guzziguy Posted August 22, 2009 Report Share Posted August 22, 2009 I'm looking to buy a tube tester and would like to make it a bit future proof to my buying habits. Before researching the testers, I never knew that 12 pin tubes existed. I'm talking about 6KD6 compactron type tubes. Does anybody here use them, design with them, etc.? Has anybody even seen a piece of audio equipment that does use them? I'm guessing that I won't ever need to test them, but would like to know more about them before I dismiss them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsavitsk Posted August 22, 2009 Report Share Posted August 22, 2009 Compactron - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I would doubt you'll find many testers that test these. They weren't made for very long, so testers would need to be from the same era. They were basically a way to cram a bunch of tubes into one to take up a little less space. I've never seen a commercial amp that uses these. They are good for DIY since they are super cheap, but they are otherwise nothing special. At any rate, with a couple of clip leads, a multimeter, and a bench power supply, you can measure everything a tube tester can -- in fact more, and more accurately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cetoole Posted August 22, 2009 Report Share Posted August 22, 2009 Pete Millett has used them I know. Guess that is to be expected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guzziguy Posted August 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2009 Thanks. I didn't realize how cheap they were. Doh! I should have checked. For their price, I can afford a bad tube from time to time. I was looking at a tester that can test everything from 4 pin tubes up to the compactrons. Of course, it was more than I wanted to spend. No I don't have to. Yay! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Chalk Posted August 22, 2009 Report Share Posted August 22, 2009 Dude, they're still designing new tubes -- I just read a one-paragraph article about either Svetlana or Sovtek releasing a new tube...and an amp to go with it. So good luck with that. Just buy what you think you need and don't worry about it. Things always change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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