slightly neurotic question from a tube newbie



I was moving my stereo (Jolida 302brc) and bent one of the the tubes. I took it out and straightened the pins, but it doesn't sit as tight in the sockets as the others, but works fine. Could this cause a problem down the road?

Thanks -- Marty
martyw
Bent tubes are usually not an issue. If the glass gets loose from the base, that's an issue (hey, I've epoxied those too).
Best solution, replace the stock tubes. Jolidas can be a much better amp with anything other than stock.
Thanks all -- this is what I get for trying to change the speaker feet at 11:30 at night! I looked again this morning and it was seated pretty tightly in the socket, just not as snug as it was when the sockets were brand new.

The only tube plans I have are replacing the stock Jolida tubes at some point!

Thanks again for helping a rather green audio junkie.
If there is one thing that I have learned in my life...DO NOT TRY TO FIX SOMETHING THAT IS NOT BROKEN. LOL.
Just don't mess with the tube anymore and you will not have anymore problems..If you get more nuerotic and try to bend it again it may then fail..Leave it be and enjoy......
I would humbly say "no", it would not pose a problem. If on the other hand, you replace tubes all the time, then you may run into a problem with the socket becoming too loose.
Tube amps have lots of current flowing.
My advise is to NOT turn it on. Take it to a tech and have it checked out. Most likely, he/she will do exactly what Mingles (above) advised. But, loose sockets and poking around can be dangerous.
In the process of bending your pins, you put stress on the socket which, in turn, loosened its grip on the tube. If the tube glows and the amp sounds normal, I wouldn't worry about it. If you're anal retentive and want to restore its original grip, you can use a pointed object like an awl to bend the socket contacts toward each other. Don't go overboard. They only need a slight tweak. Of course, before you do anything, unplug the amp and let it sit for a while before you start poking around.