Found an EMC Model 213 tube tester at a thrift shop this summer. It’s a cute little portable unit in a fabric covered hard case, from about the early 60s. Useless without the chart (typeset on a literal typewriter) that tells you how to set the row of 12 switches & three knobs that dial in the proper test for each type of tube. Luckily I found a scan online!
The worst part was when the little stickers you put on the tubes to remember which went where fell off.
omg, usually you could just swap in a working one from another TV/radio. if it work you knew which one to buy. pins match, good
Just because the pins matched didn’t mean the tubes were the same. Also, remember that the whole point was to take all the tubes out and take them to the store where this tester was to figure out which tube was bad. So if you didn’t know where a tube went, swapping with another set (if you happened to have one) wasn’t helpful because if was more likely to be a good tube.
was ten. m&d let me try anything. didn’t work it didn’t work
I actually have a similar model for testing audio tubes. I have several 100 watt amplifier heads for my guitars and a few more home built amps for both guitar and listening audio. I even have several tube preamps I’ve designed with one or two tubes.
Such a cool era of technology to me.
I bet there’s somebody somewhere that knows why the three bottom left sockets are red.
Finding a less potato image of this device on Google, the red sockets are not testing sockets but “pin straighteners”
haven’t seen one in use for at least 20 years. 60, 70s mainly
much smaller now. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=tube+tester
