I outgrew my current multimeter and need one that checks capacitance and transistor gain. Found some in stores that do one or the other but not both. Also looking for an oscilloscope but have no idea where to start. Do I get a modern little compact with lcd screen that easily fits in my desk drawer? Do I go old school and get an all vacuum tube antique like one you might find in the oscilloscope museum? Maybe something 70's to just a couple years old is the way to go? I'm going to be trying to repair mostly amps so I don't think I need one too complicated.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Multi-Func...ocphy=1007300&hvtargid=pla-487531552214&psc=1

 

Most dmm do not measure picofarads.

 

Amps as in audio amplifiers?

 

What does your budget look like for scope ? Kinds of measurements you want
to make ?

Regards, Dana.

 

I outgrew my current multimeter and need one that checks capacitance and transistor gain.

I think those features are over rated.

The hfe test will give relative (between samples of the same type) figures of merit, but have nothing to do with actual performance. For anything other than qualitative measurements, you should use a curve tracer.

I can probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of times that I needed a capacitance with a tolerance tighter than stock parameters. If I did, I'd be more inclined to use a current source of my own design.

 

For dmm, I have quite a few but generally I use a "CEN-TECH 98674" its cheap with quite a bit of functions. Seems to work well enough on the work bench but I only work on low voltage stuff and mostly really only use it for ohm readings, not sure what my opinion would be if I was working on something more serious.

I do not have a lot of experience with scopes other then needing some basic testing so my information is limited but I do think the picoscope 2000 series is a good unit for starting out. Its a usb scope and is run on your computer. The software is very simple to use and they all come with a awg port as well so you can build a nice little curve tracer unit for it very easily.