Comments on Profile Post by rhythmdevils

The ebay seller of the tubes just wrote me this:

If the tube has static it means there's debris on the cathode or plate... This is EXTREMELY common as tubes start to burn the minute they are powered up and sometimes this debris can get lodged on a cathode causing static, popping, hissing or other annoying noises... Now you know why they invented transistors...

Take the tube and holding it upright tap the center pin firmly on a hard surface, you can also tap the tube with a pencil while listening at a low level... The purpose is to dislodge the debris...

Don't worry, tubes are pretty tough so you're not going to hurt it... I just had this happen with one of my ECC32's in my system and luckily tapping the center pin firmly dislodged the debris... ALL tubes have debris in them so you never want to turn them upside down deliberately... Of course during shipping all sorts of stuff gets shaken up...

Give it 8 hours for occasional pops to go away, especially if tubes have not been used in a while. Otherwise static on tubes usually means bad tube.

Just to add that also cleaning the pins (and depending on tube type - resoldering the pin connectors) also help mitigate the static/noise.

I too tap on my tubes to get rid of static. If you have some nails you can tap with your fingers :D

When my chest hair touches the tube

nervosa

Usually when it is starting to die.