Schiit Happened: The Story of the World's Most Improbable Start-Up
Feb 9, 2020 at 11:57 AM Post #56,704 of 145,575
The tubes in my 2-channel amp have not been removed in 12 years and it sounds great. Don't do things to your gear just because you can, it's not necessary.
 
Feb 9, 2020 at 12:49 PM Post #56,705 of 145,575
The tubes in my 2-channel amp have not been removed in 12 years and it sounds great. Don't do things to your gear just because you can, it's not necessary.

I believe the OP was having starting to hear scratchy sounds from his tubes and wondered if cleaning the pins would help...
.
 
Feb 9, 2020 at 1:16 PM Post #56,706 of 145,575
I believe the OP was having starting to hear scratchy sounds from his tubes and wondered if cleaning the pins would help...
.
Yeah, and here's the weird thing. It isn't scratchy the whole time. It will be silent a long time, and then there will be some cascading waves of static for a bit, then nothing again for some time. Unpredictable and inconsistent. And usually only from one speaker. This will swap, btw, if I swap tube positions. And then there will sometimes be a high pitched whine coming from the tubes (not the speaker in this case.), after a while. And then it will usually go away. It will go away immediately if I remove the tubes and then pop them right back in. The tubes are relatively young and should have many thousands of hours life left in them. But this has made me wonder - is this just how tubes are? Or is some mischief afoot here?

Also, I should mention that other than these noise-nuisances (noisances?) the sound is incredible.
 
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Feb 9, 2020 at 2:06 PM Post #56,707 of 145,575
Yeah, and here's the weird thing. It isn't scratchy the whole time. It will be silent a long time, and then there will be some cascading waves of static for a bit, then nothing again for some time. Unpredictable and inconsistent. And usually only from one speaker. This will swap, btw, if I swap tube positions. And then there will sometimes be a high pitched whine coming from the tubes (not the speaker in this case.), after a while. And then it will usually go away. It will go away immediately if I remove the tubes and then pop them right back in. The tubes are relatively young and should have many thousands of hours life left in them. But this has made me wonder - is this just how tubes are? Or is some mischief afoot here?

Also, I should mention that other than these noise-nuisances (noisances?) the sound is incredible.
I own a lot of tubes and it is not common to have such issues so I would not give up on tubes. You might want to consider changing tube brands as well as following some of the advice offered here. The beauty of tubes is you can change the sound a bit to fit your likes and dislikes if you can pick up on some of the subtle nuances.
 
Feb 9, 2020 at 4:16 PM Post #56,708 of 145,575
Yeah, and here's the weird thing. It isn't scratchy the whole time. It will be silent a long time, and then there will be some cascading waves of static for a bit, then nothing again for some time. Unpredictable and inconsistent. And usually only from one speaker. This will swap, btw, if I swap tube positions. And then there will sometimes be a high pitched whine coming from the tubes (not the speaker in this case.), after a while. And then it will usually go away. It will go away immediately if I remove the tubes and then pop them right back in. The tubes are relatively young and should have many thousands of hours life left in them. But this has made me wonder - is this just how tubes are? Or is some mischief afoot here?

Also, I should mention that other than these noise-nuisances (noisances?) the sound is incredible.

If the noise swaps channels with the tube, chances are slim that it's dirty pins or a dirty socket being the culprit. However, if you've been swapping tubes a bunch then cleaning the pins/sockets is still recommended -- you might be surprised at the amount of black crud that appears at the end of the pipe cleaner when you do.

It's possible with an octal tube that the solder connection in one (or more) of the pins has come loose. With the intermittent nature it could be that the internal wire is making contact at some times and not at others, exacerbated by heating/expansion/cooling and even vibration. If you have a soldering iron, reflowing the solder in the pins can fix this. It's a common problem with '50's era Russian tubes (Fotons and Melz particularly) that @Paladin79 correctly diagnosed, and while not at all common with more recently manufactured tubes it is still possible. A lot depends on what tubes you have and how pricey or rare they are. If you have soldering capability it's worth the effort regardless, but if not and the tube isn't expensive it's probably more practical to just replace it. There's the possibility as well that the tube has developed an internal fault, and reflowing solder in the pins can't fix that. Happens. Not frequently and not usual, but it does come with the territory.
 
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Feb 9, 2020 at 10:31 PM Post #56,709 of 145,575
Yeah, and here's the weird thing. It isn't scratchy the whole time. It will be silent a long time, and then there will be some cascading waves of static for a bit, then nothing again for some time. Unpredictable and inconsistent. And usually only from one speaker. This will swap, btw, if I swap tube positions. And then there will sometimes be a high pitched whine coming from the tubes (not the speaker in this case.), after a while. And then it will usually go away. It will go away immediately if I remove the tubes and then pop them right back in. The tubes are relatively young and should have many thousands of hours life left in them. But this has made me wonder - is this just how tubes are? Or is some mischief afoot here?

Also, I should mention that other than these noise-nuisances (noisances?) the sound is incredible.
If the noise swaps channels with the tube, chances are slim that it's dirty pins or a dirty socket being the culprit. However, if you've been swapping tubes a bunch then cleaning the pins/sockets is still recommended -- you might be surprised at the amount of black crud that appears at the end of the pipe cleaner when you do.

It's possible with an octal tube that the solder connection in one (or more) of the pins has come loose. With the intermittent nature it could be that the internal wire is making contact at some times and not at others, exacerbated by heating/expansion/cooling and even vibration. If you have a soldering iron, reflowing the solder in the pins can fix this. It's a common problem with '50's era Russian tubes (Fotons and Melz particularly) that @Paladin79 correctly diagnosed, and while not at all common with more recently manufactured tubes it is still possible. A lot depends on what tubes you have and how pricey or rare they are. If you have soldering capability it's worth the effort regardless, but if not and the tube isn't expensive it's probably more practical to just replace it. There's the possibility as well that the tube has developed an internal fault, and reflowing solder in the pins can't fix that. Happens. Not frequently and not usual, but it does come with the territory.

I asked friends about this very problem a few days ago, the night before you posted your problem. I pulled the tube out of my saga and went with the LISST in it's place. Problem solved.

The tube in question is a 53 Foton.

I've been meaning to send 4 of em to a friend that reflows tubes. This will accelerate that plan. I better hurry too, that guy is about to start a massive, elegant, undertaking.
 
Feb 9, 2020 at 11:27 PM Post #56,710 of 145,575
Those of us who grew up with tubes KNOW that tubes 'wear out', and when they do they can cause all sorts of strange 'symptoms'.
And its not just the tubes but the sockets, and after a long while, caps etc. will need 'fixing'.

Tube circuits are more 'fussy' and 'hands on', as well as requiring troubleshooting skills etc, much more so that SS gear.

High(er) voltage and hotter temps will wear circuits out faster, just 'cause.

And as those of us that LIKE tubes know, there is no substitute and so, dealing with the 'high maintenance' aspects, just keeps our 'hands in' so we stay sharp with the operation of the gear.
Besides 450vdc will do more than just tingle.
And that's my story and I'm sticking to it…
HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA

JJ
 
Feb 10, 2020 at 8:24 AM Post #56,711 of 145,575
I asked friends about this very problem a few days ago, the night before you posted your problem. I pulled the tube out of my saga and went with the LISST in it's place. Problem solved.

The tube in question is a 53 Foton.

I've been meaning to send 4 of em to a friend that reflows tubes. This will accelerate that plan. I better hurry too, that guy is about to start a massive, elegant, undertaking.
There is a very good chance the Foton can be helped and since we are dealing with 67 year old Russian solder, I tend to remove it and replace it with a good quality Kester solder that contains a small percentage of silver. I add additional liquid rosin to help clean the inside of the pins before final soldering. Without doing this, those Fotons in particular can take you on a roller coaster ride of SQ as they heat and cool :) And you are correct, soon I will be neck deep in electronics including tubes and native hardwood and exotic wood that I am just beginning to appreciate.
 
Feb 10, 2020 at 1:21 PM Post #56,712 of 145,575
Those of us who grew up with tubes KNOW that tubes 'wear out', and when they do they can cause all sorts of strange 'symptoms'.
And its not just the tubes but the sockets, and after a long while, caps etc. will need 'fixing'.

Tube circuits are more 'fussy' and 'hands on', as well as requiring troubleshooting skills etc, much more so that SS gear.

High(er) voltage and hotter temps will wear circuits out faster, just 'cause.

And as those of us that LIKE tubes know, there is no substitute and so, dealing with the 'high maintenance' aspects, just keeps our 'hands in' so we stay sharp with the operation of the gear.
Besides 450vdc will do more than just tingle.
And that's my story and I'm sticking to it…
HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA

JJ

Let’s not scare away our friends that haven’t yet seen the light.. err, glow :smiley:

As long as the amp isn’t overdriving the tubes (which headphone amps usually do not) the maintenance (i.e replacing tubes) isn’t very high really. Higher than solid state of course, because eventually a tube will need to be replaced. But, as we all know, replacing a tube really isn’t more complicated than changing a light bulb. A potentially very expensive bulb though... :persevere:

Aside: I’ve had my Lyr3 for more than a year and a half now and the tube is still going strong. It should have about 500 power cycles and 2000 hours on it by now :L3000:
 
Feb 10, 2020 at 4:05 PM Post #56,713 of 145,575
Hey all...it's that time again!

SchiitrMeet February: Blind Phonos and Protos
Thursday, February 13, 6PM-10PM

"Phonos and Protos? What the heck is that?" you might ask.

Well, to start with, this is more blind listening stuff. Not as in, we blind you physically, but as in we hide the stuff you're listening to. We've already gotten some really interesting results from the blind listening we've done in the past, so we're continuing to do it.

And the "phonos and protos" refers to two separate blind tests we'll be doing.

First, some final candidates for the standard Sol cartridge. Yes, we did this before, but that's before we got deep into it and discovered the (a) some cartridges pick up more environmental hum than others (which may be acceptable, but hey, let's really find out) and (b) some cartridges have more high frequency hiss than others (which also may be acceptable). So we're doing a new round of cartridges that might or might not include some of the old ones. This will also be on the fully-ready-for-prime-time relaunch-version Sol that now features Space Grease. Yeah, ask David about that one.

Second, a couple of prototypes we're playing with. Sorry, there won't be any reveal, nor will there be a lot of detail. But if you want to help us decide on direction for an upcoming product, please come by and have a listen. We've already done internal listening on this one, but we'd like to have more input.

(And, for those of you looking for the Yggdrasil/Ragnarok vs Modi/Magni showdown, stay tuned...probably next month.)

So, please join me at:

The Schiitr
22508 Market Street
Newhall, CA 91321

Thursday, February 13, 2020
6PM-10PM

I hope to see you there!

All the best,
Jason
 
Schiit Audio Stay updated on Schiit Audio at their sponsor profile on Head-Fi.
 
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Feb 10, 2020 at 4:52 PM Post #56,715 of 145,575
Hey all...it's that time again!

SchiitrMeet February: Blind Phonos and Protos
Thursday, February 13, 6PM-10PM

"Phonos and Protos? What the heck is that?" you might ask.

Well, to start with, this is more blind listening stuff. Not as in, we blind you physically, but as in we hide the stuff you're listening to. We've already gotten some really interesting results from the blind listening we've done in the past, so we're continuing to do it.

And the "phonos and protos" refers to two separate blind tests we'll be doing.

First, some final candidates for the standard Sol cartridge. Yes, we did this before, but that's before we got deep into it and discovered the (a) some cartridges pick up more environmental hum than others (which may be acceptable, but hey, let's really find out) and (b) some cartridges have more high frequency hiss than others (which also may be acceptable). So we're doing a new round of cartridges that might or might not include some of the old ones. This will also be on the fully-ready-for-prime-time relaunch-version Sol that now features Space Grease. Yeah, ask David about that one.

Second, a couple of prototypes we're playing with. Sorry, there won't be any reveal, nor will there be a lot of detail. But if you want to help us decide on direction for an upcoming product, please come by and have a listen. We've already done internal listening on this one, but we'd like to have more input.

(And, for those of you looking for the Yggdrasil/Ragnarok vs Modi/Magni showdown, stay tuned...probably next month.)

So, please join me at:

The Schiitr
22508 Market Street
Newhall, CA 91321

Thursday, February 13, 2020
6PM-10PM

I hope to see you there!

All the best,
Jason

Glad to hear that SOL is moving forward again.

Wished I were closer to you guys (7 hours drive for me each way, excluding your local traffic).

Will the Yggdrasil/Ragnarok vs Modi/Magni showdown have Modi D/S, True Multibit, or both?
 

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