff goes way back. As a GI, I used to work around big
    power tube transmitters. I had all the card drawers open, and dropped a
    screwdriver through. That was interesting.
    I also was standing next to a guy that pulled open the power supply drawer
    on a TACAN while it was hot. There's a shorting bar in the back that drops down
    to short out the power out. It blew two really big wirewound resistors,
    which the fans blew up in the chassis, taking out about 12 other tubes.
    It was like a bomb going off. Glass and crap flying everywhere.
    My home use of tubes has been pretty dull. But I most likely will get my turn.
    It's almost time to refresh the AR vt60 tubes.
    "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --Thomas Jefferson
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  • NJPOLKER
    NJPOLKER Posts: 3,474
    edited July 2009
    I still want to know what Jesse was doing to, or with that tube. Sounds kind of funny to me. We should probably run a survey as to what's the popular belief. I can only imagine what all would be said.
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