Thunderpaws Posted April 18, 2018 Share Posted April 18, 2018 Hi people. The valve in V1 of my Streamliner is glowing orange all the time from when I switch the amp on. Is this normal or should it be replaced? How do you know, is there a test that tells you when a 12ax7 valve has had it? Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Fitzmaurice Posted April 18, 2018 Share Posted April 18, 2018 It depends on where it's orange. The heater in the core is OK to be orange. The black jacket around the core shouldn't be orange, that indicates it's lost its vacuum seal. It's nearly impossible to test tubes. It used to be every corner drugstore had a tube tester and sold tubes, but they're long gone now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-Bay Posted April 18, 2018 Share Posted April 18, 2018 2 minutes ago, Bill Fitzmaurice said: It depends on where it's orange. The heater in the core is OK to be orange. The black jacket around the core shouldn't be orange, that indicates it's lost its vacuum seal. It's nearly impossible to test tubes. It used to be every corner drugstore had a tube tester and sold tubes, but they're long gone now. Very true, but the kit they used now very regularly turns up on eBay for pennies. Might not be worth it to test a single valve but an interesting thing for an enthusiast to have anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderpaws Posted April 18, 2018 Author Share Posted April 18, 2018 The orange glow is near the bottom and appears to be in the middle, so should be ok! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skybone Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 Pre-amp valves are pretty robust things with long lives. An orange glow is a healthy valve (generally speaking). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 Unless it's flickering, and smoke is coming out of it, of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianrendall Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 Pull it out. Clean the jets, needle and float bowl with some carb cleaner, reassemble and add some fresh fuel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz39 Posted April 20, 2018 Share Posted April 20, 2018 Yeah *keeps safe distance* - if you can hear it glowing, it's too much. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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