Hi everyone!
I’m trying to figure out which tube tester I should try to find. I’m still in school and want to go into general audio repair and of course some building as well, in a few years. Right now, I’m just focussed collecting knowledge, parts and test equipment. As I’m in The Netherlands most stuff I come across is European and of course loads of Philips valves and anything in their “universe” (Valvo, Adzam, Mullard and so on). I’ve been looking at Philips cartomatics (GM7630 / GM7633) and AVO meters but to be honest, those are all very much above my pay grade. I was wondring of anyone knows of a decent alternative. Any suggestion would be nice!
Mr Carlson has a video on this topic on his YouTube channel. Here is the link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrXBkpiQ2DI
“I’m still in school” That covers a lot of territory. Can you get academic credit or a subsidy/scholarship for building something?
“(GM7630 / GM7633)” Those are (1) antiquated and (2) very high priced in USA.
“As I’m in The Netherlands” Not sure what that means as far as tariff/tax/VAT I think Germany to USA is 15% tariff at the moment. You might take a look at RoeTest V11 which is expensive and a formidable project, but not antiquated.
<a href=" removed link “>RoeTest – Tube Tester Tube Meter
“I’m still in school” That covers a lot of territory. Can you get academic credit or a subsidy/scholarship for building something?
“(GM7630 / GM7633)” Those are (1) antiquated and (2) very high priced in USA.
“As I’m in The Netherlands” Not sure what that means as far as tariff/tax/VAT I think Germany to USA is 15% tariff at the moment. You might take a look at RoeTest V11 which is expensive and a formidable project, but not antiquated.
<a href=” removed link “>RoeTest – Tube Tester Tube Meter
I’m not sure how to even respond to this. I’m 15, so in school, 4rd year (final year) VMBO, (which is like junior high in the USA I think) and I’m doing a profile called PIE ( in Dutch and translated that stands for Producing, Installing and Experimentation). I’ll be going to a trade school next year, we call that MBO here, in case you’re interested. Not sure why you asked that in that way though and whether or not I’m getting academic credits or anything, not for this, I built a stereo for that assignment (and passed). Now, “subsidy” haha. (I wish, that would be sweet) but no, I have 2 jobs besides school (a morning paper round and I work at a certain fast food restaurant chain on Saturdays, the one with the huge yellow 13th letter of the alphabet, is sort of very much not the issue but that’s how I pay for this, so now you know). I’m seriously confused as to what Germany has to do with this, or VAT rates for that matter. The Netherlands are an independent country and NOT Germany, thank you. I never said I was going to buy one in the USA (or anywhere abroad really) and I think the shipping alone would be like, half my budget, probably. Just saying. I was just asking about types and models and such. Anyway, thanks for the suggestion regarding the RoeTest, I will look into that.
@stijn Roetest inventor Helmut Weigl is in Germany. You can see his profile and collections at radiomuseum (dot) org. He also started learning electronics at age 15. I searched “netherlands and germany trade vat tariff relations” and it looks rather complex.
@stijn Roetest inventor Helmut Weigl is in Germany. You can see his profile and collections at radiomuseum (dot) org. He also started learning electronics at age 15. I searched “netherlands and germany trade vat tariff relations” and it looks rather complex.
I found the site, thanks again. Just to be precise, I started learning electronics in the last grade of elementary school, at 11 (yes, it was all Arduino’s fault hahaha). We have 8 grades of elementary school here, from age 4 (or 3 if you turn 4 before like mid October that year) and so you’re 12 (or 11) when you start secondary school. In a lot of elementary schools here you do Science and Technology like experiments and such projects, as well as math, English and computer stuff from 7th grade onwards and that gets more of a thing in 8th grade. In Germany, that sort of technical education seems to be a bit later than here, from like 15 on and such. At least, that’s what I heard say.
As for the VAT situation, I think the confusion might be because we have like several VAT tariffs in The Netherlands (0% for some services, 9% for like food and 21% for everything else) and Germany has 0% for stuff like solar and such, some services are wholly exempt, food and such are 7% and the rest is 19%. In the rest of the EU it varies some and that is all pretty confusing for sure but I believe most EU countries have a system somewhat like ours and Germany’s but I’m not certain about the exact percentages. I hope that helps.
FWIW i invested a few years ago in the kitset for the eTracer tube tester from an engineer in Taiwan. The reason being that it will ‘plot the curves’ for the tube being tested i.e. Plate voltage versus Current for different Bias voltage settings. The results mean you can check your tested tube plot with the same one in the datasheet. You can even ‘design’ your own tests for a tube & that means you have to sharpen up your own knowledge & which means doing extra learning about tubes, which is good thing. eTracer also allows you to do a quick test for Gm, µ, Rp & I. Although eTracer grew out of one man’s interest in testing a tube to check its performance the whole thing turned into a product that you assemble from a kit. I wouldn’t call it a cheap project though. There is alot going on and you get to solder up the set of tube sockets… I personally have settled at least one claim for someone who had been sold dud tubes & i was able to provide genuine evidence of the devices he received & got his money back. Have a search on YouTube for eTracer, one creator Blue Glow shows the assembly process & using it.
FWIW i invested a few years ago in the kitset for the eTracer tube tester from an engineer in Taiwan. The reason being that it will ‘plot the curves’ for the tube being tested i.e. Plate voltage versus Current for different Bias voltage settings. The results mean you can check your tested tube plot with the same one in the datasheet. You can even ‘design’ your own tests for a tube & that means you have to sharpen up your own knowledge & which means doing extra learning about tubes, which is good thing. eTracer also allows you to do a quick test for Gm, µ, Rp & I. Although eTracer grew out of one man’s interest in testing a tube to check its performance the whole thing turned into a product that you assemble from a kit. I wouldn’t call it a cheap project though. There is alot going on and you get to solder up the set of tube sockets… I personally have settled at least one claim for someone who had been sold dud tubes & i was able to provide genuine evidence of the devices he received & got his money back. Have a search on YouTube for eTracer, one creator Blue Glow shows the assembly process & using it.
Thank you! I’ll look into that.