I have some vintage vacuum tube testers for sale, and are listed here on this page. Anyone who has a sizeable investment in vacuum tubes or vacuum tube hi-fi equipment owes it to themselves to have a good tube tester on hand to periodically check the tubes they are using. You can take a more active role in "tube rolling" as you can match your own pairs, and keep tabs on the tubes you are currently using and know well in advance of when replacement time is near.
Tube testers have been out of production since the late 1970s, and supplies are only fair at this time. The prices have been steadily on the rise, especially with the frenzied buying of certain vintage testers on eBay and other online auction sites. Some of these sell prices of certain brands and models are grossly inflated. Hopefully on this webpage I can present good vintage tube testers at reasonable prices, away from the frenzy of the online auctionplace.
Orange Amps developed the world’s first fully automatic, portable, digital valve tester, the VT1000, to make it easy to test amp valves. Until now testing valves with little or no knowledge of valve theory was difficult, expensive and often unreliable. This new product will test all popular power and pre-amp valves. Its ease of use will appeal to all valve users whether amateur, professional or in the music retail trade. While the valves it can test are limited to mainly hi-fi amp/preamps and guitar amp types, it tests the most popular of these. Often, valve equipment users rarely test valves beyond these types, and this tester goes far beyond the limited tests a simple lower cost emissions tester can do. This tester rivals the tests that even the most costly Hickok mutual conductance testers, like the 539C, can do, at less than one-fourth the price!
The unit has one octal and two nine pin valve sockets for different valve types; simply insert the valve to be tested into the correct socket, select the valve type from the list on the unit and press ‘OK’ to test. The rest of the testing is completely AUTOMATED, there are no complex dials and switches to set, you merely sit back and watch! The results are displayed clearly and concisely using an array of LEDs and will test for a wide range of fault conditions, which could easily cause damage to other components. The simplicity of operation belies what is going on ‘inside the box’, where a CPU controlled testing system is in operation, allowing full control over all inter-electrode switching and measurement operations. In approximately two minutes, the VT1000 performs an extensive series of AUTOMATIC tests including:
The VT1000 really opens the door to everyone to have an extremely simple, portable, reliable, inexpensive and safe way to test valves. This unit is brand new, calibrated at the factory, and comes complete with a 90 day defect warranty.
The VT1000 incorporates patent-pending technology and currently tests the following valves:
EL34/6CA7; EL34L; E34L; 6L6, G, GA, GB, and GC, 5932, 1614; 6V6/6V6G/6V6GT/6V6GTA, 5992; KT66/EL37/7581A; KT77; KT88; 6550; 5881, 6L6WGB; EL84/6BQ5/7189/7189A; ECC81/12AT7/12AY7/6072/6201/6679; ECC82/12AU7/5814A/6189/ECC186/6680/5963/7316; ECC83/12AX7/5751/12AD7/12DF7/6681/7025; ECC99; 12BH7/A.
The VT-1000 weighs 5.2 pounds and comes complete with an AC power supply and full instruction manual. This operates on 110-125V AC and has a North American plug. For use in other parts of the world, a step-down transformer and/or plug adaptor will be needed and are not included with the VT-1000.
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