Considering my sets are mostly late sixties, what's a good cheap vacuum tube tester to get? somebody suggested to me a sencore tc-162

Sencore or one of the smaller B&K's. These two testers have good "grid emission" test functions; which, is important when checking TV tubes. Also, these testers have the necessary compactron sockets for testing later TV tubes. Older testers don't have these sockets.

Had a B&K 700 at the shop.It would test all but the old bases We didnt use it but it did seem to be accurate. Only problem was customers burned up 2 transformers setting it wrong so we started testing them for the customer.
It was worth it, prob made more on tube sales than new set
sales. A few sockets also wore out, no big deal........

73 Zeno

The B&K model 667 is a very easy tester to use & covers most anything your likely to run in to in those years. Also it's Solid State and new enough that it probably doesn't need to be rebuilt itself.

I have a B+K 747 and it is a very slick unit, if you ask me. They date from the 70s, about the last of the breed. I have an older Knight unit for sale but it won't test compactrons.

My tester for octal through the later compactrons is a B&K dynajet model 606. I've always found it to be sufficient for TV and most of my radio work(I recently got another tester for the pre-octal stuff in some older radios I work on).

would this work? would this do the 9 pin mini?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/B-K-Dyna-Quik-600-Vacuum-Tube-Tester-Working-Tube-Tester-For-Vacuum-Tubes-/161026165336?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item257de84a58

Yup. And 7-pin mini, Octal, and several Compactron bases.

A bit older than mine but looks to be functionally similar. You might have a hard time finding test settings for some of the last compactrons though.

Unless you have lots of cash you want to unload, don't get one off ebay. For some reason, tube testers on ebay always go for more than they should and half of them probably have not been fully tested. You'd be better off placing an ad in the VK and/or ARF classifieds. On these sites, I can almost promise you that you can get one cheaper than what you could get one for on ebay and the ones here will stand a better chance of working right.

Unless you have lots of cash you want to unload, don't get one off ebay. For some reason, tube testers on ebay always go for more than they should and half of them probably have not been fully tested. You'd be better off placing an ad in the VK and/or ARF classifieds. On these sites, I can almost promise you that you can get one cheaper than what you could get one for on ebay and the ones here will stand a better chance of working right.

bob dobush of findatube.com is checking for me. I've heard the same sentiments from others here as well that overpriced, often non calibrated sets show up on ebay. Thanks for the tip.