$19.95 on Amazon.
https://www.riverstoneaudio.com
click on "shop"

direct link:
https://www.amazon.com/Riverstone-Audio-Straightener-Miniature-Straightens/dp/B0...

Yes, in fact having done all the upgrades and mods personally over the past few years it's more common and more of a problem than people realize.

In fact the result of using tubes with bent pins can effect the sound of the amplifier way beyond what you would think and destroy tubes within weeks.

Specifically it is the 9 pin tubes that have the issue. Yes you can still wear your 8 pin sockets with excessive rolling, but the pins never bend on octal tubes like that.  

Once your tube pins get bent, the sockets have no choice but to loosen up to accommodate the pins until such a point that the tube pins actually HAVE to be bent to make good contact.  Putting a fresh tube with perfectly straight pins in such a socket will typically have at least one pin if not more that do not make good contact.

During the QC processes before an amplifier leaves Decware, each tube pin receptacle of each tube socket on the amp is tested with a device that checks the spring tension of the steel and sets the proper diameter.  If a socket it too tight it leads to bent pins as people rock the tube back and forth to install and remove it.  If a socket has pin holders that are too loose it can result in over 100 possible side effects, none of which are good, all of which effect the sound, many of which effect the tube.

I need to really do a video on this, and I will, because it will save a lot of people a lot of money and headache.

Also, I looked at the pin straightener that linked to JD in a prior email, and thought about buying a hundred or so and selling them, but we can't have Decware customers with a Riverside Audio tube pin straightener, besides the design is ergonomically handicapped which will make it harder to use and harder on your hands since you can only get your finger tips on it. Also the entry angle (chamfer) for the tube pins is small enough that the pins will have to be fairly straight to begin with. I have found 60 degrees to be ideal when you just want to get the job done in seconds rather than jiggle around with it.



So I designed one with more mass, made from American T6 aluminum with the Decware Logo on the back that I can have machined here in the US for around the price of a single vacuum tube.

Watch for it soon.

Steve,

Can't wait to order my new Decware Socket Saver! (In addition to my new Decware Tube Straightener).

Randy

Today was another day I am glad to have this nice little gadget. I bought a very strong testing Amperex Bugle Boy Holland 12AU7 at a great price (only one who bid on it was little old me) and when it arrived. . . boy were the pins bent!

I worked at getting them better carefully until I could get them into my Decware straightener and then gently massaged them into their proper "stature." Now the tube is in the ZROCK2 and sounding very good. . . !