I’ve been buying my Apex matched tubes from CE for many years. I never realized how much behind the scenes work happens to match the tubes. Thank you to those guys who tirelessly work on this important job.
While recently restoring a 1995 Peavey Delta Blues I discovered your store. I'm not new to amps and sound but I am new to tube amp maintenance. I made my first ever tube purchase in my life about month ago at the worst possible moment in the tube market. It seems that I accidentally purchased the best brand from one of the best sellers available. Thanks Amplified parts for your great customer service. I am a new fan of your store.
Absolutely fantastic to watch! I now have an even better insight and direction to go when I purchase these tubes. I have been using these tubes for many years, but now I have a renewed confidence what I am purchasing for my customers is of such great quality. Thank you, Yvonne for your video on these!!
Cool video! Thanks for posting. I've been curious about this since buying my first tube amp. I watched this a couple hours ago and came back, I keep thinking about Irvin unpacking alllll those tubes! :D haha! My respect.
If you used colored bins and a symbol stuck onto the side of each bin you could further reduce the chance a wrong bin was selected. The checker would read out kilo foxtrot 5 and then confirm that the picker removes the bin which is the right color and with the right symbol on the side that he can now see. The picker would not be told the color or symbol. The way you have it now the checker is reading the bin letters from an angle so could misread one as the correct bin. Although that may just be due to having a camera recording the event. Of course, you would need to make sure the checker isn't color blind. In fact you could also put the letter codes on the sides of the bin. That way if the checker is standing to the side the only letters he will see are the letters of the bin that is currently pulled out.
To make this process more secure, you need to eliminate complexity. More simple = less chance to make mistakes! So lesser letters and numbers, large, readable signs, alphabetic order placement and such is the way to go. Also eliminating all kinda stress and pushing in a hurry will help.
I had to do matching by hearing, as i had no proper tools. When imbalances are found, the sound comes more from the other channel, and the sound direction is sifted. I had 6 tubes and just switched one side of my FX-Audio tube 03 till sound was coming from the centre.( keep left the same and switch right side, i had to switch the left once too, as the starting tube had no good match)
Don't need to re-bias if you swap out a tube? Hardly, the spec's will change with time and use. A new valve will be different to old tubes even if they are/were 'identical' brand new.
It should get you close and if you wait a while it should stabilise to near the older tube specs saving you trying to keep tracking he bias on the replacement as it ages fast in the beginning. To each his own.
Good video. Appreciate you posting this. I am surprised that you touch the tubes with your hands. Oils can cause issues when the tube heats up. Perhaps wearing gloves may be a good process improvement. Once again thanks for posting!
7:29 Did he just pull out a tube without gloves or towel? Doesn't that effect the tubes negatively since the oil is limiting the tube to warm up to the desired temp? And 7:49
There's a thread on Gearslutz about this... I believe the consensus is that it's pretty negligible. I still wear gloves when installing tubes tho.... but more cause I'm a nut and super anal about my gear.
You should wipe off all your tube when they come from the manufacturer anyway although apex is very clean the place they where made might not be metal dust dirt etc. so if they put there fingers on them it don't matter you should always wipe your tubes before putting them in anyway besides APEX is the top dog in matching tubes or valves what ever you want to call them. There system is dead on
Hmm, so the myth is that a microscopic film of oil on the tube will affect the radiative and conduction coefficients detectably? I used to match transistors for a couple of DJs back in the day and I can be pretty sure that the amount of thermal paste would vary by many percent and not make enough difference to detect. Yet here a sub 1% change in thermal characteristics in a thermionic valve that is working with a yellow hot filament is supposed to have a thermal coefficient that can cause effects that would be swamped by the differences in airflow due to amplifier geometry. The temperature effect of the matching rack in this video would be many times higher between the lower bank and the upper bank than any surface contaminant could have in a working amp. Remember that the characteristics become a flat line after the working temperature is reached.
@@KallePihlajasaari Wow Kalle. A little to deep there! Vacuum tube envelopes are soft glass, unless Bendix Red Bank, and high power RF tubes are in the equation, in this case the glass is Nonex. The pin seals (metal to glass) are usually Kovar. Oil from handling does nothing, besides leave a fingerprint :^)
Also I don’t care about anything except for the return policy of bug tubes from antique electrons and they were crap but at least they returned them and gave me some better ones usually I have to go through at least one or two sets before I finally get some good tubesI keep 8 of old mullards from the early 70s and two pairs of RCA six L six for recording my 100 watt plexi and old Bandmaster
What kind of numbers should I ask for when I want EL34 tubes that will bias higher? A lot of times I buy tubes and even with the bias pot maxed out they're still too cold.
I have four Apex JJ EL34 tubes. They're were installed in my Marshall amp when it was repaired. The current is 64. And the transcond is 8790. But they're running too cold in my Marshall 2203X. The bias pot is maxed out and the plate current reads 11.8 mA. What kind of numbers do I need to get so the tubes bias hotter? I would like to get a quad that I could bias between 33 mA and 38 mA. Thank you.
Hey those are some really high current tubes! These can be really desirable but you would need to modify the amp for them to work. A set of middle numbers will have a better shot at biasing in the amp assuming there isn't an issue with your bias circuit. Send us a message at sales@amplifiedparts.com and we can get you set up with some lower numbers.
What I need to know is if you match the tubes AFTER you burn them in. This is critical. In my experience all tubes drift considerably from new. Matching is completely moot if they do not burn them in first.
@@AdrianRP1 The Apex matching system was created for JJ tubes specifically, (we have extended it to other tube brands since) and the burn in equipment in our facility would simply be pushed past capacity if we were to offer that service for other power tubes.
Uh oh! Can you let me know what Apex matched tubes you are specifically trying to purchase? We can get this resolved for you and make sure you get your discount!
@@jokertlr Looks like that is an issue on our end with how the STR are listed. If you place the order and leave a note saying that you tried using the TH-cam coupon code for 10% off Apex matched and it did not work, we will make sure you get your discount! Sorry for any inconvenience!
After selecting tubes to be within specification and show no defects.........all tubes must be burned in BEFORE ..........matching. Selected and matched tubes ..........matching does not tell how a tube sounds! As long I can use nos tubes no JJ or other modern tube will go in any of my amplifiers.........
New tubes are garbage. NOS Mullard's are much better. Only 2 companies in the world make tubes for guitar amps. Russia and China. Aspen Pittman and Groove tubes pioneered this tech. J.J. tubes are garbage. I was trained in tube tech in the USAF in the 70s and 80's. Also worked for Raytheon designing radar systems. Buy N.O.S. Mullard's, Siemens, Telefunkens. Hiwatts and Ampegs, among others had a fixed bias circuit because tubes in the good old days were Rock solid.
I’ve been buying my Apex matched tubes from CE for many years. I never realized how much behind the scenes work happens to match the tubes. Thank you to those guys who tirelessly work on this important job.
While recently restoring a 1995 Peavey Delta Blues I discovered your store. I'm not new to amps and sound but I am new to tube amp maintenance. I made my first ever tube purchase in my life about month ago at the worst possible moment in the tube market. It seems that I accidentally purchased the best brand from one of the best sellers available. Thanks Amplified parts for your great customer service. I am a new fan of your store.
We appreciate the kind words! We will continue to provide the best experience possible in the future.
Thanks for the a peek inside of the Amplified Parts matching process. Very cool of you to produce this.
Thank you! I appreciate the attention to detail and your knowledge of tube ratings and consistency of each set!
Wow! Thanks for demystifying the whole power tube matching juju! Now we know:)
Absolutely fantastic to watch! I now have an even better insight and direction to go when I purchase these tubes. I have been using these tubes for many years, but now I have a renewed confidence what I am purchasing for my customers is of such great quality. Thank you, Yvonne for your video on these!!
Impressive! Very cool! 😎 Very happy with my matched set! 🤙
Put a pair of Apex matched tubes onto a Tek curve tracer, the curves were identical. Very cool stuff guys!
Nicely impressive. Thanks.
Thank you for a great insight
Very Cool! Thanks for posting this video
Cool video! Thanks for posting. I've been curious about this since buying my first tube amp. I watched this a couple hours ago and came back, I keep thinking about Irvin unpacking alllll those tubes! :D haha! My respect.
lol silicone valley.
i believe they refer to that as Miami, Florida.
Very interesting process.
A lot of manual tasks.
Regards.
Wow, very informative.
Love Amplified Parts !
Impressive
Thanks Michael!
It's a computerised dating service for electronic components.
Very professional and interesting
Perfect work. Thanks.
I've been using JJ tubes for years! Have never let me down! Now I see why!
I've used them for year's and have had the same experience. They just work, are reliable, and are easily available
Have really enjoyed my quad of Apex Matched JJ 6L6GC’s!
Sold. Buying now.
If you used colored bins and a symbol stuck onto the side of each bin you could further reduce the chance a wrong bin was selected. The checker would read out kilo foxtrot 5 and then confirm that the picker removes the bin which is the right color and with the right symbol on the side that he can now see. The picker would not be told the color or symbol.
The way you have it now the checker is reading the bin letters from an angle so could misread one as the correct bin. Although that may just be due to having a camera recording the event.
Of course, you would need to make sure the checker isn't color blind.
In fact you could also put the letter codes on the sides of the bin. That way if the checker is standing to the side the only letters he will see are the letters of the bin that is currently pulled out.
Letters on the side of the bin is VERY SMART! I like how you think.
To make this process more secure, you need to eliminate complexity. More simple = less chance to make mistakes! So lesser letters and numbers, large, readable signs, alphabetic order placement and such is the way to go. Also eliminating all kinda stress and pushing in a hurry will help.
You sound like an inventory guru!
Thank you for the video!
Wow way cool process,never knew you guy's did this, but can you guy's test a 801 tube ?
We do not currently offer a tube testing service.
I had to do matching by hearing, as i had no proper tools. When imbalances are found, the sound comes more from the other channel, and the sound direction is sifted. I had 6 tubes and just switched one side of my FX-Audio tube 03 till sound was coming from the centre.( keep left the same and switch right side, i had to switch the left once too, as the starting tube had no good match)
Amy, 6 outfits,
Irvin, 1 outfit
cool
Don't need to re-bias if you swap out a tube? Hardly, the spec's will change with time and use. A new valve will be different to old tubes even if they are/were 'identical' brand new.
It should get you close and if you wait a while it should stabilise to near the older tube specs saving you trying to keep tracking he bias on the replacement as it ages fast in the beginning. To each his own.
Hi, which brand has lowest percent faulty tubes out of the box?
Wait a moment, i thought you were Yvonne from the hand made capacitors
Awesome 👌 video. Where can I find this tubes could you please send me the link or location. Thanks for your help
You can find our entire inventory at www.amplifiedparts.com!
@@amplifiedparts Thank you so much for your help
Good video. Appreciate you posting this. I am surprised that you touch the tubes with your hands. Oils can cause issues when the tube heats up. Perhaps wearing gloves may be a good process improvement. Once again thanks for posting!
it's a myth. make sure your hands are clean that's all.
Yo - lemme axe you sumpmm.
At what plate voltages are power tubes matched?
4
7:29 Did he just pull out a tube without gloves or towel? Doesn't that effect the tubes negatively since the oil is limiting the tube to warm up to the desired temp? And 7:49
There's a thread on Gearslutz about this... I believe the consensus is that it's pretty negligible. I still wear gloves when installing tubes tho.... but more cause I'm a nut and super anal about my gear.
You should wipe off all your tube when they come from the manufacturer anyway although apex is very clean the place they where made might not be metal dust dirt etc. so if they put there fingers on them it don't matter you should always wipe your tubes before putting them in anyway besides APEX is the top dog in matching tubes or valves what ever you want to call them. There system is dead on
Hmm, so the myth is that a microscopic film of oil on the tube will affect the radiative and conduction coefficients detectably?
I used to match transistors for a couple of DJs back in the day and I can be pretty sure that the amount of thermal paste would vary by many percent and not make enough difference to detect. Yet here a sub 1% change in thermal characteristics in a thermionic valve that is working with a yellow hot filament is supposed to have a thermal coefficient that can cause effects that would be swamped by the differences in airflow due to amplifier geometry.
The temperature effect of the matching rack in this video would be many times higher between the lower bank and the upper bank than any surface contaminant could have in a working amp. Remember that the characteristics become a flat line after the working temperature is reached.
@@KallePihlajasaari Wow Kalle. A little to deep there! Vacuum tube envelopes are soft glass, unless Bendix Red Bank, and high power RF tubes are in the equation, in this case the glass is Nonex. The pin seals (metal to glass) are usually Kovar. Oil from handling does nothing, besides leave a fingerprint :^)
Anyone know why apex tubes i buy are so hi current matched nbrs like 80s? On el34s
Also I don’t care about anything except for the return policy of bug tubes from antique electrons and they were crap but at least they returned them and gave me some better ones usually I have to go through at least one or two sets before I finally get some good tubesI keep 8 of old mullards from the early 70s and two pairs of RCA six L six for recording my 100 watt plexi and old Bandmaster
Soooo, if I want more distortion...get unmatched? 🤔
What kind of numbers should I ask for when I want EL34 tubes that will bias higher? A lot of times I buy tubes and even with the bias pot maxed out they're still too cold.
Modify your bias circuit..........or let it do by a technician.
Tried checkout w/ account this afternoon and no dice. Code does not work.
I have four Apex JJ EL34 tubes. They're were installed in my Marshall amp when it was repaired. The current is 64. And the transcond is 8790. But they're running too cold in my Marshall 2203X. The bias pot is maxed out and the plate current reads 11.8 mA. What kind of numbers do I need to get so the tubes bias hotter? I would like to get a quad that I could bias between 33 mA and 38 mA. Thank you.
Hey those are some really high current tubes! These can be really desirable but you would need to modify the amp for them to work. A set of middle numbers will have a better shot at biasing in the amp assuming there isn't an issue with your bias circuit. Send us a message at sales@amplifiedparts.com and we can get you set up with some lower numbers.
@@amplifiedparts Thank you.
What I need to know is if you match the tubes AFTER you burn them in. This is critical. In my experience all tubes drift considerably from new. Matching is completely moot if they do not burn them in first.
Our JJ power tubes do have a burned-in/matched option, and those particular sets are matched after the burn in process.
@@amplifiedparts Thanks. Why not the other brands you offer? Thanks.
@@AdrianRP1 The Apex matching system was created for JJ tubes specifically, (we have extended it to other tube brands since) and the burn in equipment in our facility would simply be pushed past capacity if we were to offer that service for other power tubes.
Do you sell tubes for AA5 radios probably not.
We have a huge selection of NOS tubes in our inventory so we may have what you need! www.amplifiedparts.com/products/vacuum_tubes?filters=2341a2417
The discount code doesn't work unfortunately
Uh oh! Can you let me know what Apex matched tubes you are specifically trying to purchase? We can get this resolved for you and make sure you get your discount!
@@amplifiedparts Vacuum Tube - 6L6GC STR, Tung-Sol Reissue
@@jokertlr Looks like that is an issue on our end with how the STR are listed. If you place the order and leave a note saying that you tried using the TH-cam coupon code for 10% off Apex matched and it did not work, we will make sure you get your discount! Sorry for any inconvenience!
After selecting tubes to be within specification and show no defects.........all tubes must be burned in BEFORE ..........matching.
Selected and matched tubes ..........matching does not tell how a tube sounds!
As long I can use nos tubes no JJ or other modern tube will go in any of my amplifiers.........
Its all fun and games until you're running parallel single ended and then the apex process doesn't matter.
JJ tubes are not that great Russian tubes are a lot cheaper on eBay but u might get a few bad ones
Silicone Valley....
You guys take forever to ship
New tubes are garbage. NOS Mullard's are much better. Only 2 companies in the world make tubes for guitar amps. Russia and China. Aspen Pittman and Groove tubes pioneered this tech. J.J. tubes are garbage. I was trained in tube tech in the USAF in the 70s and 80's. Also worked for Raytheon designing radar systems. Buy N.O.S. Mullard's, Siemens, Telefunkens. Hiwatts and Ampegs, among others had a fixed bias circuit because tubes in the good old days were Rock solid.
Kirk Decker , , Slovakia makes tubes too , , !
All the NOS tubes are way over priced and most are worn out I use chinesse and Russian now
@@bengom68 Great ones actually, especially in the past.
@@kirkdecker6228 JJ tubes are from Slovakia. And they are manufactured using the same process and machines that were used for former Tesla tubes.