Can you touch the tubes?


I was talking to someone at the tube store about replacing some KT 150 tubes and he said it was perfectly fine to touch the tubes.

I've always thought you're supposed to handle these things very carefully with white gloves or a microfiber cloth.

Handling them with my fingers makes it easier to pull them out , insert them more securely.

Does it really matter if my fingerprints get on the glass or should I clean them off with a microfiber cloth after I touch them?

emergingsoul

Maybe power tubes no big deal. Maybe it's the signal radar tubes that pick up modem a radio wave interference that shouldn't be touched.

 

I had a tube on a preamp that was very sensitive to network equipment.

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It’s funny how all us audiophiles are so skittish about tubes. Any of you older guitarists or bass players remember the abuse everyone gave to those Ampeg, Sunn, Marshalls. Throwing them down in the back of trucks and car trunks. I don’t remember anyone ever even think about the tubes. I don’t remember one tube ever breaking. Then again, memory of those days are a bit foggy for some reason.