Mr. Carlson's Lab eat your heart out.( I bet he would have eventually got to designing one someday). Damn clever piece of test equipment Terry. I'm sure more like this device is to come.
Could you produce a schematic?? I have a ton of meters. Would love to build one. I work on a lot of high gain amps. I need a unit like your design. Thank you Terry you are #1. Keep up the great job
It’s a 2 channel tube preamp with meters on the outputs and selectable inputs and adjustable bias. I love it,….but I want to run it in my stereo hifi to ROLL preamp tubes
Awesome demo Terry!! Would love to get one for the shop out here on the West Coast! 🤘🏼 Have one of your Dayton amps in the shop currently! Your build quality is immaculate sir!! Been watching you for years!
Cool deal man, I have the proto type, that you could buy. It is set up for 12AX7,12AT7, 6AV6, 6AT6 only but has the same functions for monitoring and signal injection. e-mail me if you want it. TD
A very cool device! To compare soundwise two tubes, it would be nice to have a A/B switching or mix potentiometer. Of cource it is possible to just swap tubes but it takes a few seconds to heat up the tube.
@@d-labelectronics And BTW, if you want to develop that device to a really naughty Naut, you could add a coupling cap A/B comparison option as well, to find out if there is any truth in those mythic arguments that for example paper in oil coupling caps sound better in tube amps than orange drops or metallized polyester caps etc. 😁
Using a RoetestV10 tube tester I can do any kind of test I ever dream at, including noise an microphonic test, beside usual tests for shorts, leakage, tracing curves, measure all parameters, batch test, auto matching etc. Your device is pretty simple but limited to few type of tubes, using the tube tester I can make these testes for any kind of tube in any operating point. The oscilloscope seems useless to me, speaker at the output is more conclusive.
D LABS< are those VU meters measuring the tubes current or output AC voltage? I'm still confused how this microphonic analyzer is different than using a preamp circuit? and tapping on a 12ax7 tube. If its different than using a preamp circuit, how is it different than a tube preamp circuit?
Time here is very limited. I will offer the build info soon. Most parts for this build were repurposed Heathkit components. Would be a challenge to reproduce this design in quantity's.
D lab Electronics my hobbys are painting pictures and lisining to shortwave and ssb iam thinking about getting my ham license I have 4 shortwave receivers
Hello sir! If you don't mind, I have a question for you regarding a late 70's Fender Super Reverb (Amp has Master Volume, Mid control on Normal, pull boost knob). I bought the amp a few months back... All original, never serviced, yadda yadda. The amp sounded great til warmed up, and it was almost like the tone itself was changing. It was a little noisy but I could tell it was potentially good . It still had the original tubes in it from the factory. I took it to my local shop who looked at it and said the power tubes were good, tried to change the preamp tubes, and it began making all kinds of clicks and pops and noise... Said the normal channel didn't work at all and promptly recommended a guy an hour away to fully service the amp. I got the amp home, bummed. I noticed they had accidentally hooked the Reverb tank up to the wrong jacks in the back... one cable in the wrong reverb jack and one to the footswitch rca jack. I swapped them to the correct locations and it was back to good. I took the amp to the fella an hour away and he went through it (he builds his very own custom Fender style amps and sells them...) and sorta told me the opposite. He replaced a few caps and resistors and said the opposite of my local shop... thatmy preamp tubes were good and my POWER tubes needed replaced. I've been playing about 25 years, so it's kinda weird to me hearing that almost 50 year old tubes are "still good", especially in an amp that has obviously seen a decent bit of use in it's life. I replaced my tubes about once a year or so in my Marshall when we were gigging and practicing three nights per week, three hours a night. Anyway, I get it back home, try it out, amp sounds great... but there is considerable transformer buzz. I'm not sure how much is acceptable and how much is excessive, but suffice it to say it's enough to make me curious. The tech cleaned all pots and jacks. I also noticed that the Normal channel seems to be bleeding into the Vibrato channel... You can turn the volume to zero on the Vibrato channel and still hear sound... Also, Reverb is unusable past 4 or so... it's so splashy and noisy. All tone controls seem very sensitive... Like the slightest adjustment DRASTICALLY changes the sound... When you turn the Normal channel down to zero, the tone gets rid of a bit of noise, the Reverb behaves much better with a more usable and realistic volume sweep, and everything just improves. My question is, is bleed-through normal from the unused NORMAL channel to the Vibrato Channel, is there a better way to stop it than to just turn all the Normal channel knobs to zero? Do you have any tips or tricks (ex, pulling tubes) to make this amp sound better? I have no interest in running the amp without reverb, so the Normal channel is useless to me... ESPECIALLY withbit making my other channel sound bad.
Hello, Wowzers, lots of problems. It all points to 1 thing. Ground connections on the front brass plate. Take a good look at the ground runners from the eyelet board to the ground plate. These crack over time and generate all types of issues. Aslso make sure the 1/4" input jack shunts are clean, connecting to ground when jacks are not installed
@@d-labelectronics Thank you so much! I'll take a look at that first. I'm kinda surprised the tech didn't pick up on that. I've got some decent soldering skills, so I'll take a gander at the joints. Much appreciated!
@@d-labelectronics Ok, so I did a little tenative testing. I am getting a pinging sound when tapping on the tubes. The sound is coming from V4, which is supposed to be a 7025,. It has a Sovtek 12ax7lps. I have some good 12ax7's lying around, but I was curious if it having a 12ax7 is incorrect
@@d-labelectronics No, my Radio City Products Model 323 and my Superior Instruments Model TW-11 both have 1/4" jacks for headphones. They work really well. I have seen several other models with this feature some having the 1/4" jack and some having banana plugs.
Is there any way to measure the plate resistance? I ran some tube swap test this weekend using a distortion analyzer and came to the conclusion that some amps will cut highs when swapping tubes. I think this is due to circuit design decisions interacting with tube tolerances. I want to see if resistance or capacitance is the culprit. Here is the video. ruclips.net/video/6Sz_QIm7qA0/видео.html
I thought the test for microphonic tubes was to plug them in, turn the volume way up, and flick it with your finger. Listen for DOINK or Dooooiinng, or wooooooooooonggg.
What a simple solution for a complex problem on many levels. Great job Terry. Kudos.
Mr. Carlson's Lab eat your heart out.( I bet he would have eventually got to designing one someday). Damn clever piece
of test equipment Terry. I'm sure more like this device is to come.
Absolutely brilliant Mr. D-Lab, looking forward to the completed unit.... & the schematic. Thank you:)
Could you produce a schematic?? I have a ton of meters. Would love to build one. I work on a lot of high gain amps. I need a unit like your design. Thank you Terry you are #1. Keep up the great job
You are the best Terry, watching your videos for years
Very cool project Terry, I wish I knew half of what you know when it comes to vintage tube electronics.
This will be a great addition to my tube test setup. Fantastic work Terry
It's never boring in your shop
In a word...Brilliant!
It’s a 2 channel tube preamp with meters on the outputs and selectable inputs and adjustable bias. I love it,….but I want to run it in my stereo hifi to ROLL preamp tubes
Great stuff , Terry , what I been looking for . Keep us posted , thanks .
Keep us posted on this guy's family.
Please make this into a kit like a modern day Heathkit.
Man, that is a really clever and useful device! Well done!
Brilliant! Nice work Terry!
Dude this thing is awesome! AND the looper makes it's debut!
Yea Man, I have big plans for the Micronaut
Very cool. Would love to see a schematic of this so I could build one for my shop. Love your videos!
awesome tool!
Awesome demo Terry!! Would love to get one for the shop out here on the West Coast! 🤘🏼
Have one of your Dayton amps in the shop currently! Your build quality is immaculate sir!! Been watching you for years!
Cool deal man, I have the proto type, that you could buy. It is set up for 12AX7,12AT7, 6AV6, 6AT6 only but has the same functions for monitoring and signal injection. e-mail me if you want it. TD
D lab Electronics me and my cousin are going to a Swap meet in September 11 Sunday morning at 8 am in Milwaukee 2022
A very cool device!
To compare soundwise two tubes, it would be nice to have a A/B switching or mix potentiometer. Of cource it is possible to just swap tubes but it takes a few seconds to heat up the tube.
That sounds like a great idea. I will throw a design together for A/B of preamp tubes. The Micronaut II
@@d-labelectronics 👍
@@d-labelectronics And BTW, if you want to develop that device to a really naughty Naut, you could add a coupling cap A/B comparison option as well, to find out if there is any truth in those mythic arguments that for example paper in oil coupling caps sound better in tube amps than orange drops or metallized polyester caps etc. 😁
Yes, I have had several requests for a dual 9 pin only model that has A/B switching for tube comparison
Using a RoetestV10 tube tester I can do any kind of test I ever dream at, including noise an microphonic test, beside usual tests for shorts, leakage, tracing curves, measure all parameters, batch test, auto matching etc. Your device is pretty simple but limited to few type of tubes, using the tube tester I can make these testes for any kind of tube in any operating point. The oscilloscope seems useless to me, speaker at the output is more conclusive.
Awesome demo
I love your Heathkit looking cabinets you use with your projects !! Where do you get those ???
Great piece of equipment Terry, good job!
That is a great tool to have⚛
This is a great idea. Is there any chance you will be designing it to operate on 240V as well as 110V, which is all we have in Australia.
Also for 230 volts as we have here across the ditch in NZ, but if it will do 240 volts that will be fine for here too.
Two plus years after this video, has the Micronaut made available to the public? If not, will it be?
This is fantastic Terry! Do you think future models could include an option to check for shorts? Might be a great feature upgrade :)
D LABS< are those VU meters measuring the tubes current or output AC voltage? I'm still confused how this microphonic analyzer is different than using a preamp circuit? and tapping on a 12ax7 tube. If its different than using a preamp circuit, how is it different than a tube preamp circuit?
Very Nice!
D lab, what’s the best way to contact you? I’d like more info about getting a micronaut
D lab Electronics your preamp tube Microphonic Anialyzer is cool
I want one
Love this new addition Terry. Are you planning on selling as a kit for us who don't have alot of extra time?? 73's always
Time here is very limited. I will offer the build info soon. Most parts for this build were repurposed Heathkit components. Would be a challenge to reproduce this design in quantity's.
@@d-labelectronics awesome and thank you Terry!!! Very clever device. Look forward to building.
Hello teacher Very good device for testing, would you be kind enough to provide me with the schematic to build it? Thank you very much, Greetings.
My email is melladop655@gmail.com
This is great stuff heck yeah ⚡⚛⚡
D lab Electronics my hobbys are painting pictures and lisining to shortwave and ssb iam thinking about getting my ham license I have 4 shortwave receivers
Hello sir!
If you don't mind, I have a question for you regarding a late 70's Fender Super Reverb (Amp has Master Volume, Mid control on Normal, pull boost knob).
I bought the amp a few months back... All original, never serviced, yadda yadda.
The amp sounded great til warmed up, and it was almost like the tone itself was changing. It was a little noisy but I could tell it was potentially good . It still had the original tubes in it from the factory.
I took it to my local shop who looked at it and said the power tubes were good, tried to change the preamp tubes, and it began making all kinds of clicks and pops and noise... Said the normal channel didn't work at all and promptly recommended a guy an hour away to fully service the amp.
I got the amp home, bummed. I noticed they had accidentally hooked the Reverb tank up to the wrong jacks in the back... one cable in the wrong reverb jack and one to the footswitch rca jack.
I swapped them to the correct locations and it was back to good.
I took the amp to the fella an hour away and he went through it (he builds his very own custom Fender style amps and sells them...) and sorta told me the opposite. He replaced a few caps and resistors and said the opposite of my local shop... thatmy preamp tubes were good and my POWER tubes needed replaced.
I've been playing about 25 years, so it's kinda weird to me hearing that almost 50 year old tubes are "still good", especially in an amp that has obviously seen a decent bit of use in it's life. I replaced my tubes about once a year or so in my Marshall when we were gigging and practicing three nights per week, three hours a night.
Anyway, I get it back home, try it out, amp sounds great... but there is considerable transformer buzz. I'm not sure how much is acceptable and how much is excessive, but suffice it to say it's enough to make me curious. The tech cleaned all pots and jacks.
I also noticed that the Normal channel seems to be bleeding into the Vibrato channel...
You can turn the volume to zero on the Vibrato channel and still hear sound... Also, Reverb is unusable past 4 or so... it's so splashy and noisy. All tone controls seem very sensitive... Like the slightest adjustment DRASTICALLY changes the sound... When you turn the Normal channel down to zero, the tone gets rid of a bit of noise, the Reverb behaves much better with a more usable and realistic volume sweep, and everything just improves.
My question is, is bleed-through normal from the unused NORMAL channel to the Vibrato Channel, is there a better way to stop it than to just turn all the Normal channel knobs to zero? Do you have any tips or tricks (ex, pulling tubes) to make this amp sound better? I have no interest in running the amp without reverb, so the Normal channel is useless to me... ESPECIALLY withbit making my other channel sound bad.
Hello, Wowzers, lots of problems. It all points to 1 thing. Ground connections on the front brass plate. Take a good look at the ground runners from the eyelet board to the ground plate. These crack over time and generate all types of issues. Aslso make sure the 1/4" input jack shunts are clean, connecting to ground when jacks are not installed
@@d-labelectronics Thank you so much! I'll take a look at that first. I'm kinda surprised the tech didn't pick up on that. I've got some decent soldering skills, so I'll take a gander at the joints. Much appreciated!
@@d-labelectronics Ok, so I did a little tenative testing.
I am getting a pinging sound when tapping on the tubes. The sound is coming from V4, which is supposed to be a 7025,. It has a Sovtek 12ax7lps.
I have some good 12ax7's lying around, but I was curious if it having a 12ax7 is incorrect
12AX7 is fine for that application
Do you do work on old 8 track I have 1 call Realistic component at wood be cool to see
Sorry, Just tube equipment
D lab Electronics you are good at electronics
How can I contact you to purchase one?
What about 6au6?
Base configuration is different
Why not for power tubes?? 🤷♂️
Future design
My tube tester has a headphone jack on it and works great for finding microphonic tubes.
Is that an Amplitrex AT1000?
@@d-labelectronics No, my Radio City Products Model 323 and my Superior Instruments Model TW-11 both have 1/4" jacks for headphones. They work really well. I have seen several other models with this feature some having the 1/4" jack and some having banana plugs.
Very cool, I have not seen those machines in action
@@d-labelectronics What tube tester to you use?
I have a AT1000, B&K747 and Hickok 6000
Is there any way to measure the plate resistance? I ran some tube swap test this weekend using a distortion analyzer and came to the conclusion that some amps will cut highs when swapping tubes. I think this is due to circuit design decisions interacting with tube tolerances. I want to see if resistance or capacitance is the culprit.
Here is the video. ruclips.net/video/6Sz_QIm7qA0/видео.html
I thought the test for microphonic tubes was to plug them in, turn the volume way up, and flick it with your finger. Listen for DOINK or Dooooiinng, or wooooooooooonggg.