Andy Evans wrote:

Its no wonder the ECC40 is plentiful and cheap, the makers made a mistake to
use a pinout so different to the status quo
of octal, 9&7 minis.

But what was the status quo at the time it was made? It's an old valve.

Then there was noval, for 7868, etc.Why would anyone use 7868 now?

Good sound - I have some!

Maybe if they made a new version with an octal socket..

7591 - very nice.

yes, but why oh why was the noval socket ever made?!

It's Novar, isn't it? Good question.

Loctal was also brought in for milspec gear to prevent tubes falling out of
sockets.

And if you don't twist back the flange underneath the sockets are very good for
pulling the tubes to pieces trying to extract them. Nevertheless, I have some
stunning loctal tubes: C3M, 7AF7, 7N7, XXL, CV391 - these are nearly as good as
it gets in their particular types.
The whole deal with these oddball sockets is that though they are hopeless for
commercial gear as you say, they are well priced for experimenters and DIY
projects. Look at the difference in price between a '40s 7N7 and a '40s 6SN7 -
try buying the 6SN7 for $5. And to make things even better, I got 100 teflon
loctal sockets for peanuts. Try getting a teflon octal socket for $5 even!

Yes, there is much to agree with here.
I ought to make all the gear I wilol own myself with oddball sockets just for the
cost.
Somehow though, I seem to have accumulated so much junk that will be only
good if stripped down for its sockets, terminal strips, occasional resistor,
transformers, maybe a pot or two, that I will never ever have a shortage.
But I am far to busy now building orders of quality stuff for customers to indulge
in things like a new tubed oscilliscope, and a few other bits of gear,
plus some radios, and yet even more audio gear for myself.

Patrick Turner.



=== Andy Evans ===
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