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Question about mixing different brand/non-matched tubes

post #1 of 2
4/18/11 at 8:03am
Thread Starter 

Hey all,

 

I just wanted to ask the tube experts here a questions that I've been wondering about for a while now.  Are there/what are consequences of mixing different brand of tubes and non-matched tubes? Is this something that is harmful to do or anything like that? I do see that people almost always buy the tubes in a matched pair of same brand and I'd think that there is a good reason for doing so, but I just wanted to know what that reason is. 

 

Thanks in advance.

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post #2 of 2
4/19/11 at 4:03pm

When people speak of matched tubes they usually mean across channels, to keep the balance and tonality consistent between R and L.  It's probably a good idea to use the same brand tubes, and matched pairs if you can find them.  Having said that, a perfect match is not necessary, a lot of circuit designs compensate for small differences between tubes, and any differences will likely be imperceptible anyway.

 

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