Ceramic valve bases

[PinkFloyd]

The valve bases that MF fit in the X-CAN series of amplifiers are the cheapest of the cheap and after a few valve rolls they soon become loose resulting in less than adequate contact.....

I have been experimenting with a few different types of valve base and by far the best are the ceramic types with centre spigot.... I have secured a few that are similar to the audionote types which have silver plated pins..... they are tight and, believe it or not, do have an influence on SQ!

I fired a couple into my trusty old X-CAN v1 and was pretty amazed to find a bit more clarity and bass extension as a result.... it's not a HUGE improvement but it's a noticeable improvement....

I'm so impressed by this I am going to try soldering the valves direct to the PCB...... one thing about headphone listening, you can pick up on even the slightest change (loudspeaker listeners would be hard pushed to detect the changes) and it's amazing just how something, seemingly so inconsequential, can make such an improvement....

Anyways, just thought I'd share this

[skunkworks]

Hmm, I see they are the same as in the V3 and look a lot more robust.
I screwed up one of my valve bases in an attempt to fit 6H6N tubes ;D.
I managed to get it straight again but never as good as it was.
In other words: Where can I buy these?

[PinkFloyd]

Apr 6, 2009 20:46:27 GMT skunkworks said:

Hmm, I see they are the same as in the V3 and look a lot more robust.
I screwed up one of my valve bases in an attempt to fit 6H6N tubes ;D.
I managed to get it straight again but never as good as it was.
In other words: Where can I buy these?

PM me.

[PinkFloyd]

I've got a few more of these high quality ceramic valve bases coming into stock shortly.... £7 shipped per pair. Suitable for X-Can V1/V2/V3/V8 and X-10D.

[diho]

Oct 12, 2009 20:54:20 GMT PinkFloyd said:

I've got a few more of these high quality ceramic valve bases coming into stock shortly.... £7 shipped per pair. Suitable for X-Can V1/V2/V3/V8 and X-10D.

I have a large stock of them.

[PinkFloyd]

Oct 12, 2009 21:45:04 GMT mrarroyo said:

Yeah baby! look forward to installing these suckers.

They arrived in stock today Miguel, I will ship them next Monday.... there's a postal strike on at the moment (thursday and friday).... it was two pairs you wanted wasn't it?

Mike.

[Deleted]

When I was a Postmaster General's Department technical trainee around half a century ago, near one of the training schools, there was a Disposals Store. Many of the trainees used to visit there at lunch time,and grab some of the bargain WW2 surplus gear. They were chock full of ceramic valve bases (no cheap bases !) and other incredibly well made parts. Especially the variable capacitors. It was of a quality that far surpasses the stuff manufactured today. It HAD to be reliable.
I also like Mike's suggestion about soldering in new tubes directly, once you have settled on your favourite valves after careful auditioning.
The majority of valve pins do oxidise after a period of time, and gentle cleaning of the pins often pays worthwhile dividends. The ceramic bases are a much more snug fit around the valve pins, and greatly reduces these oxidisation problems.

SandyK

P.S.

If you order some of those 6N23P-EV from Mike, why not do yourself a favour and order matching ceramic valve bases at the same time ?

[PinkFloyd]

Oct 23, 2009 0:07:00 GMT mrarroyo said:

Yes a couple of pair, send back the hard drive so I can re-load it!

I'll ship them on Monday Miguel. There's a postal strike on at the moment and I'm not going to risk putting the HD into the system.... I'll wait until the strike is over......