Tube PSA

[jaymanaa]

I'm not sure if this is the correct forum for this, or if I should even be saying anything (note, I'm not accusing anyone at AK that I know of at all), but for the guys just starting to get into tubes, maybe they found Granddad's old Marantz 7C in the attic or whatever. What most of us say, is get it recapped or at the very least checked out and brought up slowly on a variac. Well, who the heck has a variac if they don't mess with tube stuff, so they may seek out a local shop, or worse, some old has been solder slinger like me to do it. PLEASE, make sure to somehow mark your tubes, or at least make a list of what numbers and brands they are! I had this happen to a friend who lives out of state. The "tech" or bastard would be a better word, replaced them all at his cost to do him a big favor, and make it so he wouldn't have to worry about tubes for a long, long time. It was a Fisher piece, so I'm fairly certain it was loaded with Mullards or Teles, and he got it back with Sovteks. Now before someone jumps on me, I like Sovtek tubes just fine, but you guys know what I'm getting at. Not a single one of those Mullards or Teles was probably even weak,unless it has a 6AQ8 in the FM tuner, or maybe the power tubes could have been red plated by a leaky cap or something, but I think way too much of this shit goes on and it pisses me off really bad. I guess I'm just saying be careful. My pal is 6'4" and about 260 and I told him to get those freakin tubes back and send them to me for testing (that way I can rip him off). I'd bet 100 bucks the guy already threw them away (yeah right), so what do you do then, my friend is a way nice God fearing countryboy, so he will let the guy get away from it,and I guess I would too. Who wants to go to the clink and have to call the wife for bond over a handful of tubes,it just burns me up. Maybe there's a place in hell where these guys get to go listen to "Chipmunk Love" over and over again on a loud pair of beats cans. I hope so.

 

[Dswankey]

That sucks!, Maybe you should out the "tech" so others who might be thinking of sending their gear to be repaired there might think twice or at least tell him if you replace anything I want the replaced parts back.

 

[jaymanaa]

I can just barely remember my Dad marking something on a car once, I think it may have been the hood (some guy had run a stop sign and the old man hit him pretty good in his 71 Bonneville, I was just a little tater way back then. They said they were going to replace it, but he had marked it with a scratch underneath or something and busted them. They came to some sort of agreement where I think the guy ate the deductible or something, (not sure). I don't know how you could really mark a tube, maybe just a small dot from a sharpie on the bottom, or between a couple pins on the bottom? It's just a damn shame that some "tech" would do such a thing. I don't wanna say a name as it might cause a big old argument or something. I just don't want to see good people get screwed. I guess it takes all kinds, it's just sad that someone has to resort to that. I usually have people try to overpay as it is man, but admittedly, I try best as I can to keep this in a hobby state. Just be careful out there.

 

[jaymanaa]

That sucks!, Maybe you should out the "tech" so others who might be thinking of sending their gear to be repaired there might think twice or at least tell him if you replace anything I want the replaced parts back.

Good idea asking for old parts back, and maybe take a digital pic of the guts before it goes in, very good idea. I always get a big old ziploc and put EVERYTHING in it, even the solder wick and stuff so they know what all it takes to do a simple amp. Yep. I put the wires and all in there, even though I don't think I ever charge for a hunk of wick or wire. Ya know, if you did say a Fisher KX 200, I think that's 7! telefunken tubes in the front end that, that are not run hard at all. And look at the the PAS units. They run those tubes so easy they don't even vent the cover, and I've never found a single bad tube on one of those that I can remember anyhow.

 

[knockbill]

Goes on in the classic car and toy train hobbies also... as long as there are people involved, someone will be rippin them off... One of the reasons I've learned to work on my stuff myself... I agree with asking the tech for the tubes,,, at least before outing him....
Be careful out there....

 

[Andyman]

+1 on the cell phone pic Jay.

I've cautioned a few times in the past here about this very same thing, as what noobie wouldn't be glad that someone replaced all those old tubes with nice fresh new ones?

 

[arts]

I've had guys try to pull fast ones on me with tubes.Returns claiming failure. I guess they'd never heard of a UV marker. I've seen guys get fleeced for their tubes,and even classic speakers and transformers.More so with musical instrument equipment,but stereo gear also.

I work the same way you do Jay,every body gets their big Ziploc bag of garbage to take home with them. (it's amazing how much a rebuild/restoration can generate!!)

My favorite workshop photo (and one that many of my customers cringed at,due to their own bad experiences with the individual) was a large newspaper clipping of one of my competitors being hauled away in handcuffs after being caught dealing heroin at a drug rehab center for teenagers.He was also one of the biggest scumbags in the tube electronics field.Whenever I got a comment on pricing,I would always point to that picture and say '' You can always go see him!''

 

[Dswankey]

True story, I met a guy awhile back who dealt in vintage perfumes (who knew?) and he proceeded to tell me that some old perfumes and the bottles they come in command top dollar. He told me it's a cutthroat business and you have to be very careful with who your dealing with.

He told me this story of how he sold some perfume to some buyer and when they received it they claimed it wasn't as described or something to that affect and they opened a case against him so he relented and accepted the return.

When he got the bottle back he said he could tell immediately the perfume in the bottle was short, measurement wise, and when he opened it he realized the buyer had drained the original perfume and filled it with some cheap alternative.

If you ever want to read a good story about collecting, buying and selling vintage and the shenanigans that go on in this niche market get the book "The Billionaire's Vinegar"

It's a good read regarding high end wine collecting and the fraud that sometimes happens.

 

[trainbuftony]

I am in the habit of returning all parts to anyone who I do work for. Weather it is a car or a tube amp, I offer people their bag of replaced parts back. Usually they let me keep them. Nobody wants dead tubes shorted caps or greasy car parts laying around.

 

[primosounds]

Now, you are getting all worked up over an incident of replacing Teles with Sovtecs that may or may not be true, since you did not really see the original tubes. With so little untouched vintage tube audio it is just as likely that many if not all of the tubes have been replaced. I know that later Fisher equipment used Sylvania 12ax7 instead of Tfunken. It is hard to go through life with such burdens. But, your word of warning should be heeded by the tube novitiates. But for those that have responded to your post it seems that your are "preaching to the choir". As for me, I learned early on that if i did not learn how to repair my tube equipment i would be spending lots of money and tubes for someone else to enjoy.
But you know, back in the day when they were radio and television repairmen/women that actually ran around with tube caddies full of brand new tubes, it was pretty common for them to replace tubes outright in circuits that were hard on tubes, like output and driver/splitter tubes. So, go easy on the old timers, if he/she was one. (trying to be politically correct, nowadays!)

 

[arts]

Actually,I think Jay's post is an excellent topic for discussion,and makes some excellent points. Anybody who has been involved for any length of time in a pursuit/hobby/business that involves ''vintage'' has seen this kind of buggery happen,and it almost always involves an inexperienced individual being taken advantage of.

Long story short,perhaps we need a new top of the list sticky ''Protecting Yourself:What The Newby Needs To Know'' or some such thing,describing the potential or most common avenues of abuse.Lot's of people I've known over the years have learned these things the hard way. Perhaps included as a part of the joining AK process?