Did you measure the line voltage? That can have an effect on the readings of this tester.
Vacuum Tube Snake Oil Salesmen
Just a mini rant to complain about vacuum tube suppliers (not all but most) and their false advertising.
I ordered a set of 4 matched 2A3 Acme tubes direct from PSVane for my Woo Audio WA33 as an upgrade. They cost close to $1k all together.
When I got them I checked on my MaxiMatcher2. The boxes said 65mA but with correct operating voltage and bias set on the tester I could only get 2 of them up to 43mA. One other read 39mA. And the last one was an internal fault short which could have damaged my amp had I not checked them.
I asked to return one "Matched" set for replacement. The PSVane customer service would only offer to send me one tube and not a matched pair. They would not pay return shipping to return one set. Instead they demanded I smash the bad tube and send them a picture. Has anyone ever smashed a large vacuum tube with a hammer and seen where all the pieces of glass fly to? I said no way. I will throw it out or return it but I am not going to risk cutting my hand doing that. So they refused to send a replacement.
While I had the Maximatcher out I decided to go thru some other tubes I had in my spares box to check them (purchased before I had the tube tester). I could not believe the results. Some tubes matched by well known vendors were off by as much as 30% from each other.
It is really a good investment to get a tube tester if you will be a regular user of tube amps.
If you must buy PSVane then get them from Amazon and not direct so you have some safety to return them.
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I’m sure someone else wrote this at some point, take it up with whatever credit card company you paid with. You ordered matched tubes, which come at a premium price- they need to send you matched tubes- not mix and match tubes. Life is way too short to get ripped off by yet another snarky lack of basic customer service skills even more than we already do. |
My experience is the opposite of the OPs. I’ve bought many tubes from Psvane direct from China. All have been high quality and performed well. When they sent a wrong tube set they said I could keep it and sent a replacement set immediately. Their Summit series blows away all the NOS I’ve tried. No problems with their tubes, their warranty, or their service. How about a little cheese with that whine. |
@jaybe I have to agree. Recently I have bought tubes 3 times from Psvane direct. Except for one tube going noisy, which they promptly replaced (after I smashed them 😁) I have been very satisfied with their tubes and service. I think percentage wise I’ve had more vintage tubes fail prematurely. I also agree that their new Summit series is exceptionally good and betters many (most?) vintage tubes of the same variety that I’ve tried. Of course only time will tell if their reliability has improved from Psvane of old. But they do come with a 2 year warranty. Try to get that on NOS. |
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