Silicone o-rings for tube dampening

[xtian]

My new 50-watt build makes the EL34s buzz, which caused me to start looking for silicone o-rings. Rings marketed toward tube amp owners are expensive. The same rings sold as hardware are cheap:

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/o-ring ... one+o-ring

Anyone already know correct sizes and diameters for preamp and power amp tubes?

OR, anyone want to sell me a few of each for cheap?

[roberto]

Look at this rooster's thread:
https://tubeamparchive.com/viewtopic.php?p=85333#85333

Thank you again rooster for sending me some samples!

[xtian]

Thanks.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/118/3484/=jb0ki8

[212Mavguy]

The OP does not say whether the amp is a head or not...so here's my $$.02...

In the case of a head, I have found that paying some attention to the amp feet helps greatly. Although they are rubber, they do transfer nearly all vibration from the cab into the chassis and tubes. I like to generously pad the amp feet or entire bottom of the amp. A couple folded towels can be used, but a few sheets of half inch thick firm foam padding works great.

For a combo, if the top is flat enough to rest a lot of weight on top of it, like a bunch of sandbags, that massive weight will damp the chassis and tubes hanging underneath it.

Don't expect those little tube dampers to do it all.

[rooster]

Hey there. OK, that piece from Triton I use exclusively on VI on my Express builds, and it is very VERY cool. It does stop probably 95 percent of the typical 12AX7 tube shake and I will take it. (I typically use the Tungsram in V1 and honestly I have never heard one that didn't have some type of tube shake to it, whether NOS or used, and I am being very critical here. What shake noise I do hear on V1 at this point, is something that is caused by the speaker cab as a bassy sustained note trails off. Most people dont hear it but I do, sure.

And I realize not many people here are too keen on such a piece, the Tritonaudio piece. OK. But maybe for those there is another o-ring type piece that is available from Eurotubes that also works well. NO, it is not the same thing that you are seeing at McMaster, nor does it work as well (as the Tritonaudio piece), but it does work. See here: https://ssl.eurotubes.com/cart/index.ph ... ory_id=200

You will find these quite beyond the o-ring piece you are seeing at McMaster, being instead a fairly large and think piece of red silicone. I use one on V2, FWIW, but if you are thinking of using it on V1, sure, it would stop some shake noise. I also use the larger ones on my power tubes, FWIW, J/J KT77s, and they do a number here, as well.

As to the foam pad mentioned here and elsewhere, YES, this can work wonders, too. In my case, if I am recording, I will either use a foam pad underneath the head or pull the head from the room and run a long speaker cable. Eh, but this is a bit different strategy than playing live.