Silent Screamer Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 (edited) Been watching a few YT videos lately that suggest that you get about one year out of a set of tubes (dependant on use). Now I bought a second hand Butler Audio amp a while back (few years but mostly sat unused in a box) and was kind of under the impression that you change tubes when they blow, but apparently this isn't the case. I have subsequently sold this amp to my brother in law, and I have a couple of NOS tubes sitting here to suit it. Being that the amp is several years old with unknown amount of hours on it, I wonder if I should be putting in the new tubes. Now hopefully the change over should be relatively straightforward, but I am no electronics expert like many on here, and I have heard of people in the past mention things like bias changing. Is it a straight forward swapover or am I out of my depth? Edited October 10, 2018 by Silent Screamer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love_music Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 (edited) Hello You may find some answers in the link below, they look at between 1500 hours to 10000 hours, depending on use and type of tube. https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/life-span-of-tubes Edited October 10, 2018 by Love_music 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silent Screamer Posted October 10, 2018 Author Share Posted October 10, 2018 I opened the packet to see what tubes are in there and they are 6H9C. A quick search seems to make reference to them being Russian tubes. I guess how much use prior to me buying the amp is still a bit of an unknown. Can they be just put in or is other tweaking required? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussievintage Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 18 minutes ago, Silent Screamer said: how much use prior to me buying the amp is still a bit of an unknown Preamp tubes can often outlast the owner. I don't expect any of mine to ever need replacing. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janjuggler Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 Hi, Also keeping the tubes correctly biased will lengthen their life, many of the cheaper Chinese do not have any way of doing this, some amps can be done manually and have a built in dial to do this and some, like PrimaLuna have auto biasing, but driver tubes usually last less than preamp tubes. The tubes you mention area preamp tubes which should last quite a while, maybe 5 - 7K + hours. JJ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyr Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 1 hour ago, Janjuc said: The tubes you mention area preamp tubes which should last quite a while, maybe 5 - 7K + hours. JJ Given there are 8,760 hours in a year ... you certainly don't want to keep your preamp on continuously, though! Andy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eman Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 You sold the amp to the Bro in law but you still have some tubes to suit ? Sell him the tubes. Leave the swap to him. Yes; Russian tube number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silent Screamer Posted October 10, 2018 Author Share Posted October 10, 2018 1 hour ago, eman said: You sold the amp to the Bro in law but you still have some tubes to suit ? Sell him the tubes. Leave the swap to him. Yes; Russian tube number. He's flat out operating the power button... Not something I want to leave up to him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silent Screamer Posted October 10, 2018 Author Share Posted October 10, 2018 (edited) 2 hours ago, andyr said: Given there are 8,760 hours in a year ... you certainly don't want to keep your preamp on continuously, though! Andy Ok so doesn't sound like they should be cactus yet. Edited October 10, 2018 by Silent Screamer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussievintage Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 4 hours ago, andyr said: Given there are 8,760 hours in a year ... you certainly don't want to keep your preamp on continuously, though! For sure - never a good idea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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