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Re: HELP...

Posted by Lew (A) on April 3, 2002 at 07:24:53

In Reply to: HELP... posted by jef on April 2, 2002 at 17:49:40:

If you want to know how tubes "work" and also learn some basics about their safe use, I suggest Bruce Rozenblitt's book, "A Beginner's Guide to Tube Audio" (or something like that). Be careful; he wrote a second book called "Audio Reality". I don't know if the latter is as pertinent, but you might want to look at that one too for other kinds of information. (I've never seen it. I got the idea it was more about system matching, etc.) But no books that I know of will advise you on "tube rolling", i.e., the "art" of substituting tubes in your gear in order to alter the sonic signature slightly. I think that's a good thing. There is one book called "The Tube Substitution Guide" (or something like that), which is a thin paperback containing a list of just about ALL tubes ever made, and it indicates which of them are identical or close enough in specs so that one could substitute one for the other. For example, 12AU7=12AU7A=ECC82=ECC802=5814A~7316, etc, etc. The book does not lay it out as I have just done; it takes a little patience to ferret out the information. All these books are sold by mail order by Old Colony Sound in New Hampshire or maybe also by Antique Electronic Supply in Arizona. You might also want to invest in an RCA or GE tube spec manual, if your knowledge level has risen to the point where you can understand the specs.

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