SMAC October 2015


You're not suppose to pull them out by the glass..... Carol, Thanx for a terrific dinner and the hospitality. Ken, your stereo keeps sounding better and better. Dan, your driving scares me. I had a great time, everybody!
 
That was the end of tube swapping the Shuggies that malfunction ended the comparison effert so yes only two sets were swapped out, clearly a somewhat risky indever doing tube swapping with 300B's

Interesting. I was reading about this and evidently there's no orientation pin on 300bs. So, yes, risky, if not oriented correctly. That's not what happened though to Ian's tubes is it? I guess some manufacturers make two of the pins a bit thicker so that they don't go in the wrong way but not all manufacturers do this. Especially scary considering the Royal Princess's are $1200 a pair.
 
Yes Ian 's tubes had thicker pins on one side it's a bummer that the last pair had an issue however I tightened the pin socket and now has a firm seating
 
Yes Ian 's tubes had thicker pins on one side it's a bummer that the last pair had an issue however I tightened the pin socket and now has a firm seating

There is definitely orientation on 300b's, 2A3's, & 45's, two of the pins are thicker. There should be a small pin or dimple on the socket, between the holes, where the thick pins go. Another thing you could try is heating the hole on the bottom of each tube pin with a soldering iron, while applying just a touch of solder. You could have a cold solder joint, and one of the wires lost contact. I think I have a pair of old school ceramic sockets if you want to swap them out.
 
Last edited:
There is definitely orientation on 300b's, 2A3's, & 45's, two of the pins are thicker. There should be a small pin or dimple on the socket, between the holes, where the thick pins go. Another thing you could try is heating the hole on the bottom of each tube pin with a soldering iron, while applying just a touch of solder. You could have a cold solder joint, and one of the wires lost contact. I think I have a pair of old school ceramic sockets if you want to swap them out.


There are no cold solder joints I have corrected the loose fitting socket just sloppy females
 
Back
Top Bottom