[TV MAN]

Hey all! I've been pretty quiet on this one because I'd been having some "mystery" problems, which really left me scratching my head. Amp 2 would work great, then it wouldn't, then it would, then it wouldn't. I've been testing different tube types, taking measurements, trying different voltages, having problems with red plating on different tubes, oscillations, then even having problems with sometimes one of the tubes not lighting up! I finally found the cuplrit(s). The octal tube sockets are junk! Usually if a socket is bad, you can move the tube around and get it to work or not work. Not in this case. I did have an occasional static in amp 1 and could move one of the tubes (same sockets) and get it to kinda quit. Figured it was a cold solder or something. It really came to a head when I stuck a "nice" set of 6V6's in there, and couldn't get things to sound right. Bass was weird, mids were scratchy - then they weren't, oscillations, low power ... things I wrote off as bad/weak tubes! Then I noted that only 1 6V6 was that nice pretty blue when I turned off the lights ... voltages checked fine. Well - ya get the point! This was a tough one! And now, almost all my tests and tweaks - trash can! I suspect it was losing G2 voltage. How would you even test for something like this? Maybe a socket adapter? Even pulling the tube partially out might affect things. So anyways, learn from my mistake.

AVOID these sockets! Save yourself some misery. These came from the auction site. I'm not bashing any particular seller either, but these "bakelite" sockets are JUNK! I suggest some ceramic sockets.