Where to buy a cheap relyable tube tester????

Try eBay,lots there.

what is the best in $50 range?

Do some searches on audioasylum.com.

For $50 you are not going to get anything useful, IMHO. Better off just buying from reputable sellers unless you can budget a couple or three hundred for something good. (including calibration of it). Mutual conductance (transconductance) type is the best (only?) choice.

Very reliable and usefull for all modern tubes.

I agree with Ed, $50 worth of Tube Tester doesn't buy you much. There is pretentiousness throughout all of our hobby, but this is one area where I believe it is worth spending a little money. A bad tube that shorts out will take out circuit components, which will cause down time and repair service expense if you can't do the work yourself.

Maybe a friend or Audiogon'er in your area has a tube tester that you could use? You may also wish to ask members of local audio clubs or your local dealer.

Where are you located, Dudeaudio? I'm in Spokane, Washington.

eBay has a lot of old testers at decent prices. Sometimes you can't ignore that as a solution.

For modern machines, you can get the maxi-matcher, but it only does output (EL34) tubes. A far better unit is the one from transcendent sound. If you want the best, go for the VacuTrace.

www.vacutrace.com

jh