Is this tube burned out? (pic)

[SexWithRobots]

I had an old set of tubes I looking through and saw this set of El34's, do burn marks like these indicate they have burned out?

[mc5nrg]

No.

[Blue Strat]

Hard to tell from the photo...are they silver?

If so (and even if not) go to www.wikipedia.com, search on "vacuum tube" and read about "getters".

[nmiller]

The getter looks okay to me, but doesn't that only tell you if the vacuum is broken? As far as I know, there's no sure way to tell a tube's condition visually.

[Blue Strat]

Originally Posted by nmiller

The getter looks okay to me, but doesn't that only tell you if the vacuum is broken? As far as I know, there's no sure way to tell a tube's condition visually.

Correct. The only visible indications are a white getter or broken glass. Most often you cannot spot a bad tube visually.