Is there a consensus or is it just what floats your boat?
I only use those as needed, but I am guilty of using some of the fancy type heat dissipating jobs from PC. I think they look cool on a custom build that has the preamp tubes exposed, plus they would do some shielding I guess as well as getting rid of heat. That said, tubes like 12AX7s just don't make much heat. I can't begin to count the Mullards and Teles that I've tested in old Dynaco gear that had NO vents in the covers at all. Talking about stuff like PAS preamps and such. They always test good?What about tube covers?
Cover on with the preamp I built. No cover an any of my amplifiers. Three are console pulls, so never had covers. The SET I built doesn't. And I didn't buy one for the ST-70 I put together. If the bias adjustments were on the front of the ST-70 like the test points are I would probably have bought a cover for it.
Only for preamp tubes that need to be shielded. i.e. - high gain.What about tube covers?
Like 12ax7?Only for preamp tubes that need to be shielded. i.e. - high gain.
Mine is in a corner, so no traffic. But my wife would like it better if I bought a cover.I leave the cover on my ST-70 for the most part. The last thing I want to do is bump a tube, or worse the driver board, and blow up the amp or myself or one of my friends. It's in a medium traffic area in my living room, not a dedicated listening space. The wife says she likes it better with the cover too, so there you go.