[alvin sawdust]

FYI -- from what I've read, the Melz are notorious for having static. This is due to the solder and age of the tube, but it can typically be resolved by re-flowing the solder on the tube pins. You can do this by running a hot soldering iron up and down the pins to melt and re-flow the solder inside. Be sure to keep the tube in an upright position with pins pointing downward as one does not want to have solder flow into the tube. An electronics soldering vise or something similar that can secure the tube in the right position while you perform this task is recommended as it does get too hot for hand-holding. Several have reported this as resolving the static issue with their Melz tube and while I've not done it specifically on a Melz, I have done this on several older tubes that exhibited static and the static was gone afterwards.

Not recommended on a cucumber, though.

Many thanks for the tip. Re-flowed a Melz 1578, Marconi black glass B65 and a CBS Hytron 5692 that were all at deaths door ( or so I thought ) with crackling and static. They are now all dead quiet and sounding great. I even brought life back to a Raytheon 6528 that wouldn't fire up at all.
Couldn't do anything with the cucumber though!

 

[Ripper2860]

Glad it helped. I can't tell you how many tubes I threw out before I found this tip.

 

[JKDJedi]

No. 70/70 is 65%.

I don't know what 65% means. and listening to this thing, just got in, I get it now..NOS sounds RIDICULOUS! (Meaning great)

 

[attmci]

I don't know what 65% means. and listening to this thing, just got in, I get it now..NOS sounds RIDICULOUS! (Meaning great)

No worries, your tube was tested as NOS.

It's a rebranded Sylvania (Hygrade Sylvania Corp; 312 ) made in 14th week of 1955.

 

[attmci]

An interesting writing about the "Cryogenic Treatment of Tubes"

And feel free to read the other articles.

 

[belgiangenius]

Glad it helped. I can't tell you how many tubes I threw out before I found this tip.

Dude! Thanks for this tip!

By chance I still had those 1578s in a junk pile on my bench (photo on previous page). It's only by chance that they sat there for ~18 months and never found their way out the door.

I heated up a 150W soldering iron until it glowed red and touched each pin of both tubes for about 15 sec.

I plugged them into my Schiit Freya and....dead quiet!

I finally got to try these tubes out. Damn. These are some of the best sounding neutral tubes I have ever heard!

They don't have the sweetness of something like a Raytheon VT-231, but they are excellent tubes. I may try them in the buffer position rather than the driver position.

 

[attmci]

Dude! Thanks for this tip!

By chance I still had those 1578s in a junk pile on my bench (photo on previous page). It's only by chance that they sat there for ~18 months and never found their way out the door.

I heated up a 150W soldering iron until it glowed red and touched each pin of both tubes for about 15 sec.

I plugged them into my Schiit Freya and....dead quiet!

I finally got to try these tubes out. Damn. These are some of the best sounding neutral tubes I have ever heard!

They don't have the sweetness of something like a Raytheon VT-231, but they are excellent tubes. I may try them in the buffer position rather than the driver position.

To be honest, you should let the seller know this.

 

[belgiangenius]

To be honest, you should let the seller know this.

I considered that too. I will see if he is still on eBay after a year and a half.

But the reality is they were not delivered in the promised condition. Now I have unexpectedly managed to repair them myself. What does that make the items that were delivered worth? Not an easy question.

 

[attmci]

Fine.

 

[ilikepooters]

Also worth noting, if you see any voids in the bottoms of the pins, a nice blob of cardas quad goes in there nicely

 

[JKDJedi]

So a Facebook follower just got wind of my new hobby and is bringing his junk from his garage for me to take a peek at, see anything worth keeping?

 

[alvin sawdust]

Glad it helped. I can't tell you how many tubes I threw out before I found this tip.

I am just about to order a better quality soldering iron. Re-flowing will probably be now part of the ritual, when I receive a new (to me) tube, of fine sanding the pins and cleaning with deoxit.
For me it's got to be one of the best tips and one that wouldn't normally cross your mind. I have a GEC A1834 that didn't power up and had a loose base. Have secured the base with two part resin and re-flowed the pins and bingo, sounding wonderful as I type this

 

[JKDJedi]

OMG... For only $7 this baby is KILLING IT!
Raytheon 6SN7GT 280 113 .
Very s m o o t h with a slight bass hump. Creamy vocals... Superb.

 

[JKDJedi]

So I really don't know what NOS 6SN7 tubes are considered le creme de le creme, but I kind of have an idea what new stock tubes might be, Sophia https://www.ebay.com/i/163472178030?chn=psand Black Treasure https://www.ebay.com/itm/CV181-Z-Sh...-6SN7-6N8P-6H8C/223139362664?var=521952360483 Or should I just go with NOS tubes?

 

[attmci]

So I really don't know what NOS 6SN7 tubes are considered le creme de le creme, but I kind of have an idea what new stock tubes might be, Sophia https://www.ebay.com/i/163472178030?chn=psand Black Treasure https://www.ebay.com/itm/CV181-Z-Sh...-6SN7-6N8P-6H8C/223139362664?var=521952360483 Or should I just go with NOS tubes?

You may want to ask the guys here:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/darkvoice-336-336i-tuberolling-tubes.193214/

Oops, you already found your buddy there.