Tubes and where to find them..

cstmar01

so I recently got a Golden Tube Audio SEP-1 and currently want to possibly try some different tubes in it. Is there any suggestions of where to get good old tubes? like do you guys normally do ebay or know other people who sell them directly?
I saw a thread awhile ago that Russ had this same pre and used a bugle boy I think as a tube and said it worked great (unsure of the other # info thats just the name that stuck out).
I'll be compairing this to my parasound 2100 for the next couple weeks to see which one I want to hang onto.

btw this unit only uses 1 tube so I do not need to be looking for matched pairs (or at least I don't think?).

heiney9

I usually do ebay just because you can find some deals. It's a little more risky because there is no guarantee like you would get from an on-line tube retailer but the savings can be 40-70% so the risk for me is fine. Plus, I know exactly what I'm looking for.

What tube designation are you looking for?

Here are two excellent sources and resources.

http://www.audiotubes.com/

http://www.vacuumtubes.com/

If you tell me the tube I can guide you as I've spent the past 6mos or so doing tube research.

hearingimpared

Hey Bro,

There are dozens of places to acquire tube. You can call Stephen Monte at Quest for Sound here;

http://www.questforsound.com/index.htm

He has loads of tubes and if he doesn't have what you want, he'll stear you in the right direction.

Tell him you know Phil Peasall and me as well as well as the fact that you are a member of the Polk Forum and he will give you a discount.

cstmar01

thanks for the info. I really like how having the tube pre takes some of the high end off the A9's I have. Already put it against the parasound and well I like having the controls of the parasound but don't like the hi end on it as the A9's are bright and even with the treble down still are bright, so more searching but I also need to get my pair of speakers for the dedicated rig also to see how they sound against each other.

leroyjr1

cstmar01 wrote: »

thanks for the info. I really like how having the tube pre takes some of the high end off the A9's I have. Already put it against the parasound and well I like having the controls of the parasound but don't like the hi end on it as the A9's are bright and even with the treble down still are bright, so more searching but I also need to get my pair of speakers for the dedicated rig also to see how they sound against each other.

If you feel the system is too bright it might be time to look into other speaker options. The a9's will be bright no matter what you throw at them. You should look at the speakers we talked about.

cstmar01

leroyjr1 wrote: »

If you feel the system is too bright it might be time to look into other speaker options. The a9's will be bright no matter what you throw at them. You should look at the speakers we talked about.

thats what I was probably going to do and then go from there to decide which pre I'll end up with.

heiney9

Again I ask what tubes are you running?

cstmar01

heiney9 wrote: »

Again I ask what tubes are you running?

sorry I didn't post earlier.
The tube that I believe is in there right now is just a 6DJ8/6922 if it is the same one according to the manual. The tube itself is unmarked. The guy had another tube that could go in the unit however forgot to put it in the box and I didn't know that until it was too late. Ben said the other tube was nothing special, was like a JJ something don't remember the model #. If there is any other way I can find out whats in there let me know. I'll ask Ben too to see if he remembers for sure as well.

The unit is SUPER noisy when I first start it up, but after coming home and having it on all day it was better however still could hear it a bit and that bothers me.

This is the old thread that Russ talks about tube rolling with the unit.
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16868

oh and this might be a dumb question. should I wear gloves or anything when handling tubes? so I don't get oil from my hands on them or with these does it matter? I just didn't know if its like a projector bulb that can explode if you get anything on them.

hearingimpared

cstmar01 wrote: »

sorry I didn't post earlier.
The tube that I believe is in there right now is just a 6DJ8/6922 if it is the same one according to the manual. The tube itself is unmarked. The guy had another tube that could go in the unit however forgot to put it in the box and I didn't know that until it was too late. Ben said the other tube was nothing special, was like a JJ something don't remember the model #. If there is any other way I can find out whats in there let me know. I'll ask Ben too to see if he remembers for sure as well.

The unit is SUPER noisy when I first start it up, but after coming home and having it on all day it was better however still could hear it a bit and that bothers me.

This is the old thread that Russ talks about tube rolling with the unit.
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16868

oh and this might be a dumb question. should I wear gloves or anything when handling tubes? so I don't get oil from my hands on them or with these does it matter? I just didn't know if its like a projector bulb that can explode if you get anything on them.

Yep! Get yourself a good pair of rubber gripping gloves like the cheapies they sell at Home Depot or Lowes. Don't use the white cotton gloves they'll just frustrate the hell out of you, you can't get a good grip with them.

george daniel

cstmar01 wrote: »

so I recently got a Golden Tube Audio SEP-1 and currently want to possibly try some different tubes in it. Is there any suggestions of where to get good old tubes? like do you guys normally do ebay or know other people who sell them directly?
I saw a thread awhile ago that Russ had this same pre and used a bugle boy I think as a tube and said it worked great (unsure of the other # info thats just the name that stuck out).
I'll be compairing this to my parasound 2100 for the next couple weeks to see which one I want to hang onto.

btw this unit only uses 1 tube so I do not need to be looking for matched pairs (or at least I don't think?).

Shoot jerryj12 a pm,, he has become a tube mogul overnite,, he can hook you up with a variety of european varients of the 6DJ8 for not much money.Last I checked,, he had Amperex,Mullard and Tele's.

heiney9

Tele's are one of my favorites. Use gloves if you can and if you have noise when powering up and it continues it sounds like the tube is on it's way out.

heiney9

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?accstube&1276305514&/Telefunken----Cbs/-Siemens-6DJ

Here you go, if you are sure your unit uses 6DJ8/6922 here are some to try

hearingimpared

heiney9 wrote: »

Tele's are one of my favorites. Use gloves if you can and if you have noise when powering up and it continues it sounds like the tube is on it's way out.

Brock, what are the gloves Richie uses? I believe the guy who modded his Sony gave them to him. They were really great.

vc69

I use a tube sock. Seriously.

heiney9

hearingimpared wrote: »

Brock, what are the gloves Richie uses? I believe the guy who modded his Sony gave them to him. They were really great.

Not sure, but he did give a few of us pairs. They are nice mesh on the back and a neoprene textured rubber on the bottom where you would grip stuff, like tubes. I love them, they work great! My Dared pieces came with white cotton gloves but they can be a little slippery. The pair rich gave me has a nice grip.

H9

Ricardo

vc69 wrote: »

I use a tube sock. Seriously.

Ha ha. I also use a sock (clean...).

hearingimpared

heiney9 wrote: »

Not sure, but he did give a few of us pairs. They are nice mesh on the back and a neoprene textured rubber on the bottom where you would grip stuff, like tubes. I love them, they work great! My Dared pieces came with white cotton gloves but they can be a little slippery. The pair rich gave me has a nice grip.

H9

Yeah Brock, when he lent me his modded Sony CD player, he included a set of those gloves and they were incredible. I wish I had a pair as the tubes in my Raysonic need a wench to pull them out and those stinking cotton gloves in conjuction with these fat fingers just frustrates the hell out of me. Sometimes I'm afraid I'm going to crush the tube between my fingers.

hearingimpared

Ricardo wrote: »

Ha ha. I also use a sock (clean...).

LOL!!! I would think a dirty sock would provide a better grip!;):D

cstmar01

The board by the tube itself says to use that for a tube and that they should be replaced only with those type.

Hmm. so what can happen if you have a tube that is touched by hands when someone isn't using gloves? just curious. I didn't touch the thing because I didn't know but didn't know if the previous owner might have used gloves or people selling tubes.

heiney9

Nothing to major. Your skin oil can degrade to tube over time and shorten tube life possibly and since the labels and/or tube codes are fragile those can be rubbed off easier.

Plus if you have gloves sometimes you can remove the tube (to swap) before it's 100% cool. It's a good idea to keep skin oils, etc off the tube glass, but nothing immediately bad will happen if you don't. I am anal enough to use a cotton swab and rubbing alcohol when I first get a tube to get all the contaminates off the glass envelope..........but that's just me and I'm anal that way. Of course I'm very careful not to rub the label or tube codes off. I also alwasy clean the pins with Caig products or if they are really grungy some fine grit sandpaper and then Caig.

I received a used MIT Z II power chord yesterday and you would not believe the oxidation and gunk on the female receptical. I used cotton swabs and Caig (4) times before the swabs didn;t come out all black and nasty. It's a good idea to clean tube pins and other cables occasionally. Remember most NOS tubes are 30-40-50 years old and cleaning the pins really, really helps.

H9

hearingimpared

cstmar01 wrote: »

The board by the tube itself says to use that for a tube and that they should be replaced only with those type.

Hmm. so what can happen if you have a tube that is touched by hands when someone isn't using gloves? just curious. I didn't touch the thing because I didn't know but didn't know if the previous owner might have used gloves or people selling tubes.

You get a nasty burn!:D

cstmar01

just hope I don't catch herpes.....er wait.....