Newbee about Ceramic tube socket

Partsconnexion has lots of diy parts. I am sure there are others as well.

http://www.partsconnexion.com/

An easy upgrade would be tubes. Try Andy at Vintage Tube Services. Upgrading my tubes was like getting a new piece of gear.

http://vintagetubeservices.com/

Thank you for your advice =]

From an engineering perspective the advantages are better heat resistance and better resistance to high voltages and arcing. This was especially imporatnat with transmitting tubes that could easily have 1000 or more volts on the plates.

I can't comment on sonic differences BFWIW the ceramic socket has slightly lower inter pin capacitance (though this is small on a conventinal socket anyway) and thus might have a slightly different sound.

If you're thinking of switching out sockets in a piece of commercial gear take care - this can be a hard error prone job.