Tube dampers in Pro Audio gear?

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Anyone use Tube Dampers (eg, something like these:
http://herbiesaudiolab.home.att.net/index.htm) in their tube mic
preamps or equalizers?

I'm mostly inclined to view products like this as pure snake oil, given
that they're marketed to the same crowd who swear by $500/foot speaker
cables, exotic isolation platforms for power amps, green Sharpies for
CD edges...products whose justification is based on psuedoscience,
hearsay, expectation bias, and the sheer gall of marketing hucksters.

But then I remember that nearly every tube guitar amp I've ever owned
has gone microphonic at one time or another. So maybe Tube Dampers
aren't such a dumb idea for a Pultec...anyone?

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 11:16:05 -0800, Buster Mudd wrote:

> Anyone use Tube Dampers (eg, something like these:
> http://herbiesaudiolab.home.att.net/index.htm) in their tube mic
> preamps or equalizers?
>
> I'm mostly inclined to view products like this as pure snake oil, given
> that they're marketed to the same crowd who swear by $500/foot speaker
> cables, exotic isolation platforms for power amps, green Sharpies for
> CD edges...products whose justification is based on psuedoscience,
> hearsay, expectation bias, and the sheer gall of marketing hucksters.
>
> But then I remember that nearly every tube guitar amp I've ever owned
> has gone microphonic at one time or another. So maybe Tube Dampers
> aren't such a dumb idea for a Pultec...anyone?

I've seen equipment where the tube socket itself is mounted on rubber
washers. It was a tape deck, and I think they were the EF86s for the
tape head preamp. That would be more effective for stopping vibration than
attaching things to the top of the tube.

Not totally psudoscience IMHO. Even digital gear sometimes makes little
noises on the output if you hit the case....

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

philicorda wrote:

> On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 11:16:05 -0800, Buster Mudd wrote:
>
> > Anyone use Tube Dampers (eg, something like these:
> > http://herbiesaudiolab.home.att.net/index.htm) in their tube mic
> > preamps or equalizers?
> >
> > I'm mostly inclined to view products like this as pure snake oil, given
> > that they're marketed to the same crowd who swear by $500/foot speaker
> > cables, exotic isolation platforms for power amps, green Sharpies for
> > CD edges...products whose justification is based on psuedoscience,
> > hearsay, expectation bias, and the sheer gall of marketing hucksters.
> >
> > But then I remember that nearly every tube guitar amp I've ever owned
> > has gone microphonic at one time or another. So maybe Tube Dampers
> > aren't such a dumb idea for a Pultec...anyone?
>
> I've seen equipment where the tube socket itself is mounted on rubber
> washers. It was a tape deck, and I think they were the EF86s for the
> tape head preamp. That would be more effective for stopping vibration than
> attaching things to the top of the tube.

My ancient Ferrograph has just that arrangement. Along with the screening can
with the spring retainer.


> Not totally psudoscience IMHO. Even digital gear sometimes makes little
> noises on the output if you hit the case....

I must try tapping a D-A tomorrow ! But then there'll probably be some
mechanical noise pickup from the nearby output filter. Oh well...


Graham

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

I've done a whole lot of experimentation with tube damping devices in preamps & amps, and I can
say two things about them:
1) Elastic damping rings pretty universally tighten up the bass substantially & clean up the
mids a bit, with these effects being more pronounced in power amp input/driver stages than in
preamps, but still quite extant in all cases.
2) No damping rings were more effective than the simple silicone o-rings available dirt cheap
at mcmaster.com, where they are sold for plumbing & etc. For example, on 12AX7-size tubes, I
use 1"o.d./0.75"i.d. & use two or three per tube(3 or 4 for tall ones like the 12BH7 & 6CG7).
This o-ring is about $15 for a bag of 50. Being silicone, they don't dry out or crack like
neoprenes, and don't melt all over the tube & socket like the sorbothane rings(which seem to
have thankfully disappeared from the market). And they're cheap enough that even a small
benefit potential makes it worth using them.

--
Stephen Sank, Owner & Ribbon Mic Restorer
Talking Dog Transducer Company
http://stephensank.com
5517 Carmelita Drive N.E.
Albuquerque, New Mexico [87111]
505-332-0336
Auth. Nakamichi & McIntosh servicer
Payments preferred through Paypal.com
"Buster Mudd" <mr_furious@mail.com> wrote in message
news:1102533365.889034.213640@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Anyone use Tube Dampers (eg, something like these:
> http://herbiesaudiolab.home.att.net/index.htm) in their tube mic
> preamps or equalizers?
>
> I'm mostly inclined to view products like this as pure snake oil, given
> that they're marketed to the same crowd who swear by $500/foot speaker
> cables, exotic isolation platforms for power amps, green Sharpies for
> CD edges...products whose justification is based on psuedoscience,
> hearsay, expectation bias, and the sheer gall of marketing hucksters.
>
> But then I remember that nearly every tube guitar amp I've ever owned
> has gone microphonic at one time or another. So maybe Tube Dampers
> aren't such a dumb idea for a Pultec...anyone?
>

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

> I am having a very bad surface mount experience today. At least when
tube
> gear fails, the parts have the values marked on them....
> --scott
>
> --
> "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Oh yeah, nothing like tring to desolder, test and replace a flat
trasistor the size of a gnat. Fun Fun Fun

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In article <cpcjvq$ogr$1@reader2.nmix.net>,
Stephen Sank <bk11@thuntek.net> wrote:
>A gnat would look like Godzilla compared to some of the new ultra-tiny SMD transistors in use
>nowadays. Incidentally, there is at least one "decoder book" available for the inscrutible
>numbering system on those things. I think I saw it in the Parts Express catalog, or maybe MCM.

The numbering on resistors isn't so bad, but I have a whole stack of boards
with tantalum decoupling caps that are just brown rectangles with no numbers
of any sort. At least I _think_ they are tantalum decoupling caps...
they are certainly failing like tantalum caps.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."