Brent Jessee is a vacuum tube seller who has a web site with a comprehensive list and description of numerous different tubes. If you plug in 'Brent Jessee' as a search engine, you will find his site. I'd post a link, but A'gon probably wouldn't like it and it would be deleted.
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Tube SQ will vary with different circuit designs. No graphic illustrations, but the following is informative. - - - - At Upscale Audio, Kevin Deal describes the SQ of various tubes - such as this video. - - - - Re: Tube Manufacturers. Many branded tubes were actually subcontracted out to competitors who had the requisite machinery for a particular tube type - but labeled accordingly. When electronics started switching over to transistors, many tube companies went out of business - but their brand names and IP were purchased by competitors and kept in the marketplace for a long time. For NOS tubes, only knowledgeable tube dealers can determine what tube was made where, when and by whom. |
Not altogether a bad idea. Certain sound qualities COULD be listed/graphed like “harsh” “airy” “balanced” muffled, lacking mids, etc and some kind of chart made reflecting general consensus of certain MANUFACTURER’s tubes, but that’s the problem comparing, say, an EL34 made by the same company just years apart or across a spectrum of manufacturers. Components/assembly techniques change as does sound. I’ve often wondered if the same kind of LASER or X-Ray spectroscopy techniques used on, say, the Mars Rover or by the team at Oak Island could give better data on materials used with original, pre-1950’s tubes most/many of us seem to enjoy listening to and those data used to compound alloys virtually identical to OEM Western Electric 300b tubes for example. I haven’t read of any companies actually doing this sort of metallurgical analysis although I suspect the formulas/recipes are public domain by now. One still sees older WE 300b tubes selling for THOUSANDS of dollars when a slightly used new mfr. pair can be had - second hand - for as little as $750 on ePay, $1500 new with 5 year warranty from mfr.
But a comparison chart of “varietals” far too complex a problem unless taken with fewest pertinent qualities necessary to make sound judgments (pun intended).
YMMV. |
I’d like to see a chart that shows the variety of usage areas with an amplifier and pre-amplifier , ie. Power, Signal tubes, for different tubes as well as the voltage and power outputs etc.. Clearly an amplifier designer needs to be aware of all this as he picks and chooses from all the various tubes available to him that he would insert into designs. I’ve always been curious to know why certain tubes are picked versus other tubes. I thought there might be a tube museum somewhere and actually found this link for tube museum but it was a retail tube seller which actually look kind of interesting and it's in New York. https://www.tubemuseum.org/SearchResults.asp?Cat=2
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