Hickok 800 Tube Testing Tubes from 1965 Ampeg Gemini I

Testing the tubes from the 1965 Ampeg Gemini I G-12 I'm working on using my recently calibrated Hickok 800 Mutual Conductance tester.
There are mixed feelings about using tube testers to check tubes. I mainly use it to check for tubes to see if they are completely shot before I use them - ones that I do not want to put into an amp because of shorts, or dead filaments - catastrophically bad in other words.
As a wise man once posted, there probably have been a lot of good tubes tossed because of tube testers, and I can't argue with that.
And I think it's fun!

[@willayre1979]

Thanks for the video! I just picked up one of these yesterday and this video was very helpful.

[@tronpesto3978]

Excellent - glad it was a help. I find them fun to use AND helpful.

[@DeadKoby]

No tube tester hate from me........... Often when an amp comes to my shop for repair, I give it the see & smell test, and once that passes, I check the tubes. Hickok are among the most famous testers......... poor broke me is stuck with an Eico 666. I've got an Orange VT-1000 also. When checking 6SL7's recently.... I found that one triode was stronger than the other... in both tubes, but it didn't hurt the amps' working so they stayed.

[@Tysman909]

To test faster on dual tubes like 12ax7 test 1st side on all the 12ax7 then switch to other side and test. Faster then switching all those switches back and forth between each tube. My hickok 752 I don't need to since can test both sides at same time using plate 2 button

[@tronpesto3978]

NIce!

[@Tysman909]

Do a meter bridge balance test on your shunt control make sure stays within 1 tick of zero if it does through its whole range without any crazy up and down then your shunt control is accurate for mutual conductance on those 3 red dots if not clean the control and rebalance it by desoldering the 2 halves and moving top half till it is then resoldered it

[@tronpesto3978]

Thanks for the tip, Tysman909!