No question that's a lot of hours. probably one of the most conservative setup I heard. I have mine set at 46ma which was normally 55 on my amp.. as I recall.
Neat! One of the neat sounding OTL headphone amps I've heard uses that tube. Eddie Current Zana Deux. I don't own one. But I have heard it and it does a really neat OTL sound. And that makes that 6C33C-B tube pretty neat. It's also a tube designed to withstand an EMP blast.
I can imagine it will be a good OTL because of the tube power output. There is one guy that I heard with 32 watts. That was really nice. We'll see soon. I'm excited to listen to it.
I’m always interested in how far folks push power tubes. My VTLs have been running the current set of GL KT88s since mid 2016 …. no hours ‘counter’ sadly, so must rely on ballpark. I’m guessing somewhere in the range of 3,000 hours. Far too long I suspect some would say, but they still sound good and it’s been years since any failed the VTL tube checking at start up. Probably ought to have one tested to see what the measurements say.
Ooh, that's tough. But I remember I got a new set of 6550s at about the same time I got heavily back in to two channel listening (and bought Thiel 3.7s). I'd guess an average of an hour a day, so they were at 2,190 ish after 6 years. But they didn't fail on me. I actually swapped them out for KT120s, and then gave them away as "freebies" when I sold another CJ amp. So who knows how many more hours they would have lasted?
We had a neighbor with one of those generator bikes when I was a kid, and racing BMX bikes at the time (so I had very strong legs and a lot of endurance back then). You would be shocked both at just how hard those are to pedal and how little power they provide when you ride them.
Not hoarding at all. Funny thing about tube amplifiers. Without tubes, they do nothing at all. Any tube can fail in any amp at any time. It is only the prudent thing to do, keeping an extra set of tubes in reserve. Being with, is way better than being without!
Good to always have a backup especially if you trip over a banana peel and broke one or 2. I actually dropped a telefunken 12ax7 new in the box.
A curious thing here. Two products that effect me that are vintage in origin are, tubes and razor blades (not the cartridge type). What is interesting to note is, that Russia (and China) are major manufacturing centers for modern versions of these products. As such, since the conflict began, this past February, both of these products have become more coveted due to speculation of scarcity and actual scarcity, amid riding prices. Funny too that there is a market for individuals who seek out and use vintage razor blades too! These also are far more expensive than those of modern manufacture and they tend to last longer.
Yeah. The criticisms of the run on tubes was always a bit odd. Whenever people end up with a problem that could have been prevented, they are asked "Well, why didn't you think ahead?" If you have an amp that only works if you have tubes, it's just being prudent to make sure you have back ups. And if you learn that back-ups will very soon be extremely expensive or even possibly unobtainable for some unpredictable amount of time, why in the world wouldn't it be prudent to say "Hey, good idea to grab those back ups now while I can get them?" Yeah, a lot of people probably did it around the same time, which eventually meant many supplies ran dry. But then, what do you expect when there is a sudden shortage of something a lot of people need**? **(Please, no virtue signalling. "need" is within the context of what we talk about in this forum: audio gear).
c/o @Jaytor Do you guys know anyone around our area that can check a 6C33C-B tubes. I have a total of 9. I just wanna make sure which ones are the closest match. Till I get the chance to buy my own tester. Thanks... Cant wait with the new amp man and its coming.. Happy New Year!
I have an Amplitrex AT1000 which can test these tubes, but it needs a special socket adapter for this tube which I don't have. If you can get ahold of the socket adapter, I'm happy to help you test the tubes. You can also check with Eurotubes in Milwaukee to see if they will test them or to see if they have a socket adapter available to buy (rr maybe just borrow).
Just got off the phone with EuroTubes on my break. No luck yet in mine. But its a good thing we have a store close by. Now I know so I can go there of I need something else. Thanks....
I sent an email to Chris at Amplitrex to find out what kind of socket adapter is necessary and what it would cost. I'll let you know when i hear back from him.
I did a 6 months tube roll on the 300b amp last night. In the bowl of 2 years and last 6 month it hardly even dropped. Maybe 1.2%. These 300b tubes are built like a tank.... December 5 2022 300B Tube Check 1-66 2-66 3-65 4-64.5 Install 0 new, Remain 3-4-1-2 Roll 1-65 2-64.5 3-66 4-66 ___________________________________ June 18 2022 300B Tube Check 1-67 2-66 3-65 4-64.5 Install 1 new on 4, Remain 1-2-3 1-67 2-66 Roll 3-66 4-65
Well, it's not super cheap. $239 + shipping. I don't have a use for this, but if you want to buy the adapter, I'm happy to test the tubes for you.
Thank you. Either I buy an adaptor that will also work on my old-school tester too or get a tester though I have no idea how good are these Chinese made for $300.00 plus shipping. But of course its not a stereo and just a tester so I'm not picky about it as long as its not just gonna die not like a US designed testers.... But this is really important in my end so one way or another I'll get something soon. And knowing the produced limitations of these tubes are not as many unless other companies starts making new ones. I seriously doubt they can just copy it. The glass is twice thicker on these original ones for its maybe due to its aviation purpose. Its also nice for I can point a fan on my amp with no worries cooling it off.
I believe the guitar amp replacement tube market is 2 billion a year. Someone will always want a piece of that market. And musicians will never give up tube amps for solid-state amps.
Sanctions will be the end of tube resurgence. Russians won`t sell to unfriendly markets and chinese tubes are crap. Maybe it is better so, that is why someone invented stereo integrated amplifier with a integrated phono stage.
