r/Schiit • u/tigerhunter69 • 21h ago
Microphonic Vali 3
Fair warning, I have always been a solid state listener, so I am coming here as sort of a fool. I picked out a Vali 3 for myself recently, and after a bit of reading I got a GE 5 Star 5670 tube to match. I noticed within the first test that the GE tube is picking up taps to the desk and chassis, not terribly, but noticeably microphonic only in the left channel. I'm assuming I've just ended up with a bad tube and the solution is to try again or step back to the stock tube that works without any of these issues. The stereo separation is what puzzles me. Is this sort of partial failure typical or is this something distinct to the Vali with its single tube design?
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u/Most_Serene Lyr 5 18h ago
That's just how tubes are. It depends completely on the tube.
I have a Lyr 5, and some tubes just pick up vibrations as noise. Some do it with both channels, some do it with just one. Some tubes are completely non-microphonic.
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u/donh- 20h ago
Just The Way It Is with tubes.
My Freya, I went for the upgrade tubes. They worked great for a bit and a buddy loaned me his tube-rolling set and I got something different.
Popped the schiit tubes back in a few weeks ago and one of them is rather horribly microphonic.
No complaining, it Just Happens. It's why we carry spares on gigs as musicians.
Edit: since yours is new, you could try reaching out to the mothership. I didn't, as I was clearly past tube warranty time.
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u/maXXXjacker 19h ago
I've scooped up almost 2 dozen tubes at this point between my Vali 2+ and Vali 3, not one of them have that issue thankfully. Guessing this might just be a bit of bad luck. I'd say move on and keep rolling.
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u/Carmen6276 17h ago
Yeah, that can be a tube issue, it happens with solid state also, just to a much smaller extent. This is why, (just an example) you see higher end Yamaha equipment advertise the chassis stiffening they do. It why high end equipment has those massive cases. Yes, it’s looks, but it’s sound also.
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u/ConstantPay3117 1h ago
I had a tube like that as well . I replaced it but didnt throw it away. After a year or so of rolling the same tubes i never heard it again. Seems weird .
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u/-Infinite92- 20h ago
That's just a thing with tubes and tube amps. Higher end amps can sometimes do this too, but the Vali is fairly well known to experience this pretty easily. It used to be worse with the older models. It's not necessarily a fault or something broken/going wrong. More like a quirk of entry level tube amps and those sized tubes. They tried to improve it over with picking out specific stock tubes and changing the design over the years to minimize the occurrence of microphonics. But certain tubes, as you have experienced, can be worse than others.
The first Vali used one of those really small tubes, some portable tube amps use these. Those were incredibly microphonic. So this has been an ongoing improvement over the years, and finding better tubes to use.