Tube tech's from years past are leaving us.

[JonTee]

Last week I went on a mission to find my tube tech guy whom I haven't seen in over a year. When I got to his place, a run down trailer, it was vacant and boarded up. Fearing that he was no longer with us, I set out to find somebody who could work on my tube equipment in the area where he lived.

I found a radio shop which only worked on solid state but they gave me a name of a old retired radio guy who still worked on tube equipment despite heart attacks and bad legs. I contacted him and was delighted to hear "...yes, I still work on them...".

When I arrived he showed me his shop in the basement which was full of antique radios, memorabilia, etc. I asked him if he knew my former tech and he said he did (all these radio guys know each other), and that gentleman had gone to a veterans hospital and had a leg amputated because of sugar problems. He said that the man was discharged but he was unable to locate him now.

After dropping off my amp (Dynaco ST-35) for restoration he said he would contact me when it was ready. Well, less than a week later he called to tell me it was ready (hows that for service). Inquired what I owed him "oh...$35 will cover it":yes:. You could have knocked me over with a feather.

This tech is in his eighties and loves what he does. Unfortunately, tube techs with a lifetime of knowledge, skill, and integrity are fast disappearing:sadwave:. Who's going to replace them ?

Jon:worried:

 

[Thatch_Ear]

Ask him to teach you!

 

[spkrman57]

Amen to that, they are hard to find anymore!

While I don't consider myself a expert, I feel luck to have a working knowledge of the basic tubes, and learning about the triodes. With the experts dropping off, I may find myself being the expert someday since the others will be gone.
Ron

 

[Morden2004]

Wow, that's depressing.

I was educated during the heyday of tubes and spend many years servicing tube equipment. There is something about equipment that 'looks alive' vs. the cold unemotional look of transistor equipment .

Taking a page from the master his-self (bigmacc) you can send me your tube gear and I will store it for you and, maybe, send it back after servicing .

Paul

 

[Ski]

Sad, but....

Where-abouts in Michigan? I've got some tube stuff too. Let me get to him before he's gone.

 

[NOSValves]

I'm here in michigan for you and only 43 so should last a while I live in Burton just outside of Flint. I generally don't do the only "fix what is broke" approach because of the shipping factors for out of state customers so for them I just rebuild the entire piece so no $35 jobs for shipped in units. But locals that just drive there gear here I don't mind the small repairs approach.

Craig

 

[jpchleapas]

We should have a subsection here with the names of trusted and good techs in all..

states in the USA. It would help us find someone close to us to work on our gear. I have used Mike Zuccaro in CA but shipping to and from is a bear from my house in MA. Maybe we could start a thread with members adding names of good techs. Also there is a cheap study at home ET course complete for under $1100. Then we could all become dangerous. The course even includes Electronics Workbench in the price. I am thinking of taking it when my life settles down after my med mal case in 2 weeks for fun. I can solder and do basic tests with test gear but it would be nice to go beyond the stuffing boards and upgrading small parts like I can do now.

 

[Chad Hauris]

I don't think any of the current electronics courses include tube theory. It seems like in modern times electronics=computers.
There are many older books on electronics that include much valuable info. on tubes.
Myself, I am 26 yrs. old and have been working with tube amps, TV's, radios, reel to reels, etc. since I was 10. I started just by taking the stuff apart, piece by piece, identifying how it all worked. It took many years, and the help of the Photofact folders, to get where I could have pretty much a 100% success rate getting equipment fixed.

Currently I am working on a project with a friend who also is interested in vintage equipment to get a repair shop operating for old equipment in our area. We had one shop in Midland that still worked on tube equipment, sold phono needles, etc. but the owner passed away several years ago after working in the same location for more than 50 years. We are hoping to fill the void left for a place that knows about the old tube stuff and can fix it for a fair price.

 

[Dan ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ]

According to the geetar-amp guys, I am about the last one in the area that will tackle old tube gear. I'm nearly 50 years old and all the *tubies* that I learned from have either retired or have passed away. I don't consider myself to be anything other than competent at it.

 

[jt1stcav]

Even though my dad's specialty is repairing vacuum tube radios (been fiddling around with them since '51 as a kid in his stepdad's shed in Arkansas, and now has a side business in the complete restoration of antique tube radios in CT; see his link in the Antique Radio forum), I suppose if he had a schematic of the tube amp he could repair that as well. Unfortunantly, I am not electrically inclined and would also need the assistance of a tube technician such as my dad should any of my tube components fail. I would imagine the basic principals of vacuum tube amplification for either audio and radio would be very similar, and my dad has built a mono tube amp and preamp for an Army buddy back in the '60s.

There is a gentleman in his 40s who is contracted by central Florida Guitar Centers to repair all electronic instruments for our customers, including warranty repairs for Marshall, Fender, Crate, and Mesa Boogie tube guitar amps/heads...whether he'll tackle an audio tube amp or preamp is another question, but I'm sure he'd know how.

 

[jimmy]

I'm Alive!

I can work on tube gear- I fix guitar amps and other tube based audio gear. Located about 50 miles southeast of Traverse City, MI. I have not advertised until a week ago though. Amps are a breeze, FM tuners can be more difficult with RF, IF & multipath decoders. To keep costs down, I order custom transformers 'down the road' from me.

I do admit 'tubers' are like finding a virgin now a days & the fu@kers charge like it too- except me. Customers drop stuff off at Martins Music. Lake City, MI

 

[Reel 2 Reel]

50 miles eh???...that would put you in the Cadillac area????

 

[jimmy]

I edited my post for you- see Martins Music. Hope this is not considered advertising on this site- no intent here folks.

Oh, I am only 30.........................+ 24.

 

[dewickt]

We are just getting older (59 in April), when I was in college the front half of the book was tubes and the back half transistors, they would only teach the transistor sections, if you wanted to know about tubes you were on your own.
I love working on tube equipment, nothing like a McIntosh tube tuner, especially the feeling of reward when it comes alive.

 

[reyneman]

I have found that tube gear is usually easier to troubleshoot than solid state.

In many cases an individual who is involved with tube equipment has quite a bit of knowledge of what may be causing your problem just from experience with his own equipment.

The problem comes down to cost- we of course want it done cheap, but the tech needs a return on his time and test equipment investment.

I would first ask here on the board about problems and try to tackle it on my own. This allows the real tech to get a much higher payment repairing my mistakes

 

[jimmy]

Repair costs varies........

NYC costs higher rent over say where I live. Thus, labor rates are about 1/2 here, yet both of us most likely has the same standard of living. Perhaps I have less heartburn meeting the bottom line every month.

 

[Reel 2 Reel]

Originally posted by Reel 2 Reel
50 miles eh???...that would put you in the Cadillac area????

Lake City.....Ok.....Beautiful country up there!!....I guess I not the furthest north in michigan ..now....Nice to have ya with us!!!

 

[JonTee]

Originally posted by NOSValves
I'm here in michigan for you and only 43 so should last a while I live in Burton just outside of Flint. I generally don't do the only "fix what is broke" approach because of the shipping factors for out of state customers so for them I just rebuild the entire piece so no $35 jobs for shipped in units. But locals that just drive there gear here I don't mind the small repairs approach.

Craig

Its great to hear that you, Craig, and Jimmy are out there. I mispoke myself when I said "restoration", the old gentleman repaired the unit and brought it back to life but did little more than that. As a matter of fact he managed to lose one of the rubber nub feet and cage screws as well as smudge the chassis up with whatever he had on his hand and smeared the lettering on the bottom . Well it does work well.

Burton, eh...you are about 35 miles from me:thmbsp:

Jon

 

[jimmy]

Oh- 'restoration'

I am fussy as I believe the old equipment is very important. I will perform better performance type mods as long as the mod does not alter the mechanics.

 

[jimmy]

To: Reel 2 Reel & others

Tnx for welcome.

I live on the second highest hill in lower MI. The highest is south of Cadillac, MI. I am at 1500 feet & can see weather approaching an hour or further away. You can guess FM reception is great up here. My modified Scott 350D with an outdoor antenna picks up stations in the Saginaw area with full quieting. If I went with a directional array, I am sure I could pull in neighboring Wisconsin.

I use two way radio to Wisconsin right now with 25 watts.