On this page you will find a number of links related to Tube Testers. The list is by no means complete, and if you know or own an interesting site with valuable information about testers/tracers, or on a (DIY) tester project, please let me know!

General Information on Vintage Testers


Modern (Do-It-Yourself) Testers

Modern (Do-It-Yourself) Tube Curve Tracers


A list of on-line tube-socket (and other stuff) vendors

Regularly I get questions from people looking for a good supplier of tube sockets. Personally I very rarely order stuff from internet, first of all because I have extensive stocks myself, and secondly because there are still a few good “real” shops not too far away where you can really look around and enjoy the smell of components which have been maturing for decades (see below). So I decided to ask the experts: the people on my uTracer mailing list! The result was that I was hit by a tsunami of emails with dozens of links to vendors that people personally recommend. I have compiled them, and below you find the result. Some people order everything from China and are quite satisfied. Others argue that the quality is not consistent. Most people agree that Belton sockets are the best, perhaps only surpassed by hand made sockets from Italy. Personal notes I just copied, and the number between brackets gives the number of times the supplier was mentioned by different people. I hope it may be useful to you. Don’t forget to check out the Russian Guy and “Ask Jan First” in Germany, they have great stuff!

Germany (Look for “Fassungen” = sockets)

United Kingdom Netherlands Italy USA & Canada Other And if that is not enough, have a look here: Various Stuff: