It's that time when I should bite the bullet and buy a tube tester. I know
my request is subjective, but I, for the most part, respect your opinions.
I'm looking at a TV-2 & 7 presently. Are there better models? I don't mind
spending for quality because quality usually holds its value, if for some
reason I want to sell or trade up. Please give me your opinions on this well
beaten subject. What would you consider the price range? How can you tell
condition on the Internet? Thank you in advance.
Cordially,
west

west wrote:

It's that time when I should bite the bullet and buy a tube tester. I know
my request is subjective, but I, for the most part, respect your opinions.
I'm looking at a TV-2 & 7 presently. Are there better models? I don't mind
spending for quality because quality usually holds its value, if for some
reason I want to sell or trade up. Please give me your opinions on this well
beaten subject. What would you consider the price range? How can you tell
condition on the Internet? Thank you in advance.
Cordially,
west

I don't waste time with tube testers.

I have a 3 stage tube preamp to test the output signals of preamp tubes
for noise with the tested tube grid grounded, and gain with an input
signal, and often a tester won't tell you what the noisiness of a tube is.

The CRO is indispensible for this.
You need to check that the noise is fairly constant level, if the
meter/trace flicks up and down slowly, you have flicker noise,
and you have to know what the heater voltage does.
Tubes tested with DC on the heaters can be amped up
to see the noise that isn't hum.
With AC on the heaters the tubes will show high variation with hum dominating
the noise measurements. The CRO is your best eye into the tube under test.

I test output tubes in an SE rig with parafeed choke for plate supply,
and RL is connected from the anode via an electro cap to 0V.
By changing RL from say 5k to 10k at signal voltages which are about 10%
of clipping, I get two values of gain.

With two values of gain I can work out U, Ra, and Gm with algebra,
because for all tubes,

Gain = U x RL / ( RL + Ra )

And Gm = U x Ra.

Measuring the DC voltage across the grid bias resistor will tell me if the tube
is making a positive grid voltage, ie, has grid current even at idle. It should
be slightly negative for
a good tube, or almost unmeasurable if Rg = 470k.
If it gets a lot worse after an hour or two, the tube is retired.
Old signal tubes are often positively gridded, noisy, and sometimes gain is low,

or the DC voltage at their anode doesn't settle at the same value as the other
healthy ones.
And when testing one's collection of 79 12AX7s, once you have done a few,
and know what to look for, it don't take long to do the other 75.
I did about 20 x 6CG7 the other day.
I threw 4 into the bin, instead of an equivalent healthy 2 uV of noise at their
grids, there was up to 40 uV, some had halves that didn't work, or had heaters
shorted to the
cathode, etc.....
Old tired tubes take their time to turn on.

I have 3 testers, most have serious faults, and i don't have the books to tell
me how to set
the switches and interpret the test results.

Beware buying any ancient tube test gear on E-bay or anywhere else;
Usually you are buying someone else's problem.

Tube testers have lots of switches and are not easy to service.
If a wafer switch has been over currented, it may be not repairable.

Just remember that many tubes poked into a tester with hope
caused serious short circuit currents to flow and gave cause for
despair.

Christ I can be negative some days!

But hey, maybe you buy one that works fine and causes no grief,
and then you will have an uncle called Bob.

Patrick Turner.

"Patrick Turner" wrote in message
...


I don't waste time with tube testers.


oh puhleeeze!


well, getting back to the question at hand, the TV-2 series is a very
thorough checker of tubes, since it has multiple meters going at the same
time (a similar advantage is found in the reliable Hickok 539 series)

but the TV-2 has been plagued with reliability issues, and the best guy on
military testers, Dan Nelson, won't touch 'em. For this reason, I would
look hard at the TV-7D/U (or B/U) or else a Hickok 539 series. If you are a
kick-ass electronics wizard, the TV-2 might be a good choice, just be
prepared to work on it from time to time. Spare parts for TV-2 series are
available from angela.com

the Triplett 3444 and 3444A are great testers, but also have reliability
issues. A superb circuit, featuring high plate test voltage, but not for
the fellow who cannot troubleshoot a broken one.

the AVO 163 is the tester to buy if you will be primarily testing European
tubes. The AVO Mk III and Mk IV are also very good for the euro-tube crowd.
Avoid AVO CT-160, it breaks often.

The Hickok 533, 600, 800, and 750 series as well as TV-7A/U are good choices
for the budget minded, who still want a high-end testing circuit. The FAA
spec-ed 752 series gets a little too pricey for me, at that level I would
get something in the 539 series, I don't mind resetting switches for the
other side of a 12AX7, just takes a second.

since no one with a lot of testers under his belt is calibrating anything
besides TV-7 any longer, I would look REALLY hard at that model. It also
has the advantage of the most data available of any tube tester (over 4000
tubes) and no tester is more reliable.

many would say the Hickok 539C, 580, and AVO VCM163 were the best 3 tube
testers ever made, and I wouldn't argue with them, but your wallet will not
like the initial damage


cheers!

cowboy bill
world's largest seller of calibrated vintage high-end tube testers

So, how do you test for shorts without a tube-tester --


"Patrick Turner" wrote in message
...


west wrote:

It's that time when I should bite the bullet and buy a tube tester. I
know
my request is subjective, but I, for the most part, respect your
opinions.
I'm looking at a TV-2 & 7 presently. Are there better models? I don't
mind
spending for quality because quality usually holds its value, if for
some
reason I want to sell or trade up. Please give me your opinions on this
well
beaten subject. What would you consider the price range? How can you
tell
condition on the Internet? Thank you in advance.
Cordially,
west

I don't waste time with tube testers.

I have a 3 stage tube preamp to test the output signals of preamp tubes
for noise with the tested tube grid grounded, and gain with an input
signal, and often a tester won't tell you what the noisiness of a tube is.

The CRO is indispensible for this.
You need to check that the noise is fairly constant level, if the
meter/trace flicks up and down slowly, you have flicker noise,
and you have to know what the heater voltage does.
Tubes tested with DC on the heaters can be amped up
to see the noise that isn't hum.
With AC on the heaters the tubes will show high variation with hum
dominating
the noise measurements. The CRO is your best eye into the tube under test.

I test output tubes in an SE rig with parafeed choke for plate supply,
and RL is connected from the anode via an electro cap to 0V.
By changing RL from say 5k to 10k at signal voltages which are about 10%
of clipping, I get two values of gain.

With two values of gain I can work out U, Ra, and Gm with algebra,
because for all tubes,

Gain = U x RL / ( RL + Ra )

And Gm = U x Ra.

Measuring the DC voltage across the grid bias resistor will tell me if the
tube
is making a positive grid voltage, ie, has grid current even at idle. It
should
be slightly negative for
a good tube, or almost unmeasurable if Rg = 470k.
If it gets a lot worse after an hour or two, the tube is retired.
Old signal tubes are often positively gridded, noisy, and sometimes gain
is low,

or the DC voltage at their anode doesn't settle at the same value as the
other
healthy ones.
And when testing one's collection of 79 12AX7s, once you have done a few,
and know what to look for, it don't take long to do the other 75.
I did about 20 x 6CG7 the other day.
I threw 4 into the bin, instead of an equivalent healthy 2 uV of noise at
their
grids, there was up to 40 uV, some had halves that didn't work, or had
heaters
shorted to the
cathode, etc.....
Old tired tubes take their time to turn on.

I have 3 testers, most have serious faults, and i don't have the books to
tell
me how to set
the switches and interpret the test results.

Beware buying any ancient tube test gear on E-bay or anywhere else;
Usually you are buying someone else's problem.

Tube testers have lots of switches and are not easy to service.
If a wafer switch has been over currented, it may be not repairable.

Just remember that many tubes poked into a tester with hope
caused serious short circuit currents to flow and gave cause for
despair.

Christ I can be negative some days!

But hey, maybe you buy one that works fine and causes no grief,
and then you will have an uncle called Bob.

Patrick Turner.

I don't waste time with tube testers.

Don't bother to reply then.

[snipped a lot of crap]

Christ I can be negative some days!

No ****.

Al.

Hi,
You'll be happy with a TV-7. A TV-2 will drive you nuts: aside from
the problems already listed, it takes too long to test a tube.

I have a 539C, 580A and a VCM163 but I use the TV-7B for most of my
day-to-day testing, along with a Hickok / Western Electric Cardmatic.

Any tester bought from ebay will need to be repaired and
calibrated. As already mentioned, Dan Nelson does excellent work on
TV-7s, a very good reason to favor that model in your search.

73, Alan

So How much should one pay for a nice looking TV-7 on EBay?
west
"cowboy" cacheoverflow@yahooDOTcom wrote in message
...

"Patrick Turner" wrote in message
...


I don't waste time with tube testers.


oh puhleeeze!


well, getting back to the question at hand, the TV-2 series is a very
thorough checker of tubes, since it has multiple meters going at the same
time (a similar advantage is found in the reliable Hickok 539 series)

but the TV-2 has been plagued with reliability issues, and the best guy on
military testers, Dan Nelson, won't touch 'em. For this reason, I would
look hard at the TV-7D/U (or B/U) or else a Hickok 539 series. If you are
a
kick-ass electronics wizard, the TV-2 might be a good choice, just be
prepared to work on it from time to time. Spare parts for TV-2 series are
available from angela.com

the Triplett 3444 and 3444A are great testers, but also have reliability
issues. A superb circuit, featuring high plate test voltage, but not for
the fellow who cannot troubleshoot a broken one.

the AVO 163 is the tester to buy if you will be primarily testing European
tubes. The AVO Mk III and Mk IV are also very good for the euro-tube
crowd.
Avoid AVO CT-160, it breaks often.

The Hickok 533, 600, 800, and 750 series as well as TV-7A/U are good
choices
for the budget minded, who still want a high-end testing circuit. The FAA
spec-ed 752 series gets a little too pricey for me, at that level I would
get something in the 539 series, I don't mind resetting switches for the
other side of a 12AX7, just takes a second.

since no one with a lot of testers under his belt is calibrating anything
besides TV-7 any longer, I would look REALLY hard at that model. It also
has the advantage of the most data available of any tube tester (over 4000
tubes) and no tester is more reliable.

many would say the Hickok 539C, 580, and AVO VCM163 were the best 3 tube
testers ever made, and I wouldn't argue with them, but your wallet will
not
like the initial damage


cheers!

cowboy bill
world's largest seller of calibrated vintage high-end tube testers

I think we established that the consensus says you can't go wrong with a
TV-7, but I also asked how can you tell the condition on EBay and how much
would you pay for one?? Thanks
west

"west" wrote in message
m...
It's that time when I should bite the bullet and buy a tube tester. I know
my request is subjective, but I, for the most part, respect your
opinions.
I'm looking at a TV-2 & 7 presently. Are there better models? I don't
mind
spending for quality because quality usually holds its value, if for some
reason I want to sell or trade up. Please give me your opinions on this
well
beaten subject. What would you consider the price range? How can you tell
condition on the Internet? Thank you in advance.
Cordially,
west

Hi,

but I also asked how can you tell the condition on EBay and how much
would you pay for one?? Thanks

You can't tell, and I don't know since I bought mine from Fair
Radio years ago (for $125). Just last weekend I sold a reasonably
nice working TV-3 at a local swap meet for $225.

73, Alan

John Walton wrote:

So, how do you test for shorts without a tube-tester --

It becomes very apparent very quickly when it is anticipated
with an unknown quality tube set up in a sample working circuit.


The plate supply over current protect circuit trips if the power tube being
tested
has a parafeed L from the B+,
and if its a signal tube the shorted anode just pulls down the Ea
across the plate load R.
A shorted screen pulls the voltage low on the deliberately stout screen R
supply.
Heater to cathode shorts give enormous hums, and perhaps no cathode bias, so
Ea seems low, and noisy.
shorted heaters cause a voltage drop in the heater supply,
and there is no glow.
Shorted heaters are rare, open heaters more common.
Shorted grids to cathode, screens become obvious soon.
A huge voltage rise in the cathode bias resistor also indicates all isn't
well inside the tube.

One clips meters onto the anode and cathode....

One should know before testing about what to expect, and not sit there
in an actionless mind fug while things start smoking.

Patrick Turner.




"Patrick Turner" wrote in message
...


west wrote:

It's that time when I should bite the bullet and buy a tube tester. I
know
my request is subjective, but I, for the most part, respect your
opinions.
I'm looking at a TV-2 & 7 presently. Are there better models? I don't
mind
spending for quality because quality usually holds its value, if for
some
reason I want to sell or trade up. Please give me your opinions on this
well
beaten subject. What would you consider the price range? How can you
tell
condition on the Internet? Thank you in advance.
Cordially,
west

I don't waste time with tube testers.

I have a 3 stage tube preamp to test the output signals of preamp tubes
for noise with the tested tube grid grounded, and gain with an input
signal, and often a tester won't tell you what the noisiness of a tube is.

The CRO is indispensible for this.
You need to check that the noise is fairly constant level, if the
meter/trace flicks up and down slowly, you have flicker noise,
and you have to know what the heater voltage does.
Tubes tested with DC on the heaters can be amped up
to see the noise that isn't hum.
With AC on the heaters the tubes will show high variation with hum
dominating
the noise measurements. The CRO is your best eye into the tube under test.

I test output tubes in an SE rig with parafeed choke for plate supply,
and RL is connected from the anode via an electro cap to 0V.
By changing RL from say 5k to 10k at signal voltages which are about 10%
of clipping, I get two values of gain.

With two values of gain I can work out U, Ra, and Gm with algebra,
because for all tubes,

Gain = U x RL / ( RL + Ra )

And Gm = U x Ra.

Measuring the DC voltage across the grid bias resistor will tell me if the
tube
is making a positive grid voltage, ie, has grid current even at idle. It
should
be slightly negative for
a good tube, or almost unmeasurable if Rg = 470k.
If it gets a lot worse after an hour or two, the tube is retired.
Old signal tubes are often positively gridded, noisy, and sometimes gain
is low,

or the DC voltage at their anode doesn't settle at the same value as the
other
healthy ones.
And when testing one's collection of 79 12AX7s, once you have done a few,
and know what to look for, it don't take long to do the other 75.
I did about 20 x 6CG7 the other day.
I threw 4 into the bin, instead of an equivalent healthy 2 uV of noise at
their
grids, there was up to 40 uV, some had halves that didn't work, or had
heaters
shorted to the
cathode, etc.....
Old tired tubes take their time to turn on.

I have 3 testers, most have serious faults, and i don't have the books to
tell
me how to set
the switches and interpret the test results.

Beware buying any ancient tube test gear on E-bay or anywhere else;
Usually you are buying someone else's problem.

Tube testers have lots of switches and are not easy to service.
If a wafer switch has been over currented, it may be not repairable.

Just remember that many tubes poked into a tester with hope
caused serious short circuit currents to flow and gave cause for
despair.

Christ I can be negative some days!

But hey, maybe you buy one that works fine and causes no grief,
and then you will have an uncle called Bob.

Patrick Turner.

Al wrote:

I don't waste time with tube testers.

Don't bother to reply then.

[snipped a lot of crap]

Christ I can be negative some days!

No ****.

Al.

Amateur diyer people who don't really plan on using a tester
day in day out on lots and lots of tubes need to know that tube testing
is mainly for the very keen user of lots of tubes.
Would I buy some expensive and fiddly-to-calibrate piece of gear to
find out what could be found out while probing around in an amp?


There would be a lot of tube testers sold to blokes who use them
to test 20 tubes, then the tester is parked for 20 years until they
die, when they re-enter circulation as deceased estate, or they get put
into the dumper
by unconcerned relatives.
I don't think this matters all that much because there must be
lots of tube testers hanging around dodging the dumper bin,
so its no tradgedy that old things get sold to anyone or everyone,
and never fully utilised the way they may have been in 1955.

I am a professional audio manufacturer and repairer,
and I have had no real need for a tester of any kind, simply
because I have taken the trouble to build some simple gear
which will, along with a CRO, meters I already have, and my brain cells,

work out what the tube condition is.
I have 3 tube testers, all just unrestored junk, about 6 oscilliscopes,
4
of which are defunct tube types, and which would take way too much time
to fix,
two are working SS types, and they have also needed several fixes.
Test gear needs maintenance.
I have lots of meters, a few don't work, other assorted oscillators and
distortion measurers,
even an old HP type with discrete SS parts inside, and not a bad thing.
It isn't good as the stuff I built myself because it won't reliably
measure 0.002% thd in a volt of signal sample.


If I had a business repairing old TV sets with tubes, I might
just get a tester, because of the complexity of some of the tubes used,
and there is a lot of them, and in 1955, TV set repair crews were busy
ppl.

But the amount of need to test tubes now in my profession is quite
minimal;
mainly it consists of testing old batches of tubes I have aquired
at sales or as gifts, or comparing some known good tubes with a
customer's
old dodgy tubes.

Its not as if I don't believe in testing tubes; one should, but
most audio tubes can be ascertained whilst in the amp they are in while
one is probing around
wondering WTF the circuit isn't working well.
AM Radios and FM tuners all have tubes
fairly easy to test in a test circuit one can build.

Patrick Turner.

Patrick,
If you bought a bunch of tubes on EBay, for instance, would you test them by
inserting them in one of your precious amps? Are you not putting your
equipment in jeopardy?
west

"Patrick Turner" wrote in message
...


Al wrote:

I don't waste time with tube testers.

Don't bother to reply then.

[snipped a lot of crap]

Christ I can be negative some days!

No ****.

Al.

Amateur diyer people who don't really plan on using a tester
day in day out on lots and lots of tubes need to know that tube testing
is mainly for the very keen user of lots of tubes.
Would I buy some expensive and fiddly-to-calibrate piece of gear to
find out what could be found out while probing around in an amp?


There would be a lot of tube testers sold to blokes who use them
to test 20 tubes, then the tester is parked for 20 years until they
die, when they re-enter circulation as deceased estate, or they get put
into the dumper
by unconcerned relatives.
I don't think this matters all that much because there must be
lots of tube testers hanging around dodging the dumper bin,
so its no tradgedy that old things get sold to anyone or everyone,
and never fully utilised the way they may have been in 1955.

I am a professional audio manufacturer and repairer,
and I have had no real need for a tester of any kind, simply
because I have taken the trouble to build some simple gear
which will, along with a CRO, meters I already have, and my brain cells,

work out what the tube condition is.
I have 3 tube testers, all just unrestored junk, about 6 oscilliscopes,
4
of which are defunct tube types, and which would take way too much time
to fix,
two are working SS types, and they have also needed several fixes.
Test gear needs maintenance.
I have lots of meters, a few don't work, other assorted oscillators and
distortion measurers,
even an old HP type with discrete SS parts inside, and not a bad thing.
It isn't good as the stuff I built myself because it won't reliably
measure 0.002% thd in a volt of signal sample.


If I had a business repairing old TV sets with tubes, I might
just get a tester, because of the complexity of some of the tubes used,
and there is a lot of them, and in 1955, TV set repair crews were busy
ppl.

But the amount of need to test tubes now in my profession is quite
minimal;
mainly it consists of testing old batches of tubes I have aquired
at sales or as gifts, or comparing some known good tubes with a
customer's
old dodgy tubes.

Its not as if I don't believe in testing tubes; one should, but
most audio tubes can be ascertained whilst in the amp they are in while
one is probing around
wondering WTF the circuit isn't working well.
AM Radios and FM tuners all have tubes
fairly easy to test in a test circuit one can build.

Patrick Turner.

Hey guys,
I have a friend in the Virginia Beach area who happens to have at least 8
TV-7's in great shape. He has been posting them on eBay, but is not adverse
to selling them directly. His name is Jerry DePasquale. He has been
involved with high-end audio since the mid-70's and is quite knowledgeable.
His email address is . He is a great guy and extremely
trustworthy.
Just a heads up if anyone is interested.
Dave

--
David Stanard
Silver Circle Audio
Tel: 281 870 8272
Fax: 281 870 8846
Mobile: 832 656 7730
www.silvercircleaudio.com
"west" wrote in message
m...
It's that time when I should bite the bullet and buy a tube tester. I know
my request is subjective, but I, for the most part, respect your
opinions.
I'm looking at a TV-2 & 7 presently. Are there better models? I don't
mind
spending for quality because quality usually holds its value, if for some
reason I want to sell or trade up. Please give me your opinions on this
well
beaten subject. What would you consider the price range? How can you tell
condition on the Internet? Thank you in advance.
Cordially,
west

"Patrick Turner" wrote in message
...

(snip)


Old tired tubes take their time to turn on.


You mean a bit like us tired old guys?
Cheers,
Roger

west wrote:

Patrick,
If you bought a bunch of tubes on EBay, for instance, would you test them by
inserting them in one of your precious amps? Are you not putting your
equipment in jeopardy?
west

My test gear for signal tubes is hand made el cheapo gear, and the worst I can
do
is fry a 10c resistor.

Suspect tubes bought anywhere never get used in a new amp
that I'd sell to someone. They all get tested prior to use if they are NOS
signal tubes.
Power tubes are all brand new.

But even new tubes can fail, and I have active protection circuits in all my
amps to
shut the amp down if one or more tubes fails by shorting, or the bias fails etc.

Anyone buying anything on Ebay should suspect the worst and hope for the best.
Especially on the old not common named amps selling for $200.

I have never used Ebay.

So if you buy for $200 what might have cost $2,000 in real terms when it was
new,
expect to pay a bit to repair it, don't moan if there is a dud OPT.
But tubes ain't repairable.
Expect to through a few away if you buy an assortment.
I know guys with testers and who couldn't design a triode amp if their life
depended on it
and they are flogging NOS tubes.
I won't buy from them because they have not done the tests I do
when I want to know about a tube; I don't know that they know much.
I have rarely paid more than aud $5 for any second hand power tubes, or more
than aud $3 for any small tube; I do know an old guy who has
25,000 old tubes, mostly signal types and NOS, and he is 100% reliable for radio

replacements. The audio sharks and dealers cleaned him out of
all the common audio tubes.
He wants to eventually sell his stocks of 25,000 tubes.
He is getting old, and he cannot take them with him, and when he dies, maybe
they all
go to the dumper; someone has to have a place to store them,
and deal with buyers wanting just one tube.

Ptrick Turner.









"Patrick Turner" wrote in message
...


Al wrote:

I don't waste time with tube testers.

Don't bother to reply then.

[snipped a lot of crap]

Christ I can be negative some days!

No ****.

Al.

Amateur diyer people who don't really plan on using a tester
day in day out on lots and lots of tubes need to know that tube testing
is mainly for the very keen user of lots of tubes.
Would I buy some expensive and fiddly-to-calibrate piece of gear to
find out what could be found out while probing around in an amp?


There would be a lot of tube testers sold to blokes who use them
to test 20 tubes, then the tester is parked for 20 years until they
die, when they re-enter circulation as deceased estate, or they get put
into the dumper
by unconcerned relatives.
I don't think this matters all that much because there must be
lots of tube testers hanging around dodging the dumper bin,
so its no tradgedy that old things get sold to anyone or everyone,
and never fully utilised the way they may have been in 1955.

I am a professional audio manufacturer and repairer,
and I have had no real need for a tester of any kind, simply
because I have taken the trouble to build some simple gear
which will, along with a CRO, meters I already have, and my brain cells,

work out what the tube condition is.
I have 3 tube testers, all just unrestored junk, about 6 oscilliscopes,
4
of which are defunct tube types, and which would take way too much time
to fix,
two are working SS types, and they have also needed several fixes.
Test gear needs maintenance.
I have lots of meters, a few don't work, other assorted oscillators and
distortion measurers,
even an old HP type with discrete SS parts inside, and not a bad thing.
It isn't good as the stuff I built myself because it won't reliably
measure 0.002% thd in a volt of signal sample.


If I had a business repairing old TV sets with tubes, I might
just get a tester, because of the complexity of some of the tubes used,
and there is a lot of them, and in 1955, TV set repair crews were busy
ppl.

But the amount of need to test tubes now in my profession is quite
minimal;
mainly it consists of testing old batches of tubes I have aquired
at sales or as gifts, or comparing some known good tubes with a
customer's
old dodgy tubes.

Its not as if I don't believe in testing tubes; one should, but
most audio tubes can be ascertained whilst in the amp they are in while
one is probing around
wondering WTF the circuit isn't working well.
AM Radios and FM tuners all have tubes
fairly easy to test in a test circuit one can build.

Patrick Turner.

Engineer wrote:

"Patrick Turner" wrote in message
...

(snip)


Old tired tubes take their time to turn on.


You mean a bit like us tired old guys?
Cheers,
Roger

Well, speak for yourself I guess.
'old' is a three lettered word and a dangerous adjective to use around
here.
But yes, and when some old guys turn on, all that happens is a
grumpy gravelly tune of leery grumblings.

Let's not even consider old women...........

One said to me "if ya don't look, ya won't know"

She was, of course, right.


A man can do a lot they say, but a woman
can do a heck of a lot more......














damage.

Patrick Turner.

On Thu, 24 Feb 2005 13:45:34 GMT, "west"
wrote:

It's that time when I should bite the bullet and buy a tube tester. I know
my request is subjective, but I, for the most part, respect your opinions.
I'm looking at a TV-2 & 7 presently. Are there better models? I don't mind
spending for quality because quality usually holds its value, if for some
reason I want to sell or trade up.

I have both, but my poor old back determines which gets used most.

If you're young and strong and want a beautiful, perfectly working
TV-2B, email me. Otherwise, want everyone says.

Also, if you're flush, get both! Life's short.

Chris Hornbeck