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must you play music to break in tubes

I have some GE 12ax7 longplate tubes that make some loud crackling noises.  The Seller claimed that this is common with nos tubes and that it will go away after they are broken in, but it is too alarming to hear and sounds risky to the speakers.  Might leaving the amp powered up for a while, but with no signal passing, break them in adequately?  Kind of hate wasting the power tubes lifetimes, but I don't have any old tubes to use in that amp.

lloydc

Showing 1 response by bjesien

bjesien
1,405 posts
 

I've tapped the tube of tubes with a pencil eraser before with excellent results. Now I'm not telling you to do this, but I'd do it again if I had a little static or popping before giving up on them.

That said, the seller might be full of it as suggested above, very possible, especially with AI, everyones a genius nowadays.

Good luck! 

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