Is rectifier tube arcing a problem?


I did some research and couldn’t find a definite answer.  I have an amp that I tried 6 different pairs of 5U4G and 5U4GB. 3 pairs has arcing (RCA 5U4G, TungSol, Svetlana 5C3S) and 3 pairs don’t (RCA 5U4G with hanging filament, EH 5U4GB, Sylvania 5931).  I took the amp to a technician and he checked everything, he can’t find anything wrong.  The problem is, I like the sound of the TungSol and Svetlana which both have arcing.  The technician said it is ok to keep using them, but honestly I am not too comfortable.  But I like their sound.  Is it really ok to keep using the arcing tubes?  Will it damage the amp?

 

 

gte357s

Showing 1 response by immatthewj

My first tube amp was a Cary SLA 70 which used a pair of CV729s/5R4GYs/CV378s and I remember when one of them started doing something weird (this was almost 30 years ago, but maybe it arced or glowed or flashed, I don’t remember precisely) and when I called Cray (this was when Cray offered much better customer service than they do now) I was told that it wasn’t anything to be afraid of, but that the tube was probably on its way out & I should probably keep one on hand.

Since that time, I did have a couple of rectifier tubes fail with a flash or an arc on startup, and that would blow the AC power fuse, but no other damage.

I am not an electrician or a tech so this is not advice, only my experience with a somewhat similar situation.