Do the type 57 tubes in the early preamps tend to become noisy?

[tpappano]

The preamp in the BC sometimes gets in a mood to make low random noises. If I touch the grid cap of the 57 and cause a loud burst of hum, it behaves itself for a few days. The sockets and pins are clean. I suppose it could be a noisy 82 year old resistor too, just wondering what your experiences have been. Thanks, All!

[David Anderson]

It's possible to get bad solder connections between the lead-out wires of octal tubes and the tube pins, so I suppose the same thing could happen to the top cap on a Type 57 pentode. I haven't looked at one recently, so I'm not sure if it's possible to resolder the top cap.

[tpappano]

Thanks David, I will take a look at the cap and base pins.

[muckelroy]

You'd be noisy if you'd been resisting current for 82 years too. :D

I am astounded at both the simplicity and the nuances/variations of the 2 tube preamp. Let us know what you find out about the noise.

[tpappano]

Will do, those two ancient (and original) tubes sure do a fine job!

[Drawbar Dave]

I might have a couple of 56's and 57's for you in the loft from when I flirted with the two tube amps. I'll have a look later.

[Drummer55]

I know I have several 56's and 57's, Ebay banned me from selling the 57's because they were considered vaping.. No one there would listen that that is impossible.. LOLOL

[Drawbar Dave]

On my vape, the glass container is only the size of a 12AU7, so yes they're nuts!

[KC9UDX]

Like the YouTube video I made squashing a big pile of stink bugs, which got me a strike for "Sexual content".

[tpappano]

That's pretty close to “balloon popping” 8)

[Bobmann]

The preamp in the BC sometimes gets in a mood to make low random noises. If I touch the grid cap of the 57 and cause a loud burst of hum, it behaves itself for a few days. The sockets and pins are clean. I suppose it could be a noisy 82 year old resistor too, just wondering what your experiences have been. Thanks, All!

I have several if you want them, just pay postage. Let me know.

[tpappano]

Wow, thanks for the offers! I actually ordered one of each last night to cover any issues, they were pretty cheap 8) I'll try some swapping to see if a tube is the problem, maybe try re-soldering the pins to see if that fixes it. For some reason I have a compulsion to keep the originals in there, if possible 8)

[KC9UDX]

It's been a decade at least, but my memory days that I've soldered grid caps back on before. Not 57s though; something later. 6F7 maybe.