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Tube dampener questions

I bought some tube dampeners and on when I put them on the tubes on the amp and DAC it seemed to suck the life out of the sound so I removed them.

Doing some tube rolling and while the new tubes sounded good the vocals were disconnected somehow.  They seemed to distort during dynamics so I put a dampener on the input tube and it seemed to help at the cost of a little bit of life.

What is the correct way to use tube dampeners?
As vibration control are they like a guitar string and where they rest on the tube changes the frequency of the vibration?

Several burns later I think I got it right but I'm sure someone out there knows how to do this correctly.
128x128danager

Showing 1 response by georgehifi

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georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
danager

Tube dampener questions

The tubes that give the most microphonic are the higher gain tubes, input tubes and driver tube, then the output tubes.

To reduce microphonics in all tubes, and that have thin glass that rings like a bell when you flick them, use these high temperature silicon "O" rings as a good cheap alternative to "audio brand " $$$$$ ones.
As they works just as good. I used to use 2 or 3 per tube.

Don’t get them too tight a fit as they can slightly dent the glass after a long period when very hot.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313&_nkw=high+temperature+...

Cheers George
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