On Oct 14, 10:43 am, Ecnerwal
wrote:
In article om,

" wrote:
Many decades ago I saw a picture in a magazine of what to my juvenile
eyes looked like what must be the ultimate tube tester of all time,
and while I do not remember the model or make I do clearly remember
row after row of gleaming colored knobs and jacks. Does this
description ring a bell with anyone?

Not really (the one at the local Radio Shack (way in the back in
1970-something when I was getting an old Hallicrafters up and running)
was more boring - blue and white with brown sockets and black knobs, as
I recall), but I suspect that certain auction sites probably have
exactly the thing you were looking at available from time to time. All
the other old junque shows up there.

Not to deny you the joy of building, or anything like that - but if it
was made, there are probably examples out ion the wild to buy, if you
look for them.

In fact, following the lead of Alan Douglas, I think in my head the
unit I had seen in a picture was the Weston CA-1630. Nice pic he

http://www.tubedepot.com/tt-ca-1630.html

At circa $5000 I think I'll have to pass, but it's a beaut.

I think in my mind I want even more color matching than in the
original - I just see black and red binding posts there, in my head
the posts should match the knob should match the element. So it looks
like the decades have elaborated the original, to the point where I
desire something more than the original :-).

Like Scott Dorsey suggested, probably the way for me to go is to get 5
or 6 or 7 different color banana jacks and paint the knobs to match,
as it seems increasingly unlikely I'll get much match in "raw" knob
color, but still thanks to the others who posted about the multi-color
chickenheads available from AES (I had actually bought them in the
past!) and the knobs from Small Bear.

Tim.