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In the Forum: Audio Discussions
In the Thread: Initial thoughts about new/old Lamm ML2s

Post Subject: The Hand that Rocks the CradlePosted by Paul S on: 12/7/2009

Laurent:
I would be VERY careful about "rocking" the 5651 in its socket in an attempt to establish better contacts. I have "split" the glass envelope near the pins on a couple of 5651s doing just this and I did not realize it until the sound got scary, and when I looked over, the tube was "melted".

Jessie:
I would rather avoid "rough" methods of "cleaning" tube pins. For one thing, it absolutely makes for more noise of another sort (micro-arcing?). For another thing, it absolutely causes the tube pins in question to foul again that much more quickly.

The ticket seems to be chemical cleaning, and scrubbing with nothing rougher than Blue Magic (abrasive) polish, only if necessary. And yes, one has to then clean all the abrasive off the pins pior to use. And yes, it is a slow, burning PITA.

And I almost forgot to mention that the dielectric grease (after cleaning) actually does work better than nothing!

Best regards,
Paul

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