Tube sockets?

[Tdale]

Do you guys like the ceramic or the "plastic" ones for your 9-pin sockets?

Tommy

[toneman]

ceramic, a bit more but much cooler. May be a bit psychosomatic

[tubetek]

Howdy-
+1 for ceramic IF they are decent quality; there are some crappy ceramics
out there. For the ultimate, I'd probably use those esoteric cork-sniffer
solid Teflon with machined gold pins! Truth is, I use mostly NOS sockets in
phenolic, Micalex, ceramic or whatever. I pay more attention to the way the
contacts fit the tube pins. Fortunately, good NOS sockets are still readily
available. (AES has a fair selection, for instance) Hope this helps.
tubetek

[Johnhenry]

Amphanol = Ceramic, and don't by the Cheap Chinese one's, you'll be Sorryyyyyyyy !
John

[lastwinj]

russian military surplus, 9pin with shield for 12ax7.

by the way, i'll have a few hundred if anyone is interested. good price, too.


germ

[sliberty]

russian military surplus, 9pin with shield for 12ax7.

by the way, i'll have a few hundred if anyone is interested. good price, too.


germ

Got a picture?

[David Root]

For Octals, Celanex/Micalex are good, especially for +350V. Lord Valve, antique electronics and turretboards.com have 'em. All 3 are good, I've used 'em.
Steve at Apex Jr. has Japan mfd. NOS Omron phenolic, black, at $1.75 each. You can't beat that with a stick!
For 9-pin, if you want old style US made, LV has 'em , but they ain't cheap. He also has very good Belton (Korea) 9-pins. Used both, both very good.

IMHO, the Korean Beltons are EXCELLENT, pretty much old style Made in USA quality level, in octal or 9-pin. Search for best price.

No, I don't like ceramics. they chip easily and look like s**t.

[Mr. dB]

I've had a problem with the Beltons, in that they tend to wick solder down into the socket area when I'm working on the pins. Even if I move very quickly it still happens sometimes. I don't have this issue with any other tube socket brands, just the Beltons.

My work-around is to put a tube in the socket when I'm working on the amp.

[Alexo]

I've had a problem with the Beltons, in that they tend to wick solder down into the socket area when I'm working on the pins. Even if I move very quickly it still happens sometimes. I don't have this issue with any other tube socket brands, just the Beltons.

My work-around is to put a tube in the socket when I'm working on the amp.

My strategy is to pick up the whole chassis and put it sideways so that the pins are horizontal when I solder them, that way it can't drip down into the sockets, I don't like to solder with the tubes in place because a) I'm afraifd I will permanently solder the tube to the socket and b) I worry about them absorbing too much heat from the iron, which is completely absurd but I can't help it.

[paulster]

My work-around is to put a tube in the socket when I'm working on the amp.

<snip>I don't like to solder with the tubes in place because a) I'm afraifd I will permanently solder the tube to the socket

I'd suggest using an old tube if you're going to do this in case it does get soldered in and requires a bit of persuasion to remove. I'd also remove and reinsert it between soldering each pin. That way, if it does get soldered in, at least you'll only have one pin to deal with and can heat it again to desolder it. Far easier than to discover that you've managed to get 9 pins soldered in.

[Mr. dB]

(1) I use old worn out tubes for soldering the Belton sockets.
(2) I think the tube acts as enough of a heat sink to keep that part of the socket from getting hot enough to draw the solder. I haven't had a tube get soldered in place yet.
(3) But from now on any time I do a project with Belton sockets, I'll order plenty of extras just in case. But I'd rather just use good NOS sockets when I can find them. The last batch of "NOS" I got from Antique Electronics turned out to be Cinch.

[brownnote]

I've used literally hundreds of Belton sockets and never had a problem with solder wicking...I recommend them.

[s2]

I've probably gone through 1,400 or so Beltons and really like them. Early ones had problems with the pins breaking (octals only), but I haven't had that problem in a couple of years.

I pretty much only use Beltons now.

[drhulsey]

russian military surplus, 9pin with shield for 12ax7. By the way, i'll have a few hundred if anyone is interested. good price, too. germ

Very cool that you put clips of your Wreck Clone on the auction site And guttsy, too. Although with a good Wreck clone, you've got nothing to lose by letting the bidders listen to it
Sorry for being OT Carry on

[Funkalicousgroove]

I'm all for the beltons, and have never had the solder wicking issue, however I have had that issue with ceramics.

I use a smaller diameter solder, it melts quicker so the pin doesn't have a chance to get as hot.