The opening… Repairing Vintage Equipment – Radio Tubes and Valves

We recently received a mail from a reader whom asked us what the procedure (self-repair) was if they had received a valve amplifier which was faulty but needed to conduct a repair – what to do, where to go and as a last resort, how to repair.  A local repair depot had quoted nearly 150 British pounds to repair but did not state what parts needed to be replaced.

[GARD]

Unless the repair depot was a service agent it’s quite common practice not to state what parts are going to be replaced in the quote – service agents are usually more expensive and often customers play repair companies against each other to get prices driven down or even attempt a repair themselves. This article is not written for the novice but for someone in the electronics field having not encountered valves before. We expect you to know your way around an oscilloscope and most of all remember that valve or tube equipment operate at lethal voltages – you have been warned.