Heath TT1 tube analyzer tester with plate current meter rebuilt and calibrated

Your tubes and equipment are an investment. Your tube tester should be one too. How can you know the condition a tube you purchased.  Those tubes with 300 hours on them, are they still OK, how do you know?  One customer waited until his output tubes short out and destroyed one output transformer, he had no tester. 

Offered is a fully rebuilt and restored electrically, mechanically, and  then calibrated gm/mutual conductance tube tester and analyzer. Pictures tell the story, Great care has been taken to recondition this tester to a highly reliable state, and a tester you can trust.  This analyzer includes a 12 month warranty, see details below.

 This is one of our favorite testers and with the plate current meter it DOES stand beside the best ever made ’tube analyzers’ and NOT just a tester.  See feedback for comments about this customized machine.  If you seek a machine that tells you about your tubes in great detail, then this may be your machine.  If you think the $3,500 AT1000 is the answer to your needs, read on, for you will get ip, gm, leakage, grid current, all real numbers with this machine too, for a fraction of the price.

Please examine the photos, they have been enhanced to make sure any defects can be seen, and likely does over expose any wear and tear issues. We would rate the case at a 8 and the physical deck at a 9 plus  It is difficult to rate a 50 year old machine cosmetically with Audiogon definitions for condition.  Captions show how functional and analytical this machine is to the condition of a tube...a rare day when something gets past this analyzer.  The machine has been carefully rebuilt and calibrated to less than 1% analogue meter error and 0.1% digital meter error.  Note: the gm reading and plate current relate to our master Triplett 3444 and are to within about 0.5% gm, and plate current.  

This TT1 has been customized to include a Simson digital 200ma. range plate current meter that reads the plate current directly (no screen current is included on power tubes which can add as mush as 5ma to a reading).  It has it's own independent power supply so there is no interaction with the tube under test.  It shows the actual plate current as a d.c. static measurement and when the gm test is engaged a 5,000hz signal is applied for a dynamic reading.  It will measure in 10ths of a milliamp, great for preamp tubes.

Now you can professionally match tubes not only for transconductance but also plate current Why is this important?  In effect the gm indicates the A.C. signal component of the tube, the plate current is the DC component.  The usually ignored D.C. component  is very important.  When the D.C. power tube current is mismatched, it creates magnetic saturation in the output transformer, poor bass response especially on the negative cycle and increased distortion.  Current IS more important than gm on power tubes, gm only tells you about signal (ac) conditions NOT d.c conditions.  It is important for preamp tubes too.  See the behavior of a 12ax7 or 6922 with and without a signal applied and how it well that tube preforms in an active amplifying state as well as a static (no signal state).   

Regarding new tubes, a 6L6GC can show 6,000gm and plate current from about 38ma to as much as 50.  A low plate current means the tube will sound forgiving, easy, acoustic, and a high plate current means the tube will have a tight grip on all music, this holds true for preamp and power tubes.  Haven’t you had power tubes that sounded muscular and others that sounded forgiving or even mushy?  Doesn’t mean a low current is bad, simply means a different sound in your amp.  This same idea applies to preamp tubes.  Noise?....tap the tube in the d.c or signal state, and if you see jumpy plate numbers, this tube is likely noisy. 

This TT1 as you see it, uses filtered D.C. plate and grid voltages just like the very best  audio gear.  Unlike Hickok, which has no filtering at all, the applied Voltages are smoothed so no ghost or jolting peaked D.C. effects are present.  Don’t get us wrong here, the best Hickok’s are very good machines and we also use them, but their technology is still basically from the 1940’s ( actually late 1930’s) not the mid/late 1960’s.

 With this TT1, You can test an extraordinary variety of audio and radio tubes including direct heated triodes such as 2A3, 300B, 10, 45, and many others which have the American UX4 (4 pin) base which includes the new PX types. Test Pentodes like 6550, 6L6/5881, ELxx types, KT66 to 150 types, 7591/7868, 6bq5etc. You can even test compactrons. Examine the deck and you can see just about every socket for every need.  There is a list for hundreds of tubes and the ability to create settings for newly invented tubes or obscure ones too.   Test dual element tubes such as the families of Ecc/12axx types, 6dj8/6922/CCa, etc with a simple flip of the switch.  No need to fear damage to precious frame grid tubes with the TT1 (many testers will short out frame grids tubes such as 6dj8  family types during the testing where there was no short before).

  
 Since each switch controls a pin, any pin can be directed to any tube element, thus settings can be created for tubes not listed on the roll or supplement list,  and so you can create listings for new tubes manufactured just by knowing the plate curve characteristics!  

It is not equipped to test tubes with 25 or more watt filaments such as broadcast triodes. 

  
The TT-1 can test at a relative high plate voltage (much higher than a Hickok by 75 volts, slightly less than a Triplett 3444 only by 25 volts), it has precision bias and a properly stable internally generated signal voltage to derive active state gm/transconductance reading.     Shorts and leakage (in ohms) tests are among the very best all the way to 20 mega ohms ( vs Hickok to 250K to 574K ohms on high end testers).  For power tubes, using a tube with less than 1 mega ohms leakage is asking for serious trouble and 90% of Hickok won’t trigger on 1/4 that value.  We recommend cautionary use on any power tube that shows less than 3 mega ohms, and avoid ones showing 1 mega ohms, especially if you are a musician or like your music loud.   

The tester also includes a Life Test to estimate remaining useful service, independent plate buss, cathode buss, and grid buss each selectable, and full disconnect from the tube. The TT1 has one of the largest sag resistant transformers of any tester.  There is also a grid current test for tubes will show low as 2 microamps leakage, mostly for receiver tubes such as FM and used as PLL or AGC type circuits but is also used on questionable  power tubes that have seen hard use.

 
The parts we use for rebuilding the electronics are top notch premium and military grade. We measure all resistors and capacitors for true value before we install them. All switches are carefully cleaned We then triple calibrate to manufacturers documentation and test against assorted references for verification. Electrically, the tester will last for decades with no further need for part replacement or calibration, less an internal tube failure (the two tubes are NOS and test 100%) or misuse.

 
Copies of the operation manual and supplement tube data thru 1978 are included, as well as a Our..."best practices" guideline.  Assistance for unlisted tubes and creation of settings is part of what we do for customers.   You are not a one off customer...ask out feedback members.

   
 IMPORTANT:  The deck cosmetic restoration included removing the screws and polishing each one. The deck and knobs all polished. The plastic meter face and roll chart windows were resurfaced to remove all scratches and signs of age. Even the meter itself is removed and completely checked out for accurate deflection. The outer case has been restored to near new condition  

Warranty is for 12 months, and this machine will give dependable service for many years before any service might be needed.  Warranty is void if abused, such as testing a tube BEFORE checking it for leakage/shorts or damage by using the wrong switch settings.   Extended warranty is available for two years at 10% of price, but we don’t feel a buyer really needs it.  Warranty does not include any shipping. 

 
 We offer continued support after a sale, you are not a one off...ask our feedback members, we are different.  We encourage a telephone tutorial to help you start off right and get the process for good practices the first time.  Our number is 305-849-2665.
We have been in business since 1973 as C .G. Industries in Florida. We rebuild, restore, tweak and ’hotrod’ tube gear of all kinds including amplifiers, receivers, and the one specialty is tube testers. We break our necks to do it right, even if the time we put in exceeds what we charge.

 
 A restored TT1 is one of the best testers you can own. It is right up there with the best Triplett, Weston, RCA, Hickok 539 series, and Western Electric testers KS/RD types. (we exclude european testers from this list as their meter magnets degrade with time).  As a note NEVER use de-oxit or similar on any tube tester, you will ruin it’s accuracy permanently and shorts or leakage will appear on all tubes tested.

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