@5:20 The silvering is your getter, its a highly reactive metal (usually caesium or barium) meant to pull impurities out of the tube. If the getter is still shiny, it means the tube is still under vacuum, or that whatever low-pressure atmosphere is in there is properly inert. Silvering is not in and of itself bad tube. Getter placement is usually at the top or bottom of the tube, but some may flash from the side, or be oriented oddly when activated. Now, if your getter turns black or crusty white, it means it's reacted with something. That IS an indicator of a bad tube. Unless you are using an extremely vintage tube with a weird getter (unlikely).
Bugera Infinium amps have status indicators that tell you when tubes are dead, and also is self biasing. They're also priced really well. I would love to see you shoot out the Bugera clones vs their counterparts
My local music store has a huge cabinet style tube tester that used to be a fixture in appliance stores when televisions had tubes in them. It will test any tube found in an amplifier. Pretty great resource to have honestly. He also fixes old radios and has a huge inventory of NOS tubes.
This is basically a scaled down version of what they used to have in the drug store when I was kid, back in the middle-ages. Drug store version had more sockets for more types of tubes, though, like what you used to find in radios and TVs.
Hey Glenn, That silver stuff inside a tube is a Getter spot serving the purpose of completing and maintaining the vacuum. When gas molecules strike the getter material (typically barium), they combine with it chemically or by absorption. Thus the getter removes small amounts of gas from the evacuated space. For example, if you crack/break tube's glass envelope getter spot will slowly turn white indicating air leak inside. In some old tubes this spot can have dark chocolate color because of years of impurities absorption. So as long as this spot(s) is nice dark silver color your tube is fine mechanically. Cheers! Phil.
Just one note, when you're plugging tubes in that have a base like a EL34 or a KT66/KT88, don't press down on the bulb, press down using the base only. The base is the load bearing surface. Pressing in with the bulb introduces small bends in the wires that will break the vaccuum.
Tbh i love the combo of you two. Glenn being the mean old hairy dude as always and Henning being weird just goes so well ! Plus you have a total different approach to tone (which both are right, just different) you have a great overall impression of the gear and a lot of background info by our boths connections. Please keep collaborating whenever you meet guys \m/
The silver patch on the tube is where the getter is, it appears during the moment when they fill it up with gas and the getter reacts when they flash it, this happens during the manufacturing process. Sometimes it will happen as well shortly after you put the tube into the amp, sometimes you'll get tubes that are all silver and once they are in the amp for a few minutes most of the silver dissipates except at those points.
Hey Glenn! That's a pretty neat device, it would have cool to see what it messures on an old tube, one of those that it's not broken but still has a deteriorated output. Also, It would be awesome if you made a tutorial about using an SPL meter to not fuck up on volumes, thing that happens pretty often. Thanks a lot and greetings from Argentina
SpectreSoundStudios The silver coating on the inside of the tube is the getter flash. It's a chemical coating that's used to chemically evacuate residual air from the tube as well as a way to indicate whether or not the tube has an air leak. The only real time you would be concerned with this silver coating is if it has turned powdery white, which would indicate the tube no longer has a vacuum. To demonstrate it you might be interested in taking a worn out tube (or one you're willing to sacrifice) and break the glass on it and you can watch how quickly that silver coating turns to a powdery white coating.
That's a cool gadget, but for 500.00 USD i'd want something that is more than a dummy light saying good or bad. it'd be nice to know what the tube is doing, how far out of tolerance it is, and in what way. i've never been one to trust anybody trying to sell me something based on the voodooo of it. as somebody else commented- How do you test the tester?
Yep completely ! Especially as there's been feedback of them not being very accurate and reading bad tubes as good and vice versa... Which isn't surprising as the tester is just testing the tube as if it was in standby mode, hardly no current or plate voltage going through it, it's a gadget. In other words these are crap, and unsurprisingly didn't sell well at all. Testers like the maxi matcher II are way better but like twice the price... And they aren't the best still not 100% accurate, the amplirex ones are better and even more expensive, like close to 10 times the price of this POS, something like 3k$
Glenn, the silvery bit is called the "getter". It is a compound that I don't remember, that is sputtered onto the glass after the vacuum is drawn (it is in a little cup thing, then they heat it up with RF heating and it gets all over the glass). It is used to collect any left over gas particles. Silver = new. Black/brown = old (I think), and white = air got in, and very dead. Never plug in a tube with a white getter, it could destroy your power transformer.
The silvering on the side of the tube is where the manufacturer magnetically induces a current to burn off any gasses that are in the tube from the manufacturing process. This is a very old technique (see tubes from the 40s and 50s) like the 21JV6 tube.
Yes, they're still matched at 10 and 11. People like to complain about Ruby's, but I've used every brand I could get my hands on, and Ruby are far from the worst of new production tubes! Their EL34 tubes are actually quite superb in most Marshalls. If it works and sounds good, why worry about the name on it, and why pay more?
YES! GLENN TO THE RESCUE! Just received a pricy tube amp from an online purchase (uneasy sale by the way. The seller had quite a few excellent reviews and comments by the look of it and the amp itself looks pretty pristine upon arrival. The seller said mentioned that the amp had “new tubes” on the listing so that’s why I decided to purchase the amp he had. He sent me some messages thanking me for my purchase and mentioning how he wished I didn’t buy the amp yet because he still wished to jam on it. He decided to ship the amp off without the new tubes citing COVID and waiting picking up his own equipment. So I have him the benefit of the doubt even through Memorial Day and it’s been about 10 days since I received the amp. He is messaging me and says he sent power tubes on his personal amps behalf but he also mentioned waiting for preamp tubes early on in the messages. Any advice would be appreciated) anyways, I needed a valve tester and this will definitely do the trick! Thanks a ton dude! Saying hello from across the Ambassador bridge!
Hey, Glenn! I'm a Reaper user and I recently recorder a few songs with my band. Unfortunately the volume is always very low when I render the tracks, while on the daw it's just below clipping. I read that it's all about using limiters and compression.. is that right?
what`s to say this unit is a good working product? Are there other units similar but from a different manufacturer to compare the two? Maybe safe to put full faith in Orange products? Orange have Never built a faulty product? Orange has a Perfect track record?
Any experience with Bugera Amps and their 'infinium' line? If not, there are 4 LEDs in the back that show if the tubes are functioning or not. Worked for me when my amp started sounding like ruffled garbage bags, the light was out, so I unplugged it and another tube. Also, it auto biases them supposedly so that's neat
Hey Glen! How's the switching of cameras and monitoring the feed during a live session being done? Its so cool! Thanks in advance n cheers from India🤘🤘
May want to give that tube another test (plus I believe a 10/11 would still be considered a matched set if I'm not mistaken?). These testers are good for a very basic test, but not known for the best accuracy. I'd actually be more inclined to trust the testers the manufactures are using (if they are being honest, that is - which in my experience, they have been for the most part). The tube tester my amp tech uses is the size of a washing machine. Rather large and clunky back in the day, but better accuracy.
Question: I'm rather new to the whole recording thing and I was wondering how you properly mixed bass guitar with the kick drum? Any plugin suggestions? I'm using Cubase at the moment. Thanks in advance!! PS love the channel, keep up the awesome videos
That unit is not used for matching tubes it's used to see if the tube is good or not. The meter that's used to match tubes is completely different and it's a totally different process to read the voltage and amper job the tube
That 1 to 15 scale reminds me of the Groove Tubes rating scale of 1 to 10. Probably the same thing - but what does that mean? My understanding is it represents a softer-harder scale (that's what she said), not necessarily a god-bad thing (that's not what she said).
for recording, how much gain should you have on your guitars? because someone i know of, he put the gain all the way on 10 and then he says more gain is better tone.
$500 is pretty steep. I wonder if guitar shops tend to have one of these in house so i could just pay em a few bucks to test my tubes. Musicians friend also had a VHT tester listed for $99, it doesnt “rate” tubes, but it gives you a a milliamp reading. Not sure which way is better. 🤷🏼♂️
How would you record metal guitars (no impulses or amp Sims) without using celestion v30 speakers or an sm57? Because that's the usual Speaker and mic which people keep leaning towards when recording guitars, so how would you do it differently? *Sorry for my bad English
There are steps involved in biasing an amp that can get you killed if you don't know what you're doing. There's a few different ways to go about biasing an amp, but they all involve exposing yourself to very dangerous levels of electricity. in my opinion, if you ask this question, you definitely shouldn't be biasing your own amps. for your own safety. not to be insulting. i'm not an electrician either. it's okay. remember, you only need to bias after changing power tubes, not preamp tubes. And Mesa amps don't need to be biased at all.
Michelle Lehky Not necessarily. Some capacitors will still hold power, even if the unit is off and unplugged. One could end up getting a nasty shock if one is not careful. This was always a hazard with the old TVs, which is why there was always an electrocution warning on the back not to open it up and futz with it if you didn't know what you were doing.
There are actually even a few deaths a year from people poking around in their amplifiers without properly draining it first. Those massive capacitors can store one hell of a charge, definitely enough to kill you, so find information about how to drain your specific amp, and you should be good to go. Changing tubes shouldn't put you in too much of a risk, but it's better to be safe than sorry. I'd still not muck around with biasing though, some amps don't even have trim pots, so you'll just have to get in there with a soldering iron and change some caps.
Do tube amps have an electrocution warning on the back like the old tube TVs did? (I've never owned the former, obviously, but I have owned the latter.) In this overly litigious society, I'd be shocked-pun slightly intended-if they didn't.
Well, damn, if I'm gonna take all that time to open up my amp and gets the tubes out, I might as well just replace them at that point. Maybe this would be good for testing the new tubes, but certainly not for $500. Unless that's AUD, in which case it's a steal.
I feel for you My main tubes bag SURVIVED a mega-eviction, yet lost a s***load of classy Lundahl iron 'd (=console transformers) lovingly stripped from local TV studio junk We fall to rise
Hi glen , if you havnt you should check out the Conformicide album by Havok One of the best sounding albums in my opinion and Apparently alot of folks on the net do as well would be good to get your thoughts on it ?
Question: Why do people like you stack up like dozens of amp heads and yet we only see you use one or two cabinets? Does the cab offer less versatility as far as tone is concerned than the amp head?
I'm guessing because he uses mostly IRs , which is obviously way more versatile than having a couple of cabs, and I'm guessing that when he does recordings for bands, the bands probably bring a lot of their own gear most of the time. Personally i'd prefer having more cabs than heads (and I own more heads than cabs :D )
dzamija922 they probably have one tone they like for themselves and use the rest for the bands that come in. Plus IR's can get you pretty close and it's not worth the time to set up an amp, cab, and mic if you can get a really close tone for something that isn't demo'ing tone
The cab/speaker is what keeps everything consistent. It would be hard to judge tonal differences of several amps by using a different cab/speaker every time. The biggest tone changing aspect of any rig is the cab/speaker. Want a dramatically different tone? Replace your speaker/cab. Pretty much the same aspect when it comes to choosing studio monitors. It would be like mixing every song on a different set of monitors and expecting a consistent end result. Find one you like and stick with it. Glenn has done videos on this exact thing. Using different amps with the same cab then using different cabs with the same amp. The biggest tonal difference is in the speaker/cab. Not the amp. Hence, dozens of amps and only a couple cabs.
Yes but that's exactly my point - wouldn't the money be better invested in a different cab if you want a different tone? I mean if you want one exact same tone, why not just get one cab and one head? I guess what I'm trying to say that if what you say is true (and from my personal experience, it is), then it makes more sense to invest in different cabs if you want more versatility in tone.
dzamija922 watch Henning's studio tour video: ruclips.net/video/oe2tSpofho0/видео.html. If I remember correctly, he showed he had more cabs in isolation chambers. For my part, I have three amp heads at home but only one cab. I tested the amps on my cab and two cabs my brother owns. Mine has Celestion V30s, his some other brand and model speaker that is meant to have a flatter response, and mine is a 2X12 while his are 1x12. The wood is also different in each. But the bottom line is the amp makes a much bigger difference in sound, particularly if your cabs use the same model speakers and are the same size (like both of his), and especially if you're close miking a single speaker, when all the cabinet and room resonance will basically be ignored by the mic. Plus, cabs take up lots of space, while amp heads are relatively small in comparison. Anyway, my take is that a well designed speaker will just reproduce the frequencies that are pumped into it. (With guitar speakers, mostly those in the midrange.) The amp is what determines what frequencies those are.
This is crazy. I was going to ask for a video about that yesterday. I just got a new tube amp (used), I hear a hiss/hum when it's at louder volume with high gain, and am not sure if that's a tube problem or not
The hiss/hum is the compression of the distortion lifting up noise in your signal. If it's *really* bad, try improving your wiring in your guitar, cables, and pedals. Maybe invest in a hum eliminator because some houses have it worse. Don't get a noise gate immediately because if the hum is really bad, using a noise gate to eliminate the noise will eat into your guitar signal if the noise is almost or as loud as your guitar signal
Yes i do have signal, it sounds pretty good. The hum can get really loud, yes, and I don't think it's power. I am in the studio here, no other gear presents noise, only the amp. Do you have more info on a hum eliminator? I have not seen one. Also, since the hiss/hum is on the amp itself, where would the noise gate go? It's not on the input because even with the guitar volume at zero, or cable unplugged, I still hear the hiss/hum. Would it go on the FX Loop?
Edward Bauman hum x is the one glenn has and talks about. If the noise is loud at no volume, perhaps your amp itself might need some servicing. You should put your noise gate after the noisest part of your signal chain. If you have any pedals, see if any add a ton of noise. If you check all pedals and find that the amp is the only possible thing that can make that noise, then put it in the fx loop. If you have no fx loop then there's not much you can do other than perhaps modding the amp for the fx loop and if you're doing that, might as well get a technician to make sure there isn't a mechanical error causing the noise
Interesting. The noise is only loud when the amp gets louder, the noise increase with the volume of the master level and while on the gain channel. There is noise when the guitar volume is down, not when the amp volume is down. I have no idea what noise would be normal, and not to this type of amp, to be honest. Wonder if I pigeon holed myself buying something used. The tone is great though. also, which video he mentions the Hum X? I don't think I've seen that one!
I found a first edition 5150 gead used 400$ whatcha think? I really want my jcm900 that got stolen back. I had the marshall and a bassman retubed caps replaced and zero time two 412 cabs sg crescent moon paisley tele, keys, recording gear, Old homemade silvertone amps too much more to say stolen by gangstalkers.
yep 400$ is a good deal, just assume that you're going to have to add 100$ for new power tubes and potentially another 100$ to get a tech to poke around in it and check that all is ok, unless you know how to do it yourself. When you buy second hand always assume that you'll at least need new power tubes. I just made a great deal last week a 2000 5150 II half stack with matching 412 cab, for 550$. Still has stock sovteks though that i'm going to swap.
Those testers aren't worth the box they come in. Even entry-level testers from the 30's-60's will let you test for gas/shorts, not to mention having much expanded capability to test different tube types
@@AlexanderXtcSlayin You won't find them new, you have to buy used. Ebay is a good place to look. Make sure the sellers says it works ok before you buy it, and make sure they accept returns if it doesn't
it tests for gas and shorts and 15 other tests ,it's fully digital and a 10yo can operate it. i have it for more than 10 years still works great ,i only wish it tested rectifier tubes, other than that most guitar amp tubes can be tested. those vintage testers need calibration and are a bitch to operate, you can damage tubes. the orange is very simple to operate and gives you all the data you need-gain/life.
@@yaniv-nos-tubes Anyone with half a brain can operate a conventional tube tester, it's really not that hard. And I don't want to test just guitar tubes, I want the ability to test any kind of tube. Much of the work I do is antique radio and phonograph restoration; that tester would be worthless to me.
Not applicable to tungsten lamps or general service valves such as those found in radios, televisions and guitar amplifiers. Tungsten lamps run a lot hotter than the heaters in a valve. White hot compared to the red hot of a valve heater, and tungsten lamps have no issues. Also consider that manufacturers use inks on the glass envelopes of tungsten lamps and valves. Ruby go so far as to put stickers on the envelopes of their product range. I have numerous Ruby 12AX7 valves as pulls with their stickers intact after, say, 100 hours of use, and quite a few Ruby EL84 valves with their somewhat charred identifiers still clinging to the glass. Quartz halogen lamp envelopes are a different matter. The envelope is much smaller and the heat of the inside of the envelope is crucial to the tungsten evaporation/redeposition cycle within the lamp. Notice how the envelopes and filaments for quartz halogens are much smaller for their rated power and usually there are no markings on the envelope. Some headlight lamps have a cap of paint on the end of the envelope,. but there's nothing where the envelope runs parallel to the filament. Finger grease does three fifths of smeg all harm to a guitar amp valve. Hope that clears it up for you. Check the Wikipedia article on the quartz halogen cycle for more information.
Ask Tube Depot she would know why they are different. Owner is a woman. Glenn you have to checkout the brand new Orange amps pedal OMEC TELEPORT it's totally amazing.
Fuck this.. get yourself an old Sencore tube tester from the ‘60s for $50 that can not only test a wider variety of tubes, but will be more accurate and built like a tank.
DC Welker names of tubes can change depending if you're in the land that calls them "valves". no idea which do but maybe those fall under that category
Its kinda ridiculous that the tube industry doesn't test and etch the tube specifics type on the glass itself so that boxing could only ever be matched tubes. This type of stuff should be a no brainer now that we're at 5-7 preamp tubes. Thats a six pack/four pk plus one. #Standardization. Where's my gavel? , this needs a gavel.
This gizmo has a low voltage wall wart power supply. How the hell is that supposed to deliver 250 V DC, of plate current? Plus it would have been really cool if you had showed how it worked. With a known, bad tube? And it gives you a scale between 10 and 15. You mean, one through five? Add so, the way I read that, on one tube, it scored a one. The other scored a zero. Which is about the quality level of tubes today coming out of China and Russia. Why not try sticking in a new old stock Telefunken and see what you get? So on a scale of 10 through 15. Neither of those tubes were worth a damn. They scored the lowest possible score. They're not worth using. Not worth wasting your money on. Or maybe it's the tube tester? It's a computerized device. Which one does not need. None of the ones in the drugstores in the 1960s & 70s, were computerized. And none of them actually test, what they need to test. As they, will probably sell more of those for $500 each? Then they will of, guitar amplifiers? I think those tubes were called, Ruby tubes. From the embarrassed looks they'll have on their face? For selling such lousy tubes. Oh boy rated, a 10 and a 11. Or a 0 and a 1? You'll know, your tubes need changing. When they don't deliver the punchy sound that they once did. Or if they get terribly, micro phonic. Meeting if you tap on them lightly with a pencil. And it sounds like you're beating on a condenser microphone capsule? It's gotten overly, micro phonic. And it might be time to replace it? But all tubes are essentially, slightly, micro phonic when you tap on them. It just shouldn't sound like you're beating on an, EMT plate. It's time to replace the tubes. When it's nice and fuzzy sounding. And you wanted a clean sound.. Then it's time to replace some tubes. If you can't turn it up to the earsplitting levels you once did, it once did? It might be time to replace the tubes? If you're going to spend $500 for a tube tester? Wouldn't it be smarter to just, stockpile, $500 worth of new tubes for yourself? And then give your old ones to your poor friends and kids. Instead of wasting $500 on a tube tester for a guitar amplifier? Think about it? You might spend $500 to find out that your VF-14 in your U-47, needs replacing? And then you have $500 less with which to purchase one of those. If you can find one for less than, $5000? New tubes will hardly matter in the microphone preamps that have them. If you're into the budget ones like the, APHEX. Why? Because they're not running that tube as an amplification circuit. They're running it at such low voltages. You can't even see the heater light up, the filaments light up. Because they don't. Nope. What you're looking at is a yellow LED, behind the tube. And it's operating at highly depleted, plate current. It's only there to make distortion. Transistors and IC chips do the rest. It's only there to give you tube distortion, in abundance. It's not meant for amplification. But in guitar amplifiers, they are. So, what good is the tube tester for your guitar tubes? When it can't deliver full plate current & voltage with the tester? Oh yeah. That's going to tell you what it sounds like in your amplifier. Glenn, I think you should go back to your school and ask for your money back? They didn't teach you that stuff? And you're a guitarist? I know I know. It's all that good German beer and knockwurst and schnitzel. You're forgiven. Maybe a more comprehensive test with German guitars. Demonstrated along with, German beers? Would be more educational? And which one makes you wail more? I'm sorry. You're disqualified. You already won the, Wail, Contest. Looks like too much schnitzel for you?
Pretty cool vid;
idea for a future one: A/B "good" and "worn" tubes to hear the difference
Ofek Omnius Noy ^ this
@5:20 The silvering is your getter, its a highly reactive metal (usually caesium or barium) meant to pull impurities out of the tube. If the getter is still shiny, it means the tube is still under vacuum, or that whatever low-pressure atmosphere is in there is properly inert. Silvering is not in and of itself bad tube. Getter placement is usually at the top or bottom of the tube, but some may flash from the side, or be oriented oddly when activated.
Now, if your getter turns black or crusty white, it means it's reacted with something. That IS an indicator of a bad tube. Unless you are using an extremely vintage tube with a weird getter (unlikely).
Yup!
And when your getter turns smoky white, THEN you know you've got trouble (it means your tube is no longer 'vacuum' !)
Bugera Infinium amps have status indicators that tell you when tubes are dead, and also is self biasing. They're also priced really well. I would love to see you shoot out the Bugera clones vs their counterparts
ruclips.net/video/CX-DeHArSNc/видео.html one of the videos that made me decide to buy my Trirec
My local music store has a huge cabinet style tube tester that used to be a fixture in appliance stores when televisions had tubes in them. It will test any tube found in an amplifier.
Pretty great resource to have honestly.
He also fixes old radios and has a huge inventory of NOS tubes.
Cool tube tester, I've always wondered why tubes amp don't ever have a bias meter. Super simple electronically and ensures the tubes run well.
In b4 class action lawsuit toward glenn cause some bassist got electrocuted following this tutorial wrong.
Davide Pannone doing inb4 right imho
Dick stuck in tester, pls halp....
the error you make here is that.. you assume that there are base players who would even try to follow tutorials in the first place...
He was trying to test his strings...so he does'nt have to buy any ! :-)
Lyserdigi touche lmao
Love your videos Glenn. They've quickly become videos I watch at lunch and before sleep. Keep up the good work! From Japan
Thanks very much! Greetings from Canada!
This is basically a scaled down version of what they used to have in the drug store when I was kid, back in the middle-ages. Drug store version had more sockets for more types of tubes, though, like what you used to find in radios and TVs.
Adam Fox you were alive in the 1500's?
Rudy Ayoub Heh heh. Those tights and puffy collars itched like Hell!
Adam Fox how did you handle the torture
Rudy Ayoub You referring to the rack and the iron maiden, or the itchy clothing?
I don't really think i NEED a video till Glenn posts it
Hey Glenn,
That silver stuff inside a tube is a Getter spot serving the purpose of completing and maintaining the vacuum. When gas molecules strike the getter material (typically barium), they combine with it chemically or by absorption. Thus the getter removes small amounts of gas from the evacuated space.
For example, if you crack/break tube's glass envelope getter spot will slowly turn white indicating air leak inside. In some old tubes this spot can have dark chocolate color because of years of impurities absorption.
So as long as this spot(s) is nice dark silver color your tube is fine mechanically.
Cheers! Phil.
Just one note, when you're plugging tubes in that have a base like a EL34 or a KT66/KT88, don't press down on the bulb, press down using the base only. The base is the load bearing surface. Pressing in with the bulb introduces small bends in the wires that will break the vaccuum.
You two should move in together.
Tbh i love the combo of you two. Glenn being the mean old hairy dude as always and Henning being weird just goes so well ! Plus you have a total different approach to tone (which both are right, just different) you have a great overall impression of the gear and a lot of background info by our boths connections. Please keep collaborating whenever you meet guys \m/
The silvery stuff is ceasium (I think) which is used to absorb any oxygen that remains inside the tube after the air is pumped out at the factory.
The silver patch on the tube is where the getter is, it appears during the moment when they fill it up with gas and the getter reacts when they flash it, this happens during the manufacturing process. Sometimes it will happen as well shortly after you put the tube into the amp, sometimes you'll get tubes that are all silver and once they are in the amp for a few minutes most of the silver dissipates except at those points.
Hey Glenn! That's a pretty neat device, it would have cool to see what it messures on an old tube, one of those that it's not broken but still has a deteriorated output. Also, It would be awesome if you made a tutorial about using an SPL meter to not fuck up on volumes, thing that happens pretty often. Thanks a lot and greetings from Argentina
SpectreSoundStudios The silver coating on the inside of the tube is the getter flash. It's a chemical coating that's used to chemically evacuate residual air from the tube as well as a way to indicate whether or not the tube has an air leak. The only real time you would be concerned with this silver coating is if it has turned powdery white, which would indicate the tube no longer has a vacuum. To demonstrate it you might be interested in taking a worn out tube (or one you're willing to sacrifice) and break the glass on it and you can watch how quickly that silver coating turns to a powdery white coating.
That's a cool gadget, but for 500.00 USD i'd want something that is more than a dummy light saying good or bad. it'd be nice to know what the tube is doing, how far out of tolerance it is, and in what way. i've never been one to trust anybody trying to sell me something based on the voodooo of it. as somebody else commented- How do you test the tester?
it costs $300 alone for them to print Orange on it.
Yep completely ! Especially as there's been feedback of them not being very accurate and reading bad tubes as good and vice versa... Which isn't surprising as the tester is just testing the tube as if it was in standby mode, hardly no current or plate voltage going through it, it's a gadget. In other words these are crap, and unsurprisingly didn't sell well at all. Testers like the maxi matcher II are way better but like twice the price... And they aren't the best still not 100% accurate, the amplirex ones are better and even more expensive, like close to 10 times the price of this POS, something like 3k$
just get a vintage one for less than 500...
Glenn, the silvery bit is called the "getter". It is a compound that I don't remember, that is sputtered onto the glass after the vacuum is drawn (it is in a little cup thing, then they heat it up with RF heating and it gets all over the glass). It is used to collect any left over gas particles. Silver = new. Black/brown = old (I think), and white = air got in, and very dead. Never plug in a tube with a white getter, it could destroy your power transformer.
The silvering on the side of the tube is where the manufacturer magnetically induces a current to burn off any gasses that are in the tube from the manufacturing process. This is a very old technique (see tubes from the 40s and 50s) like the 21JV6 tube.
A 10 and 11 test may still indicate a matched set - read the documentation
Right!? who does a demo without reading the instructions? weird Glen.
Yes, they're still matched at 10 and 11. People like to complain about Ruby's, but I've used every brand I could get my hands on, and Ruby are far from the worst of new production tubes! Their EL34 tubes are actually quite superb in most Marshalls. If it works and sounds good, why worry about the name on it, and why pay more?
YES! GLENN TO THE RESCUE! Just received a pricy tube amp from an online purchase (uneasy sale by the way. The seller had quite a few excellent reviews and comments by the look of it and the amp itself looks pretty pristine upon arrival. The seller said mentioned that the amp had “new tubes” on the listing so that’s why I decided to purchase the amp he had. He sent me some messages thanking me for my purchase and mentioning how he wished I didn’t buy the amp yet because he still wished to jam on it. He decided to ship the amp off without the new tubes citing COVID and waiting picking up his own equipment. So I have him the benefit of the doubt even through Memorial Day and it’s been about 10 days since I received the amp. He is messaging me and says he sent power tubes on his personal amps behalf but he also mentioned waiting for preamp tubes early on in the messages. Any advice would be appreciated) anyways, I needed a valve tester and this will definitely do the trick! Thanks a ton dude! Saying hello from across the Ambassador bridge!
I actually wanted to know how to do this so I actually stopped what I was doing and watched this.
Thanks Glenn!
Awesome shirt Glenn!!
i have an old tube tester from the 50s its really cool
one of the best products ever for tube heads it's a shame it was discontinued but i have one...
Hey, Glenn! I'm a Reaper user and I recently recorder a few songs with my band. Unfortunately the volume is always very low when I render the tracks, while on the daw it's just below clipping. I read that it's all about using limiters and compression.. is that right?
Hey glen, did you forget about part 2 to the Mesa vs Benson video?
Hi Glenn
Can you give us some tips and tricks about recording acoustic instruments?
Thanks in advance
Saturday could be your chance to pull apart the Revv pedal and show us all the guts!
Should have tested them twice! You can't rely on the first reading in test, anywhere! It has to be reproducible!
what`s to say this unit is a good working product? Are there other units similar but from a different manufacturer to compare the two? Maybe safe to put full faith in Orange products? Orange have Never built a faulty product? Orange has a Perfect track record?
My Peavey VK 100 head just started to crackle so it's either the valves or just a capaciter hopefully.
Any experience with Bugera Amps and their 'infinium' line?
If not, there are 4 LEDs in the back that show if the tubes are functioning or not. Worked for me when my amp started sounding like ruffled garbage bags, the light was out, so I unplugged it and another tube. Also, it auto biases them supposedly so that's neat
I Love my Trirec infinium.. amazing amp
DC Welker nice. I want to try out others, I have the 1960, Marshall classic clone
Thats 2 great features that all amps today should have.....hear me???mesa...orange..friedman..etc...$3000 heads should definitely have this and more
yeah dude i have 6262 infinium its pretty sick
Hey Glen! How's the switching of cameras and monitoring the feed during a live session being done? Its so cool!
Thanks in advance n cheers from India🤘🤘
May want to give that tube another test (plus I believe a 10/11 would still be considered a matched set if I'm not mistaken?). These testers are good for a very basic test, but not known for the best accuracy. I'd actually be more inclined to trust the testers the manufactures are using (if they are being honest, that is - which in my experience, they have been for the most part). The tube tester my amp tech uses is the size of a washing machine. Rather large and clunky back in the day, but better accuracy.
@Glenn - What was that silvering of the second pair of tubes? Did you find out?
Greetings from Europe, Serbia! \m/
Question: I'm rather new to the whole recording thing and I was wondering how you properly mixed bass guitar with the kick drum? Any plugin suggestions? I'm using Cubase at the moment. Thanks in advance!! PS love the channel, keep up the awesome videos
Im very interested to see this unit ABed to a older military tube tester and a Vacuum tube valley tube tester.
That unit is not used for matching tubes it's used to see if the tube is good or not. The meter that's used to match tubes is completely different and it's a totally different process to read the voltage and amper job the tube
For that much might as well get metal conductance tester. Would be more useful for amplifiers cause measure the gain of tube
Speaking of Orange, I know GearGods demoed the CR 120 head but I'm curious to see what Glenn and SMG can do and think of it.
Cuntasauros Rex lololololololol!!! Great video,need one
:)
That shirt has Stormtroopers fighting Mr. Meeseeks. How awesome is that?
That 1 to 15 scale reminds me of the Groove Tubes rating scale of 1 to 10. Probably the same thing - but what does that mean? My understanding is it represents a softer-harder scale (that's what she said), not necessarily a god-bad thing (that's not what she said).
for recording, how much gain should you have on your guitars? because someone i know of, he put the gain all the way on 10 and then he says more gain is better tone.
$500 is pretty steep. I wonder if guitar shops tend to have one of these in house so i could just pay em a few bucks to test my tubes. Musicians friend also had a VHT tester listed for $99, it doesnt “rate” tubes, but it gives you a a milliamp reading. Not sure which way is better. 🤷🏼♂️
How would you record metal guitars (no impulses or amp Sims) without using celestion v30 speakers or an sm57? Because that's the usual Speaker and mic which people keep leaning towards when recording guitars, so how would you do it differently?
*Sorry for my bad English
"this is Henning's idea of being funny"
but you did that first lmao
Sick but the price seems a little steep
It's Orange.
Orang requires a big amount of monet
Carlos Park many monet is needed for orenge ampes
Orang ampt ned moar monet
O R A N G R E Q U I R E M O N E T
Got to love the gadgets......
should I change the tubes of my amp myself? I keep reading online that its "dangerous" to change and do the maintance yourself.
Only when it's on.
There are steps involved in biasing an amp that can get you killed if you don't know what you're doing. There's a few different ways to go about biasing an amp, but they all involve exposing yourself to very dangerous levels of electricity. in my opinion, if you ask this question, you definitely shouldn't be biasing your own amps. for your own safety. not to be insulting. i'm not an electrician either. it's okay.
remember, you only need to bias after changing power tubes, not preamp tubes. And Mesa amps don't need to be biased at all.
Michelle Lehky Not necessarily. Some capacitors will still hold power, even if the unit is off and unplugged. One could end up getting a nasty shock if one is not careful. This was always a hazard with the old TVs, which is why there was always an electrocution warning on the back not to open it up and futz with it if you didn't know what you were doing.
There are actually even a few deaths a year from people poking around in their amplifiers without properly draining it first.
Those massive capacitors can store one hell of a charge, definitely enough to kill you, so find information about how to drain your specific amp, and you should be good to go. Changing tubes shouldn't put you in too much of a risk, but it's better to be safe than sorry. I'd still not muck around with biasing though, some amps don't even have trim pots, so you'll just have to get in there with a soldering iron and change some caps.
Do tube amps have an electrocution warning on the back like the old tube TVs did? (I've never owned the former, obviously, but I have owned the latter.) In this overly litigious society, I'd be shocked-pun slightly intended-if they didn't.
Well, damn, if I'm gonna take all that time to open up my amp and gets the tubes out, I might as well just replace them at that point. Maybe this would be good for testing the new tubes, but certainly not for $500. Unless that's AUD, in which case it's a steal.
It's the white tube socks that shows Glenn is a working man
Julia Speer tube socks for a tube man
Glenn is true propane salesman
kalidesu Propane and propane accessories.
Gloves Glenn, you always need protection at Hennings place.
Great gadget for a working class studio engineer or professionsl amp technician, but i dont see any standard musician buying one anytime soon.
You really do not know what that equipment measures, do you?
If Stryper came to you and asked you to record there next album, would you do it?
Like you asked for, try a used\ or bad tube, so far all I see is it always reads good
Yes Im a classic purist. Love this tool. Too bad my whole stock got stolen! 40 years of collecting up.
I feel for you
My main tubes bag SURVIVED a mega-eviction, yet lost a s***load of classy Lundahl iron 'd (=console transformers) lovingly stripped from local TV studio junk
We fall to rise
What is your opinion on Orange Glenn?
So how do you know when to change your tubes if you don't own this toy?
you wait till you hear that something is wrong. weak power tubes will lose volume, weak preamp tubes will sound muddy with no highs.
whats that cool blue cab on the background?
'Brand new'? I've had mine for 5 years!
Hi glen ,
if you havnt you should check out the Conformicide
album by Havok
One of the best sounding albums in my opinion and Apparently alot of folks on the net do as well would be good to get your thoughts on it ?
Are these still available?
Question: Why do people like you stack up like dozens of amp heads and yet we only see you use one or two cabinets? Does the cab offer less versatility as far as tone is concerned than the amp head?
I'm guessing because he uses mostly IRs , which is obviously way more versatile than having a couple of cabs, and I'm guessing that when he does recordings for bands, the bands probably bring a lot of their own gear most of the time. Personally i'd prefer having more cabs than heads (and I own more heads than cabs :D )
dzamija922 they probably have one tone they like for themselves and use the rest for the bands that come in. Plus IR's can get you pretty close and it's not worth the time to set up an amp, cab, and mic if you can get a really close tone for something that isn't demo'ing tone
The cab/speaker is what keeps everything consistent. It would be hard to judge tonal differences of several amps by using a different cab/speaker every time. The biggest tone changing aspect of any rig is the cab/speaker. Want a dramatically different tone? Replace your speaker/cab. Pretty much the same aspect when it comes to choosing studio monitors. It would be like mixing every song on a different set of monitors and expecting a consistent end result. Find one you like and stick with it.
Glenn has done videos on this exact thing. Using different amps with the same cab then using different cabs with the same amp. The biggest tonal difference is in the speaker/cab. Not the amp. Hence, dozens of amps and only a couple cabs.
Yes but that's exactly my point - wouldn't the money be better invested in a different cab if you want a different tone? I mean if you want one exact same tone, why not just get one cab and one head? I guess what I'm trying to say that if what you say is true (and from my personal experience, it is), then it makes more sense to invest in different cabs if you want more versatility in tone.
dzamija922 watch Henning's studio tour video: ruclips.net/video/oe2tSpofho0/видео.html. If I remember correctly, he showed he had more cabs in isolation chambers. For my part, I have three amp heads at home but only one cab. I tested the amps on my cab and two cabs my brother owns. Mine has Celestion V30s, his some other brand and model speaker that is meant to have a flatter response, and mine is a 2X12 while his are 1x12. The wood is also different in each. But the bottom line is the amp makes a much bigger difference in sound, particularly if your cabs use the same model speakers and are the same size (like both of his), and especially if you're close miking a single speaker, when all the cabinet and room resonance will basically be ignored by the mic. Plus, cabs take up lots of space, while amp heads are relatively small in comparison. Anyway, my take is that a well designed speaker will just reproduce the frequencies that are pumped into it. (With guitar speakers, mostly those in the midrange.) The amp is what determines what frequencies those are.
Hey, I can try this on my Line 6 Spyder amp!!! J/K, lol!!
This is crazy. I was going to ask for a video about that yesterday. I just got a new tube amp (used), I hear a hiss/hum when it's at louder volume with high gain, and am not sure if that's a tube problem or not
Do you still have signal? A hiss/hum is normal in high gain, even at a pretty low volume. You might want to invest in a noise gate instead of tubes.
The hiss/hum is the compression of the distortion lifting up noise in your signal. If it's *really* bad, try improving your wiring in your guitar, cables, and pedals. Maybe invest in a hum eliminator because some houses have it worse. Don't get a noise gate immediately because if the hum is really bad, using a noise gate to eliminate the noise will eat into your guitar signal if the noise is almost or as loud as your guitar signal
Yes i do have signal, it sounds pretty good. The hum can get really loud, yes, and I don't think it's power. I am in the studio here, no other gear presents noise, only the amp.
Do you have more info on a hum eliminator? I have not seen one. Also, since the hiss/hum is on the amp itself, where would the noise gate go? It's not on the input because even with the guitar volume at zero, or cable unplugged, I still hear the hiss/hum. Would it go on the FX Loop?
Edward Bauman hum x is the one glenn has and talks about. If the noise is loud at no volume, perhaps your amp itself might need some servicing. You should put your noise gate after the noisest part of your signal chain. If you have any pedals, see if any add a ton of noise. If you check all pedals and find that the amp is the only possible thing that can make that noise, then put it in the fx loop. If you have no fx loop then there's not much you can do other than perhaps modding the amp for the fx loop and if you're doing that, might as well get a technician to make sure there isn't a mechanical error causing the noise
Interesting.
The noise is only loud when the amp gets louder, the noise increase with the volume of the master level and while on the gain channel. There is noise when the guitar volume is down, not when the amp volume is down.
I have no idea what noise would be normal, and not to this type of amp, to be honest. Wonder if I pigeon holed myself buying something used. The tone is great though.
also, which video he mentions the Hum X? I don't think I've seen that one!
When the light is green, the trap is clean.
I found a first edition 5150 gead used 400$ whatcha think? I really want my jcm900 that got stolen back. I had the marshall and a bassman retubed caps replaced and zero time two 412 cabs sg crescent moon paisley tele, keys, recording gear,
Old homemade silvertone amps too much more to say stolen by gangstalkers.
Hadley Scott McIntyre thats a great deal, go for it. I got mine for $600 with a 4x12 which was crazy, I traded it now tho
yep 400$ is a good deal, just assume that you're going to have to add 100$ for new power tubes and potentially another 100$ to get a tech to poke around in it and check that all is ok, unless you know how to do it yourself. When you buy second hand always assume that you'll at least need new power tubes. I just made a great deal last week a 2000 5150 II half stack with matching 412 cab, for 550$. Still has stock sovteks though that i'm going to swap.
I assume henning isn't getting the editor job for your vids? lmao
'Cheesy ass wipes' .... that's what I was up to my neck in with my one year old!
Would have been good to see some used tubes tested and hopefully some bad tubes.
The 6505 came with Ruby tubes..
i think 11 is for when you just need that little bit more
Eurotubes is going to have a cow if they see this.
Ruby tubes suck. I had some in my laney iron heart. Was not impressed. Changed them out for tung sols.
Those testers aren't worth the box they come in. Even entry-level testers from the 30's-60's will let you test for gas/shorts, not to mention having much expanded capability to test different tube types
Could you recommend any? I’m in the market but have no idea where to look and for what
@@AlexanderXtcSlayin You won't find them new, you have to buy used. Ebay is a good place to look. Make sure the sellers says it works ok before you buy it, and make sure they accept returns if it doesn't
it tests for gas and shorts and 15 other tests ,it's fully digital and a 10yo can operate it. i have it for more than 10 years still works great ,i only wish it tested rectifier tubes, other than that most guitar amp tubes can be tested. those vintage testers need calibration and are a bitch to operate, you can damage tubes. the orange is very simple to operate and gives you all the data you need-gain/life.
@@yaniv-nos-tubes Anyone with half a brain can operate a conventional tube tester, it's really not that hard. And I don't want to test just guitar tubes, I want the ability to test any kind of tube. Much of the work I do is antique radio and phonograph restoration; that tester would be worthless to me.
Hey Glenn. Aren't you not supposed to touch the glass on the tubes? Kind of like fucking up a headlight with finger oils.
Not applicable to tungsten lamps or general service valves such as those found in radios, televisions and guitar amplifiers.
Tungsten lamps run a lot hotter than the heaters in a valve. White hot compared to the red hot of a valve heater, and tungsten lamps have no issues. Also consider that manufacturers use inks on the glass envelopes of tungsten lamps and valves. Ruby go so far as to put stickers on the envelopes of their product range. I have numerous Ruby 12AX7 valves as pulls with their stickers intact after, say, 100 hours of use, and quite a few Ruby EL84 valves with their somewhat charred identifiers still clinging to the glass.
Quartz halogen lamp envelopes are a different matter. The envelope is much smaller and the heat of the inside of the envelope is crucial to the tungsten evaporation/redeposition cycle within the lamp. Notice how the envelopes and filaments for quartz halogens are much smaller for their rated power and usually there are no markings on the envelope. Some headlight lamps have a cap of paint on the end of the envelope,. but there's nothing where the envelope runs parallel to the filament.
Finger grease does three fifths of smeg all harm to a guitar amp valve.
Hope that clears it up for you. Check the Wikipedia article on the quartz halogen cycle for more information.
Am I the only one who kinda freaked out when the tube slightly moved
His elaborate camera setup is a huge distraction
I'm an old cunt. I can recall tube testers in drug stores and hardware stores into my early teans.
Ask Tube Depot she would know why they are different. Owner is a woman.
Glenn you have to checkout the brand new Orange amps pedal OMEC TELEPORT it's totally amazing.
Fuck this.. get yourself an old Sencore tube tester from the ‘60s for $50 that can not only test a wider variety of tubes, but will be more accurate and built like a tank.
I did not see 5U4 rectifier tubes listed. Can that not test 5U4 tubes?
DC Welker names of tubes can change depending if you're in the land that calls them "valves". no idea which do but maybe those fall under that category
This device does not test rectifier tubes (valves).
The question is how accurate is the orange and anyone doing science does tests more than once before making a conclusion...
Why does it matter to have matched tubes
Boobs are matched (usually)... therefore, tubes should be matched also...
Its kinda ridiculous that the tube industry doesn't test and etch the tube specifics type on the glass itself so that boxing could only ever be matched tubes. This type of stuff should be a no brainer now that we're at 5-7 preamp tubes. Thats a six pack/four pk plus one. #Standardization. Where's my gavel? , this needs a gavel.
Just a little constructive criticism.
STAHP
I had some teslas el34 that had demon voices in them.
500 bucks haha. maybe if I owned a repair shop
Man that's a sweet device.... For 450€.... T_T
I thought you and not supposed to handle tubes with your hands
nein-th...
This gizmo has a low voltage wall wart power supply. How the hell is that supposed to deliver 250 V DC, of plate current?
Plus it would have been really cool if you had showed how it worked. With a known, bad tube? And it gives you a scale between 10 and 15. You mean, one through five? Add so, the way I read that, on one tube, it scored a one. The other scored a zero. Which is about the quality level of tubes today coming out of China and Russia. Why not try sticking in a new old stock Telefunken and see what you get?
So on a scale of 10 through 15. Neither of those tubes were worth a damn. They scored the lowest possible score. They're not worth using. Not worth wasting your money on. Or maybe it's the tube tester? It's a computerized device. Which one does not need. None of the ones in the drugstores in the 1960s & 70s, were computerized. And none of them actually test, what they need to test. As they, will probably sell more of those for $500 each? Then they will of, guitar amplifiers?
I think those tubes were called, Ruby tubes. From the embarrassed looks they'll have on their face? For selling such lousy tubes. Oh boy rated, a 10 and a 11. Or a 0 and a 1?
You'll know, your tubes need changing. When they don't deliver the punchy sound that they once did. Or if they get terribly, micro phonic. Meeting if you tap on them lightly with a pencil. And it sounds like you're beating on a condenser microphone capsule? It's gotten overly, micro phonic. And it might be time to replace it? But all tubes are essentially, slightly, micro phonic when you tap on them. It just shouldn't sound like you're beating on an, EMT plate.
It's time to replace the tubes. When it's nice and fuzzy sounding. And you wanted a clean sound.. Then it's time to replace some tubes.
If you can't turn it up to the earsplitting levels you once did, it once did? It might be time to replace the tubes?
If you're going to spend $500 for a tube tester? Wouldn't it be smarter to just, stockpile, $500 worth of new tubes for yourself? And then give your old ones to your poor friends and kids. Instead of wasting $500 on a tube tester for a guitar amplifier? Think about it? You might spend $500 to find out that your VF-14 in your U-47, needs replacing? And then you have $500 less with which to purchase one of those. If you can find one for less than, $5000?
New tubes will hardly matter in the microphone preamps that have them. If you're into the budget ones like the, APHEX. Why? Because they're not running that tube as an amplification circuit. They're running it at such low voltages. You can't even see the heater light up, the filaments light up. Because they don't. Nope. What you're looking at is a yellow LED, behind the tube. And it's operating at highly depleted, plate current. It's only there to make distortion. Transistors and IC chips do the rest. It's only there to give you tube distortion, in abundance. It's not meant for amplification. But in guitar amplifiers, they are. So, what good is the tube tester for your guitar tubes? When it can't deliver full plate current & voltage with the tester? Oh yeah. That's going to tell you what it sounds like in your amplifier.
Glenn, I think you should go back to your school and ask for your money back? They didn't teach you that stuff? And you're a guitarist?
I know I know. It's all that good German beer and knockwurst and schnitzel. You're forgiven.
Maybe a more comprehensive test with German guitars. Demonstrated along with, German beers? Would be more educational? And which one makes you wail more? I'm sorry. You're disqualified. You already won the, Wail, Contest. Looks like too much schnitzel for you?
No me lol
Throw that revv pedal away!
Cool unit but... at $700 AUD get stuffed. There must be cheaper alternatives. Could buy a good amp and a shit load of tubes for $700.
anyone here know of any decent beginner audio interfaces?
Focusrite scarlett stuff is pgood. 18i20 works good for recording live drums. A two channel interface would be enough for anything else
Honestly the guy above me nailed it. Listen to that
ok thanks for the info