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Post by billyguitar on Mar 10, 2007 9:38:23 GMT -7
They've been mentioned in other threads but I thought they need their own thread. I recently bought a NOS GEC EF86 from Mike at KCA. A real nice delicate sounding tube. I put it in my Route 66 and cranked it up to see what it would do. The tube started to howl a bit. It would stop when I would put my fingers on it. Rather than send it back I thought I'd try some tube dampers. Paul G. (I believe) provided a link in another thread to Herbies Audio. I ordered two of their Halo-9s. Worked great and very cool looking! It took both on this tube but it's $10 each well spent! I should get more for my JoLida stereo amp.
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Post by frank4001 on Mar 10, 2007 10:11:24 GMT -7
I ordered some cheap ones off of e-bay and they did the trick for the EF86 in my RXES..Its been close to a year now and no problems. I have a T-Wreck Express clone that they helped too. Mine were cheap reddish brown silicone...I thought it might be snake oil but they worked..
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Post by myles on Mar 10, 2007 12:16:29 GMT -7
Just a little bit of history ... for many years people used nothing more than common rubber bands wrapped around a tube a few time. Works exactly the same. As the glass gets hot it is easily pushed back into contact with the tube's mica supports at low temperture. The heat is generally low enough for just about any old rubber band.
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Post by mward on Mar 10, 2007 21:46:29 GMT -7
Just in case anyone is confused, tube DAMPERS. Dampeners would make them wet.
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Post by billyguitar on Mar 10, 2007 23:25:08 GMT -7
Hell I don't know! I'm just a dumb ol' geetar player. I'll fix the thread title if I can.
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Post by mward on Mar 11, 2007 7:36:47 GMT -7
Billy I wasn't criticizing. The only reason *I* know is because of a discussion about steering dampers on racing bikes once. Someone pointed out to me that it's a damper, not a dampener.
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Post by billyguitar on Mar 11, 2007 9:08:07 GMT -7
It's all cool. That's why i had the smiley face on there. I thought maybe damper was a general mispelling and mispronunciation of the correct word. Whatever the heck they're called, they work!! I thought of doing the rubber band thing or getting some O rings from the hardware store but finally wanted to see these Halo-9s. They are really cool! I may have to get some for the stereo.
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Post by Lefty on Mar 11, 2007 11:43:38 GMT -7
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SG123
Full Member
Posts: 221
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Post by SG123 on Mar 11, 2007 13:48:38 GMT -7
While we're correcting semantics - tube damper rings are sometimes made from silicone - but never from silicon. Silicon is that hard semiconductor material.
I think the confusion was started by Bob Vila, who always referred to the room temperature vulcanizing [RTV] silicone caulk as "Silicon". :-)
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Post by kledbet on Mar 13, 2007 9:47:06 GMT -7
For those of you who have seperate cabs and heads, like 66 owners.... try putting some isolation feet or material under the feet of your 66. By doing this you minimize the vibration getting to your tubes. You can really reduce howling tubes by doing this. Just as an experiment move your head off of the cab, like onto a chair or something and play your guitar, see if the howling goes away. If it does then you might want to try some kind of isolation or damping material inbetween you head and cab. good luck.
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Post by genobluzgtr on Apr 12, 2007 15:42:38 GMT -7
I have used the Tube Dampers on other amps with great success! (I am a brand new Z owner, so I haven't yet, but will by day's end)... all my amps now have them (I am a combo guy, probably wouldn't need it in a head set-up).
They are inexpensive. I got mine from the ebay supplier, a baggy with 6 or 8 dampers was about 9 bucks. There are different sizes, the ones for preamp tubes (12A*... etc... also fit EL84s; 6L6s and most rectifiers are another size).
They don't completely eliminate tube rattle or microphonics, but it diminishes it to a point that it's negligible and unnoticeable.
I noticed a few of the boutique builders (one that comes to mind is Ben Fargen) are now supplying his amps with them installed.
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Post by cementman on Apr 13, 2007 9:01:07 GMT -7
they are simple rubber o-rings are they not? my amp tech guy showed me a while back about them. havent needed them though.
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Post by rcrecelius on Apr 13, 2007 9:24:32 GMT -7
they are simple rubber o-rings are they not? my amp tech guy showed me a while back about them. havent needed them though. The dampers Ive seen on eBay were white, not black like a traditional rubber o-ring. I bought some plain ole rubber o-rings the other day...they should probably work just as well.
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Post by guitarboy02451 on Apr 13, 2007 15:22:56 GMT -7
Hey Billy, glad those HAL O's worked for you. Herbie is great to order from and for short money they certainly put you back in business. Glad it worked for you!
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Post by Jim @94 Amps on Apr 13, 2007 22:55:10 GMT -7
we put the silicone o-ring dampers on all the ef-86's before we send them out. we used to make a little shrink tube cap for them, but the silicone rings work much better.
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Post by mward on Apr 15, 2007 7:26:38 GMT -7
we put the silicone o-ring dampers on all the ef-86's before we send them out. we used to make a little shrink tube cap for them, but the silicone rings work much better. Is this a new thing? My 66 didn't come with dampers. I wonder if they would quiet down this mullard I've got that tinkles on certain notes.
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Post by guitarboy02451 on Apr 15, 2007 8:25:21 GMT -7
The amp and tubes dont come with dampners... if your getting some rattle they will eliminate it.
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Post by genobluzgtr on Apr 15, 2007 20:14:42 GMT -7
The ones I got from ebay were orange. they are made of higher temperature silicon (450 deg) but otherwise are simple O rings. I would hesitate to use simple hardware store Orings in case they melt to the tube.
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Post by hdahs143 on Apr 15, 2007 21:28:26 GMT -7
It seems like heat shrink would work well for this purpose
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Post by myles on Apr 16, 2007 8:58:09 GMT -7
It seems like heat shrink would work well for this purpose It does.
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Post by ruger9 on Apr 20, 2007 3:56:06 GMT -7
I use them in my little Classic 20, they help, but don't eliminate all of the rattling. With really small combos, where those tubes hang down behind the speaker in close proximity, I don't think there's much that can be done. Especially as the volume on the amp goes up.
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captain38
Full Member
I followed you big river...
Posts: 198
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Post by captain38 on May 15, 2007 18:36:39 GMT -7
So this may be a total bonehead thing to ask, but here goes nothing...so tube dampers will help with the microphonic feedback? and rattle and such? will it also extend the life of a tube that gets hauled around in a trailer alot?(roadcase of course) It seems that since nearly day one I've had tube rattle and the likes. It really sucks if I have to turn back the amp volume because the tube noise shows up in the recording.
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Post by flem on May 27, 2007 23:09:05 GMT -7
My Z28 came with two silicone rings on the EF86. First time I'd seen them. I looked on the net and there are some crazy expensive things you can buy for this purpose that also act like heatsinks to cool the tube. I think I came across one site that had custom brass or aluminium machined one's for $120 a pair.
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Post by jzguitar on May 28, 2007 14:35:29 GMT -7
My Z28 came with two silicone rings on the EF86. First time I'd seen them. I looked on the net and there are some crazy expensive things you can buy for this purpose that also act like heatsinks to cool the tube. I think I came across one site that had custom brass or aluminium machined one's for $120 a pair. I got some silicone rings on ebay for $10 or so. Those super expensive ones sound like audiophile goofiness to me. My $8 clip-on fan cools the tubes just fine!
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Post by billyguitar on May 28, 2007 20:09:13 GMT -7
$120 a pair! Fugedaboutit!
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Post by nitehawk55 on May 29, 2007 8:36:43 GMT -7
My Z28 came with two silicone rings on the EF86. First time I'd seen them. I looked on the net and there are some crazy expensive things you can buy for this purpose that also act like heatsinks to cool the tube. I think I came across one site that had custom brass or aluminium machined one's for $120 a pair. Good Lord !!.....a person can buy a whole lotta rubber bands or O rings for that . Some of these audiophiles have to have THEE best and that usually means expensive to them
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