Reviews Orange
Valve tester MKII £850

Testing testing
Neville Roberts finds out how the valvesin his system are holding up with thisupdated valve checker from Orange

Back in 2014, I reviewed
the Orange Amplification
DIVO VT1000 Valve Tester(HFC 389) and was very
impressed. This is a fully automaticand portable tester using an inbuilt
processor to perform a very
comprehensive range of tests (over20, including mutual conductance)
quickly and accurately at the press ofa button or two.
The VT1000 was able to test mostof the common preamp and drivervalves, such as double triodes, power
tetrodes and output pentodes.
However, directly heated power
triodes were not supported, the MKII
appear to correct this omission .
Like its predecessor, it requires noknowledge of valve theory and has
just one octal and two nine-pin
sockets to accommodate the different
valve types. Simply insert the valve
into the correct socket, select the typefrom a list with the up/down controls
and press the ‘OK’ button to start
the process. The list of valves isconveniently printed above a row ofReprinted from15 LEDs, which are also used to show
the relative gain or quality. For testing
300Bs and other valve types,including the EF86 pentode, the 6SN7
double triode and rectifier valves
EZ80 and GZ34, an expansion
module is available for an additionalcost. This plugs into the power valve
socket and contains the appropriatebase for the valve to be tested. For
this review, I use the MKII with a
300B expansion module.
The MKII has significantly enhanced
algorithms in its internal processor
compared with the VT1000 and has amuch larger internal database ofvalve data. It has higher qualitysockets and improved grid leakage
detection, together with thermal
runaway and digital microphonytests for preamp valves.

Performance

I start by testing a 12AU7 doubletriode indirectly heated valve fromone of my monoblock amps. The
whole set of tests takes about two
minutes and the row of LEDs flash tofor global distribution

DETAILS
PRODUCT
Orange Valve
Tester MKII
OriginUK
TypeValve tester
Weight340g
DIMENSIONS(WxHxD)
110 x 60 x 55mm
FEATURESl Testable valves:
EL34; 6CA7; 6L6;
6V6; 6V6GTA; KT66;
KT77; KT88; KT120;
6550; 5881; EL84;
6BQ5; ECC81; 12AT7;
ECC82; 12AU7;
ECC83; 12AX7;12BH7l Expansion
modules (£195 each):
3000B; 6SN7; EF86;
EZ80; GZ34
Distributor
OrangeWEBSITE
orangeamps.com

show the progress. The two halves ofthe valve are checked simultaneously,
and when the tester has finished, iteither displays the green ‘Good’ oramber ‘Worn’ LED, together with two
matching numbers to show therelative gains of each half of thetriode, or a single value that shows
the two halves are perfectly matched.
If the valve fails the tests, a red LED
is illuminated and a number on therow of LEDs shows a code that isdescribed in the supplied manual. I
select the 12AU7 test using the left
and right buttons and then press ‘OK’.
After a couple of minutes, I am
pleased to see that the green ‘Good’
LED is illuminated, showing it has
passed the tests, and a single LED
above the number ‘13’ is lit on ascale showing the relative gain andindicating that the two halves areperfectly matched.
Another new test with the MKII is
the microphony test, which is suitablefor double triodes. This involves thetester warming up the valve andmeasuring its outputs while the valve
is tapped with a high-precision pencil,
specifically provided for this purpose.
If the valve is noisy, the LED lights
flash when the valve is tapped toclearly show if there is a problem.
I then fit the 300B expansion
module into the tester sockets anduse it to test one of my Psvane 300B
triodes by selecting the ‘Expansion’
option from the list of tests andpressing the ‘OK’ button. Two minutes
later, a single LED is lit indicating a
relative gain of ‘10’, together with the‘Good’ green LED showing that thevalve has passed the test.

Conclusion

This is a first-rate and extremelycomprehensive tester that is reallyeasy to use. Together with theexpansion modules it can check mostof the valves that you’re likely toencounter in your system and so ishighly recommended for valve fans l

Our verdict
SOUND QUALITYVALUE FOR MONEY

Build Quality

features

LIKE: Easy to use witha comprehensive
range of tests
DISLIKE: Nothing atthe priceWE SAY: An essential
piece of test
equipment for anyvalve equipment
connoisseurOVERALL

www.hifichoice.co.uk