Daddy Dee Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 Well, was heading back home to Arkansas on Monday after driving all night to North Missouri to pick up a camper shell for my pickup, (great deal, worth the drive, and nothing better to do) and stopped at a Radio Shack just to take a break from the drive. Thought, "There's a RS... since I'll need a piece of equipment to set the bias on my awesome 299b NOSValves rebuild that I'll be receiving this week.... I'll just stop in and pick it up." Now, perhaps the manager just didn't want me in the store, unshaven, windblown and in overhauls, but when I asked the manager about a piece of testing equipment to set bias on a tube amp, he said rather emphatically, "WE WOULDN'T CARRY ANYTHING LIKE THAT." Straight face, too. He did ask me if I had a catalogue number. I said, nope, but if I could look at your catalogue I might be able to pick it out. He said, "Don't use a catalogue here anymore." I said, well, I read on the Klipsch forum that lots of people use RS gear for this purpose and it comes highly recommended, and the particular piece is in the nieghborhood of $20. Well, he was looking at me like I had two heads, so I just left. I did stop in another RS in a town where I'd stopped for lunch, browsed and looked at a catalogue and found about 12 or 13 multi testers and knew then I'd need to seek the advisement of this forum. What recommendations would you have on a user friendly, really user friendly, unit that will do what I (a clueless newbie)need to do. Thanks in advance for the help. Dee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted May 7, 2003 Author Share Posted May 7, 2003 P.S. Any wisdom on biasing or tubeing appreciated. Is there anything you know now that you wish you had known when you were starting on tubes? Dee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricktate Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 I would keep an eye on Sears adds,they have very good multi-testers and on sale some times.I think they are much better than R.S. and i dont go to R.S. anymore,all they are is a phone store now....lol...model nimber of one i got is 82139 autoranging multimeter ,,,and it checks capacitors to ,,,some have asked about that on the board.I also bought another one on sale awhile back...it is digital and analog type meter,,,,but i use this little autoranging one more often..lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artto Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 RE: 'Is there anything you know now that you wish you had known when you were starting on tubes?' Yeah. I once had my Luxman tube amps in storage for several years. When I pulled them out of storage & fired them back up I blew 5 of the 6 output tubes within a few hours, some on startup. Now, at a going street price of $150+ each (used), that ain't cheap. I didn't know that the power supply caps needed to be "re-formed" by slowly powering the amp with something like a variac, without the tubes in. Its a good idea to follow this procedure with SS as well. However, apparently, tube gear is much more susceptable to blowing up if this isn't done. Costly mistake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 ---------------- On 5/7/2003 12:53:28 PM artto wrote: ...without the tubes in. ---------------- This particular bit of advice is often missing in variac discussions. Thanks for pointing it out! fini Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkrop Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 Don't get something that automatically adjusts to the voltage but that you have to adjust to the voltage/amperage of what you are measuring Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2K Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 Do you have a Harbor Freight Tools in your neck o' the woods DD? I bought a couple of those high quality Chinese digital multimeters recently and they work well for the purpose you have in mind. Whopping price of $4.95. If you are interested in obtaining one of these high quality instruments, just let me know. I'll send you one. Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted May 8, 2003 Author Share Posted May 8, 2003 Keith, Thanks for the info and the offer. Didn't know there was a Harbor Freight in my town until just now. Checked it out their store locations on their web page. Cool. It's not far off my regular path. Looks like it would be a good place to be dropped off when the girls go to the mall! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricktate Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 The sears Autoranger multi tester can be put into one range if you need to lock it into one range for testing.I think it is the best bet in testers and rugged housing to boot......Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny dB Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 DaddyDee, I'm usung a RatShack Multimeter to bias my Scott. It was on sale for $29.95 down from $59.95. It's their Fluke knock off. I've since used it on many projects. The CAT. NO. 22-801. Have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2K Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 Your welcome DadD! Harbor Freight has many different models and you can pay as little or as much as you want for one. Since I rarely use a multimeter I myself do not care for a top of the line model. The less expensive jobs work well. You might note that many multimeters that you see elsewhere have a striking resemblance to some of the less expensive ones at Harbor. The major difference is cost. Hope you enjoy the trip down there. I guarantee you'll see one or two other things you've been looking for. Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 A few words on the $4.95 Harbor Freight meter. It is made in China. It is $4.95 when they have it on sale, more expensive other times. Others do indeed sell the same meter for considerably more. I have seen it on sale at other places for close to $20. It is definitely not high quality. I had one burn up in my hand checking AC voltage. Another one lost some of its ranges. As for RadioShack... My experience with their sales folks has also varied. The last meter I bought came from there. Checked with the closest store and they didn't have one. But they did check their computer system to find a store that had on in stock. Closest store was about a mile away. Went there to buy it. Took the sales person about 15 minutes to find it. It is a name brand meter with capabilities not found in cheaper meters. But it did cost around $85 on sale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2K Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 Sounds like you pretty much get what you pay for, huh Malcolm? Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynnm Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 I picked up a dandy little Fluke at a pawn shop a while back. Small,versatile and accurate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 My experience with electronic test equipment has indeed been you get what you pay for. Fluke instruments are wonderful and worth every cent of their retail price if you have to depend on them for a living. For less demanding duty, there are less expensive alternatives that will do as well. Even the $4.95 units have their place if they are not safety hazards. I kept one in the back of my pickup until half the ranges died just to be able to do simple trouble shooting. Of course, a wire, a battery and a lamp would do as well for most of that. Hmmm.... Come to think of it, that is the kind of stuff some mechanics in Mexico used some years back to troubleshoot an electrical system problem on a motorhome I was driving. Only other thing was a buzzer to troubleshoot alternators. Don't get me wrong. I like Harbor Freight. I am taking welding at the local community college and wind up over there about once a week. Usually it is for things like cutoff or grinding wheels, etc. But I just picked up a set of 6" digital calipers for $20. I even bought a $100 buzz box (AC welder) made in China to practice with. At Harbor Freight, you just have to be an informed buyer. They have lots of not so high quality stuff and some real good deals. The problem is determining which is which. Good thing is that quality has improved over the years. I guess the Chinese prison industries are beating their workers more often. Apparently Russia has officially entered the third world. Most of Harbor Freight's products come from third world countries. Now I am seeing cutoff wheels marked "Made in Russia." I think the Russian and Ukranian guys in my welding class would agree with that assessment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2K Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 Your welcome DadD! Harbor Freight has many different models and you can pay as little or as much as you want for one. Since I rarely use a multimeter I myself do not care for a top of the line model. The less expensive jobs work well. You might note that many multimeters that you see elsewhere have a striking resemblance to some of the less expensive ones at Harbor. The major difference is cost. Hope you enjoy the trip down there. I guarantee you'll see one or two other things you've been looking for. Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted May 9, 2003 Share Posted May 9, 2003 I specifically asked Craig about tubes out or in when bringing up the power on a variac. He told me to have all tubes in. Worked okay too. Marvel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted May 9, 2003 Share Posted May 9, 2003 OoH, ooh! The HarborFreight multimeter is $2.99 now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2K Posted May 11, 2003 Share Posted May 11, 2003 Now I feel like I've been dissed too, DaddyDee! You said, "What recommendations would you have on a user friendly, really user friendly, unit that will do what I (a clueless newbie)need to do. Thanks in advance for the help." And I answered as above. I have used one of the cheap digital multimeters for setting bias for about three months now. And it has performed flawlessly. I have another analog multimeter that I've had for years and I've used it maybe twice. I have no need for a more expensive tool so the cheapo is really all I need for the task that your original question referenced. Malcolm even said " Fluke instruments are wonderful and worth every cent of their retail price if you have to depend on them for a living. For less demanding duty, there are less expensive alternatives that will do as well. Even the $4.95 units have their place if they are not safety hazards. I kept one in the back of my pickup until half the ranges died just to be able to do simple trouble shooting.", seemingly agreeing with me. Perhaps Malcolm would have gotten better service from his el cheapo multimeter had he not left it in the back of his pickup. And yes Malcolm, I do realize that Harbor Freight is not the place to buy top notch tools and testing equipment. Everyone knows that Radio Shack holds that honor. Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted May 11, 2003 Share Posted May 11, 2003 Keith, I hope you had your tongue in your cheek! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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