Vacuum Tubes Basics: 10 things you need to know

hi guys welcome back to enna dialogue the dialogue on analog music reproduction in this episode we're finally gonna talk about tubes thermionic tubes vacuum tubes also known as valves in the UK are you ready let's take a look okay guys so today we're finally gonna focus on tubes oh yes we're gonna take a look at the ten main aspects I think are worth knowing in order just to have a general knowledge and know how to handle NOLA what know what to look for if you are interested or you're getting close to this world to this new type of amplification okay guys are you ready let's dive in okay so point number one tubes were invented in 1904 by Fleming and they were used employed mainly in early computers we could say and also amplification as you can imagine in order to regulate the flow of electrons thanks to the electrodes inside it's very complex they're very different kinds during the decades after that we're not gonna go in that we're just gonna focus on how to use them the best way what you need to do to get the maximum at a basic level introductory level so let's proceed point number two tube sound yes why are we dealing with this why am I doing this video because tubes valves do have a special type of sound I mean there is something magical about them but it's not only a matter of the so-called warmth analog warmth or a distinct character I mean there is a lot of misconceptions around tubes unfortunately pre amplification mainly in tubes is something fantastic that I think every hi-5 ich needs to experiment at least once in a while as I said once in one of my episodes dedicated to hi-fi myth mistakes etc here's a link to band obviously what came after transistors are always in the debate which is best how to put them together which should go where power amplification pre amplification etc well tubes do have a distinct character but there are a lot as I said misconceptions for example dynamics a lot of people think that tubes are not able capable dealing with that low voltage that low amount of watts to give a good distinct dynamic range to the music well actually it's quite the opposite almost I mean those little guys here do an amazing work when you give a proper a source obviously but also a proper gear around it because there's so many crapola going around with tubes and you really need to know what to look for now talking about the amplifiers amplifiers dedicated to different kinds of components perhaps we're gonna do that in another video today we're gonna dedicate it precisely to tubes so the tube sound is something as I said particular very very distinct actually it is quite neutral if you have a proper system a proper we could say flow how these are set up they do not give that warmth or almost as a distortion there is obviously some of that but it's not as much as it has been claimed I know this because I passed from a very good transistor amplifier to a very good and we will see that in another video integrated amplifier which obviously is based on tubes and things changed but they change in a different way and it wasn't just better within the same scale there was a natural reproduction of sound mainly in the space the air between instruments between the different sounds in a recording the ambience the refinement of the micro detail the the Timbers I mean every single aspect was delivered in a different way and in my most humble opinion in a more faithful way okay guys let's proceed point number three tube application obviously in audio well we're we're interested mainly in two types pre amplification and that's the best of the best but also power amplification as we all know you'll probably have an integrated amplifier but a lot of people high-end gears and high-end systems have a pre amplifier and a power amplifier in that delicate part where you have to the first part of the amplification of the signal tubes are paramount are very very good in doing that so that's where I highly suggest to focus if you do not have gear with based on tubes so headphone amplifier that's a type of pre amplifier but also a normal pre amplifier in your stereo system absolutely but also a phonon pre amplifier these are all excellent places were to start off with tubes to have just experiment the sound although you do need to have special gear not special gear but gear design really where tubes are central and expressing fully themselves but we'll get back to this in another video as I said on gear okay let's proceed point number four tube life now this is a big issue actually as you may know tubes do have a lifetime almost as a lightbulb they don't last forever actually they don't even last that much if you have multiple tubes in your piece of gear like for example four or six in your preamplifier then each tube is gonna last much longer because it's working at a lower rate instead if you have only like two one four Channel they're working hard so obviously they're gonna won't wear wear out much quicker usually it's hard to say it depends from the type it depends how much you listen to music it depends how long you leave your amplifier it depends how it's said inside in any case let's try to say that more or less a tube will last between one and two years which could be summed in five thousand ten thousand hours more or less okay guys let's proceed point number five tube supply now that's also something interesting an issue sometimes where to get tubes what kind of tubes are there it's a past technology it's almost obsolete we could say if not for this high quality in music reproduction so we mainly have two big areas where we can head to buy our tubes because even though if you buy a component with its tube is already in sooner or later you're gonna have to change those or if you want to experiment different kinds of sound but we'll get back to that at the end okay so um we have two main areas where we can buy tubes the new production which is not that big or the new old stock and OS which I would say you can find them in several stores online maybe to your local stores who knows which deal owns but deals with them but usually you really have to hit on eBay to find them at least that's what I do here in Italy it's very very difficult to find them nobody hasn't so at that point you're probably gonna start spending a little more if you're going for a new old stock new old stock it's probably better because the word tubes are coming from a period where they were made to be good to last in the golden age of tubes obviously while now we only have a few manufacturers what we're doing that and obviously as you can imagine like buying a new cassette player it's not gonna be top of the tops although there are decent product product products absolutely so I have a list here of the main resources the main places and the main brands I'm gonna read them I don't know although my mind so let's see them let's start with the new old stock the Golden Age of tubes well what are the main areas of production and the main producers the main labels let's see so we have mainly American tubes which were RCA G a Sylvania Ken rad Dumont and Tong soul okay these for America or the British Muller well I'm sorry if I'm butchering these names as you know I have them in my mind in Italian pronunciation so I miss I might mispronounce them sorry for that so for the British ones mullard breimer and mazda those are the main for the british also we have Dutch and Prix and Philips but also the French RTC and obviously the German Telefunken these we could say are the tops of the top absolutely fantastic brands fantastic products while instead today if you're gonna start looking for new productions they're mainly our three areas first of all China Xuan gong and we have a lot of brands and sub brands there sino China Xu Xu Guan gong golden dragon they also rebrand Mesa Ruby ta D groove tubes PM components valve art pv fender and obviously much others and these are all Chinese which are good don't think Chinese equals crap Chinese are good there they are a good product not all of them but they are good obviously there are much much more brands but I'm just telling you the main ones the another important location is in Europe the Slovak Republic mainly JJ electronic which does again a lot of brands and sub brands which does JJ Telefunken Black Diamond but I also rebrands Mesa Ruby T ad group tubes PM components evolve our Pavey fender as the Chinese they both do then the third big poll is as you can imagine Russia which is doing a lot of good products I would say mainly reflector corporation which again they do a lot of brands and sub brands so new sensor electro harmonix Mullard reissue tongue so reissue soft tech gentle x gold Lions vut Lana which are not the real to Atlanta and etc etc but these are just to give you a few names which are gonna write down here and in the video description you're gonna find them all ok let's proceed point number six tube matching oh yes this is something annoying but you have to keep in mind when you're buying tubes for your gear they need to be matched and in a lot of cases they're just selling well like that on the stores etc a match tube is much much better if it's matched it's gonna express itself we could say it's gonna work in the Optima minute way together with the other one so we have the same amount of power going through them and with the push-pull response to what they're doing so it's always a good idea to buy matched if there are two if they're for if they're eight in fact you're gonna find for example on eBay or in stores quad or quartet or pair obviously or octet for eight like for example I have eight power tubes in my amplifier it obviously when one goes bad you're gonna have to change them all if you really want to have optimum quality or you can measure all the other ones see at what point they are and find one at that point I know it's hard it's a tough world it's a tough hobby but these are things you got to know in order to as I said move around and know what you're doing with tubes okay together with this matching sometimes I would suggest if you're really gonna go in tubes as you can imagine there is a dedicated gear so you can test tubes a tube tester um there's also a new product called by Orange the v1000 which is very cool obviously it's not compatible with every single type of tube but it does deal with a lot of them so you can use that for example otherwise you're gonna ask the head to ebay or thrift shops or things like that to find these old testers which are very cool actually which for a few hundred dollars a few year a hundred euro you can find them and at that point you obviously need to learn how to use them but you can test the tubes and see not only if they're good but the exact type of voltage at that point you can match them with other tubes that's the best of the list because as I said it's very important also to lower noise distortion to regulate the bias we're gonna talk about this in a while that it's very important again I want to remark this matching tubes let's proceed point number seven to bias I know this is kind of annoying but you should regulate your pieces of gear and obviously the the tubes with a correct bias which means a the proper flow of electrons not too hot not too cold in order to have an optimal playback an optimum working of the machine this has done mainly in two parts first you have to measure the millivolts actually connected to each tube with a voltmeter which sometimes it's it's right it's really hard to do if they're not the the correct the the proper little holes the ground and the hot pole in order to see if the the how many millivolts are passing through those tubes not all amps preamps have that so maybe you're not gonna be able subsequently with a screwdriver because you need to regulate the bias for each tube within a range which usually is indicated by the manufacturer like for example I don't know between four and five you have to set all the tubes within that same range then they weren't gonna work properly or you can buy a piece of gear which has Auto bias mmm like mine the best of the best and that's much easy and it's obviously gonna be theoretically the best optimum bias for each tube I know this sounds difficult and in fact not all pieces of gear are capable of doing this so you have to check this okay guys let's proceed okay point number eight tube handling now you saw me touching this but this is a broken tube it's better if you never touch any part of the tube just use some toilet paper that's what I do or gloves or anything else that does not give you direct contact with the oils in your hands on the pins on the the the glass any part because this does really get rarely really really hot and if there are oils residue oils on it in a might crack the the glass or have issues and also in the contact so it's it's just a good idea to handle in a this is that specific way as I tell told you another important aspect is because it might seem something obvious to everyone who are already dealing with tubes but if you're a newbie you really don't know how to do this what am I talking about how to insert them and take them out of components which really it's it's sometimes almost scary because they're really hard to take them out it's it's hard to insert them and take them out just as I said take a piece of paper and if you're inserting them you just follow the holes according to the number of pins how they are displayed you put them in and you gently but firmly press them down obviously a good idea is to jerk him a little bit like that in the same way when you want to extract them the best solution is to start jerking them like this slowly slowly uh and then they're gonna come out quite easily actually if you don't do that and you start pulling you might break something actually so be careful let's proceed point number nine to warm up yes you have to it's better I mean I just turn mine and put my records or whatever I'm using but obviously you're gonna have the maximum result at least I would say twenty thirty minutes even more sometimes after you turn them on after that time the the tubes are nice and warm and the music is gonna really gonna start to sing there I know people who start turning them on even an hour earlier so it depends it depends he's even from your ears you test it you see when you have the the pinnacle of sound reproduction the best quality then you can know that if you're gonna do a listening session just want to enjoy some music with tubes I would say you turn them on you go and do something else and then you come back or you just start listening who cares that's what I do as well no problem with that let's proceed okay our last point point number ten tube rolling what's tube rolling it ain't this - rolling is what you when you want to start to have fun with them yes you want to experiment maybe the sound is becoming dull maybe you're just don't like the tubes you've got maybe you don't like the ones already put installed in it when you bought your piece of gear and you want to try something new it's a good idea just buy them off the internet match them get a match or you match them by yourself if you have the possibility as I told you before and at that point try new types obviously you always have to look at the type of tube you're dealing with like for example the 12 au I don't know or the ACA 8 there's so many types you don't have to get that precise type although it's better I recommend to do that but if you look around in the in the web you will find that for example one type equal is equal to another three or four types and you can buy those and put them in no problem obviously though you have to remember the word you're using them for a preamplifier or for a power amplifier or obviously there are also other applications where you can use tubes but we're we're dealing mainly with those so just be careful of that and enjoy tube rolling because it is fun we actually different pieces of gear really reach their maximum potential with the right type of tube I have for example got my new preform phone a preamplifier I'm not gonna tell you which one maybe in a new video and the I changed the stock tubes I put something very good new all stock not that good actually I put back the ones that the producer put in there perfect so so in some cases you just go back where you were you discover that the ones you already had we're better who knows okay guys I hope you enjoyed this video please write in the comments your suggestions if there are other practices you want to highlight that I didn't discuss about which are your favorite tubes what pieces of gear with tubes you have if you are using this if you know this world if you are interested I am interested in knowing okay guys remember that music is born analog and never forget that and tubes are what the quintessential of this aspect goodbye

Channel: ANA[DIA]LOG

Views: 133,927

Keywords: analog, analogue, audio, hi-fi, audiophile, anadialog, ana[dia]log, tubes, valves, vacuum tubes, thermionic, diode, triode, telefinken, mullard, tung-sol, genelex, philips, gold lion

Id: uRdVgwUEVBM

Length: 21min 43sec (1303 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 26 2019