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I was pulling a JJ 6L6 out of a twin today that I was repairing and the guide pin snaped off. I thought "what the @#%/!" Howd I do that? and I looked at it and the hollow guide pins wall thickness was not much thicker than a matchbook cover. Geez what ever happened to beafy octal bases??

BH

Don't feel bad I just broke one off a NOS RCA 6V6 yesterday. I just barley twisted it pulling it out and snap, off it goes. Oh well at least the glass didn't break, I just super glued it back on.

Superglue? Does that hold?

I use epoxy and semi-fill the hollow part of the guide tube. Same thing for when those pesky KT66's come loose from the base. Never moves and lasts forever.

I used superglue on a Sovtek 6l6 and it worked great! I just tried it on a JJ el34 and no good. I even tried it twice. Still no luck. The JJ must be made of a different material.

I did the same to one of my bias probes. It wasn't that the guide pin was weak. One tube socket had a snug fitting alignment hole. Also, I believe AES sells a fix.

just mark pin 1 of both the socket and the tube, then match up lines and insert. happens to me all the time, and I try to be very gentle.

Just remind yourself the tube still works and you aint out the 10-15$ or more yet.

I use epoxy. I tried superglue but it kept breaking. I've broken several NOS tubes.

I've found that some of the ceramic octal tube sockets I've purchased have center holes that are barely big enough to hold the center pin and I have to be very careful when inserting and removing tubes. Straight up and and straight down or else - snap. This isn't the tubes fault.

i take my jj out of my amp all the time to try different tubes, never had an issue.