diytube.com

A new article has been released on the Tronola Website featuring the testing of audio output tubes. The method described differs from the usual “tube tester” approach, by actually powering the tube under normal operating conditions, measuring the power output achieved, and comparing it to a standard. This will yield a more accurate appraisal of tube condition and remaining life, than a tube tester alone can.

http://www.tronola.com/html/testing_power_tubes_with_lab_e.html

Also released is a new addendum to the previous “7591” testing article. The additional material features an assessment of the relatively new Tung-Sol 7591 from New Sensor Corp. and compares it to other original and currently available 7591’s.

http://www.tronola.com/html/7591a_tubes.html

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paart wrote:...by actually powering the tube under normal operating conditions, measuring the power output achieved, and comparing it to a standard. This will yield a more accurate appraisal of tube condition and remaining life, than a tube tester alone can..

Agreed, totally!

I use my tester just to check for shorts, emission and transconductance matching. The only way to find out if the darn thing will work in a situation is plug it in the socket

This is especially true for hard-on-tubes amplifiers, like the ST-70 or Citation-II or under RF use circumstances for radio replacement.
(you'd be surprised at how many ECC88's aren't ECC88's after all when plugged into a communications receiver )

Cheers!