Welcome to Decware

If you're an audiophile who likes to "roll tubes" in your amplifiers and preamps please read this regarding your 9 pin audio tubes: 
 

If you slightly bend the tube pins installing or removing the tubes or simply install and remove tubes with bent pins, you are spreading out the individual pin holders in the tube sockets of the amplifier.

Once this happens, only the tube with the slightly bent pins will make good electrical contact with all 9 pin holders.  A new tube with straight pins will have some pins that have poor contact.

The only way to test tube pin socket tension is by taking an old 9 pin tube and cutting off all but one tube pin. You can then use this tube with only one pin to test the tension of each hole in the tube socket one at a time.

When you look at what people spend on cables, connectors, jacks, wire, volume controls and so on, these same people would be mortified if a jack were loose and yet a tube pin is even more important.

Having dirty tube sockets with pins that have low tension will have a LARGER effect on the sound quality of your amplifier than any single component  in the amp like its capacitors, resistors, jacks, transformers, wire, etc.

To KEEP YOUR GEAR SOUNDING ITS BEST by keeping your tube pins STRAIGHT - you need one of these!