Tapping my tubes

[sevser]

When I do this on my power tubes I get a slight rattle and a dull thump sound coming through my speakers. It mostly on this one tube (2nd) but the one one in front of it has a slight noise as well when tapped. Should I just replace this one tube for now? The problem has been that after about 10 mins I loose a bit of power and hear this sound like...um? Tapping on the speaker, or blowing into a mic.
[img]graemlins/help.gif[/img]

[Chuckracer]

Re: Tapping my tubes

You'd be better off changing them all to a matched set of fresh tubes. It sounds like that one's on its way.

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: Tapping my tubes

Yep...

[Soloist1]

Re: Tapping my tubes

First off you should never tap your tubes. If it wasn't bad when you tapped it then it soon will be. You should take them to someone that can throw them on a tester and check for gas leaks, shorts and transconductance. Tapping tubes will not tell you which tube is bad.

[Misanthrope189]

Re: Tapping my tubes

So is it one of those crazy, rampant myths that's spread around that tapping on your tubes is okay to do to test them? I haven't ever really tapped on my tubes *shrugs*, but is it bad to do so, because really, up until this exact moment when I read your post, I was under the impression that it was okay to tap tubes.

Cheers,
Nick

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: Tapping my tubes

It just depends on what you tap them with... Never had a problem myself from doing it...

[sevser]

Re: Tapping my tubes

[img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
Well I wasn't that uh...bold!
I used the rubber handle of a tool. You dont need to tap it hard at all.

[MetalMedal II]

Re: Tapping my tubes

[img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
What? That's only like a 3 or 4 pound mini-sledge... you need at least a 16-lb sledge to "break" them in right! [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[OnlineStageGear]

Re: Tapping my tubes

[img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[raymo]

Re: Tapping my tubes

Is that a VHT GP3 Valvulator?

[VitaminG]

Re: Tapping my tubes

Originally posted by Marshall tone:
Is that a VHT GP3 Valvulator?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I thought it was a hammer....

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: Tapping my tubes

No, it a Bradshaw Custom Audio Electronics CAE3+se.

[charvelguy]

Re: Tapping my tubes

Thats good humor Clev... serious bucks in your amplification too.

[raymo]

Re: Tapping my tubes

Originally posted by VitaminG:
I thought it was a hammer....

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">[img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]