Tube Testers and Classic Electronic Test Gear [Paperback]

Alan Douglas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2000

Provides an overview of pre-1970 (vacuum tube) test equipment. Tube testers from 23 manufacturers are tabulated and pictured. Also covers VOMs, VTVMS, Q Meters, Grid Dip Meters, Signal Generators, Signal Tracers and Oscilloscopes. Brief company histories of the manufacturers are also presented. Over 300 photos and illustrations.

Product Details

• Paperback: 166 pages
• Publisher: Sonoran Pub (August 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1886606145
• ISBN-13: 978-1886606142
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #509,216 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tube Testers and Classic Electronic Test Gear, December 16, 2000

By 

Thomas Miccolis (Annapolis, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tube Testers and Classic Electronic Test Gear (Paperback)

EXCELLENT treatise by well known "Vintage Radio" author Alan Douglas on the many well known (Hickok, Heath, Eico, B&K, Precision) and "not-so-well-known" (Military, AVO, Western Electric, Mercury, Triplett, Weston) Vacuum Tube Testers. While the major topic of this book is Vacuum Tube Testers, other "Classic" and very useful pieces of test equipment for troubleshooting "Vintage" Audio and Radio equipment are also examined. Items such as Capacitor Testers, Noise Bridges, Impedance Bridges, Curve Tracers, Signal Generators, and HV DC power supplies are covered.

Alan Douglas also provides the reader with wonderful insight into a variety of testing and test equipment related topics that have been "difficult to explain" for decades. Testing issues such as: why tube tester readings disagree for the same tube tested, using Curve Tracers for characterizing vacuum tubes (other than the Tektronix 570!), building the "Ultimate Tube Tester", how to REALLY obtain and interpret tube characteristic curves, how to relate measured tube data to manufacturer's published tube data, proper Capacitor testing; including ESR and leakage, as well as test equipment restoration and maintenance tips.

This book imparts a "WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE" to the reader about Classic Vacuum Tube Testers and Test Equipment. However it is NOT a "review" of tube testers or test equipment on a "which one is better" or "what is the BEST" type of basis. Rather, it is a careful examination and explanation of the "method of operation" as well as the "inherent limitations" for a multitude of vacuum tube testers and test equipment. Numerous and detailed photographs of practically EVERYTHING described makes this a book that is destined to quickly become a "Standard of Reference" for all of us that enjoy working on Vintage Vacuum tube Audio and Radio equipment as well as testing and selecting vacuum tubes for optimum performance in a particular application. A "must have" book for those considering what tube tester(s) to purchase for their needs and/or which ones to retain in their "collection".

[NOTE: IMHO, this book is NOT intended for the "average user" of vintage Radio, Audio or "Audiophile" equipment. Although the "average user" may be able to glean some useful "tips & general information" on the test equipment listed, the "intended reader audience" is those who are thoroughly knowledgeable in electronics and regularly work on vintage, vacuum tube based, electronic equipment (for either fun or profit).]

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great History of Tube Testers, February 15, 2003

By 

"hcstraub" (Woodbury, Minnesota United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tube Testers and Classic Electronic Test Gear (Paperback)

Alan Douglas has managed to compile an impressive collection of information on vacuum tube test equipment. If you are looking to buy a tube tester, repair them or just have a general interest, this is the bible.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A hodge-podge of author's flea market purchases and vintage magazine ads, November 25, 2009

By 

MythBuster DownUnder (Perth, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tube Testers and Classic Electronic Test Gear (Paperback)

This is a hodge-podge of predominately copies of vintage magazine ads. The theoretical treatise is limited to the first 18 pages and even that is at a very basic level. The book is overambitious in trying to cover BOTH tube testers and other instruments, and does neither well.

It is far from clear who is it aimed for. It certainly isn't useful to engineers and experts in the field, since it does not go deep enough into problematic issues of tube testers, while it is not comprehensive enough for an average user (guitar player, audiophile or tube trader) and does not mention utilitarian aspects of tube tester those readers would be interested in.

I will not even start describing the book's lacking regarding other test gear, which is so superficially covered. Out of the slim 166 printed pages 15 are completely blank and 30 or so are full page reproductions of old ads, which leaves us with around 121 pages, and even those are sparsely "populated" and mostly magazine ads and photographs, very, very few circuit diagrams (seemingly randomly selected instead of their inclusion to illustrate a concept or prove a point) and less explanations of how those sometimes confusing circuits work.

Of course, had the quality been better one wouldn't complain about this quantitative issues. Apart from the coverage issues, the book also fails from a methodological point of view. Organizing the book along the manufacturers sections is the easiest way out, but a chronological (developments along a time-scale) or even complexity based progression (from simplest to the most complex tube testers) would have been more educational. In summary, there is nothing in this book that cannot be found by google-ing around, although as a starting point it may serve some purpose, therefore two stars from me for Alan's effort. Other "experts" didn't even get that far!