Hello,

I was looking at these at www.maximatcher.com and was wondering if anyone
has one, or has used one. I'm thinking of buying one, but would like some
feedback first.

Thanks,
Kelly

P.S- please respond to kscollectibles_at_jps.com (all continuous with @
substituted) or group

In article et,
"KSM" wrote:

Hello,

I was looking at these at www.maximatcher.com and was wondering if anyone
has one, or has used one. I'm thinking of buying one, but would like some
feedback first.

Thanks,
Kelly

P.S- please respond to kscollectibles_at_jps.com (all continuous with @
substituted) or group



At $500, it's pretty expensive for the average amp owner, especially
since tube matching only adds a couple bucks or so each. (of course
some folks match better than others...) You'd have to match LOTS of
tubes to break even;.

On the other hand, if you run a moderate-to-high volume repair shop, it
would be pretty useful. New Sensor (marketers of EH and Sovtek) does an
ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE job of matching. Sometimes you're lucky if you get
25% tolerance despite what the label says. In my case, I usually only
order 20 or so tubes of a given type at a time (maybe 50 pairs per
year), so if I could specify non-matched, the matcher would pay for
itself in a few years, and I'd be able to sell better-matched tubes than
I could get from Mike Matthews.

One downside is the basic unit has an unregulated DC supply. Numbers
you generate one day may not be the same as ones you get another due to
fluctuations in line voltage. High volume tube resellers may have a
problem with this, HOWEVER there is an option for a regulated power
supply. This would seem to obviate this potential problem. Another
"potential" downside is the plate voltage is limited to 400VDC. It
might be better if there was also a 450V setting.

As for me, I'm thinking really hard about getting one. If my shop's
business takes off like I think it will, I may be able to justify the
purchase, but I've got other bills to pay first. I wish the 6BQ5/EL84
adaptor was cheaper, though! :-)

BTW, I've met the guy who makes em. Peter Toms of Condor Electronics in
Seattle. He's a pretty sharp guy (and heck of a nice one at that). I
wish him luck.

--Mike

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Mike Schway | [Picture your favorite quote here]
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I used to sell them, but the company is no longer in business. Too
bad because the worked pretty well. 99% of the people who bought them
were happy with the product..

Al

On Tue, 30 Mar 2004 04:16:19 GMT, "KSM" wrote:

Hello,

I was looking at these at www.maximatcher.com and was wondering if anyone
has one, or has used one. I'm thinking of buying one, but would like some
feedback first.

Thanks,
Kelly

P.S- please respond to kscollectibles_at_jps.com (all continuous with @
substituted) or group

On Tue, 30 Mar 2004 05:15:55 GMT, Mike Schway wrote:

One downside is the basic unit has an unregulated DC supply. Numbers
you generate one day may not be the same as ones you get another due to
fluctuations in line voltage.

The Maxi-Mathcer works fine for matching tubes in one session. It
works really well for this. It was not intended to be a laboratory
device that gave absolute measurements, as that would have increased
the cost quite a bit. They were trying to keep the price point under
500 bucks. They were well built and worked great, & I still use mine.

Al

KSM wrote:

Hello,

I was looking at these at www.maximatcher.com and was wondering if anyone
has one, or has used one. I'm thinking of buying one, but would like some
feedback first.

Thanks,
Kelly

P.S- please respond to kscollectibles_at_jps.com (all continuous with @
substituted) or group

For some, I'm sure, it fills a hole.


As a realistic applications tester, it's not practical as most testers are, and its very limited for
the price.

At best, it's a ball parker.


Regards,

Rich Koerner,
Time Electronics.
http://www.timeelect.com

Specialists in Live Sound FOH Engineering,
Music & Studio Production,
Vintage Instruments, and Tube Amplifiers