tubes

[un4gvn94538]

my father had found these a long time ago and stored them. he wants me to do something with them. what? i dont know yet. i know nothing about these other than some tubes are used for audio/video. some look like theyre still new in thier original boxes. others are loose. any help would be appreciated.

[nmycon]

they're used with tube amplifiers

I don't know much about the amps themselves as they're WAY out of my teenage price range



They plug into the top of the unit. I have heard tube amps before, and IMO they blow solid state amps away, just love the nice warm sound they produce.

But the tubes are the cheapest part, the amps themselves start at around $700 for a decent used one, if you were to buy one brand new today, middle of the line, you'd be looking pretty close to $1000.

[FreddieFerric]

You need to compile a list of what types they are. In the third photo there are some promising looking signal tubes in there. Meaning, they would work in preamps. But what kind of tubes are they? 12AX7's, 12AT7's, etc. There is definately a market for quality vintage tubes particularly NOS (New Old Stock).

The problem that you would run into is knowing whether those tubes are any good. Without a calibrated tube tester you really wouldn't be able to tell anyone how the tubes test. Leaks, shorts, etc.

Check out audigon.com under their tubes section. You'll get an idea of what I'm talking about.

Then if you want to peal off a few good ones. PM me, I'm always on the lookout for good signal tubes for my Jolida equipment.

Good luck.

[Nielsb90]

I still have no idea how these things work but it would be fun to listen to one sometime

[Johnny Vinyl]

Originally Posted by BluRayFred

You need to compile a list of what types they are. In the third photo there are some promising looking signal tubes in there. Meaning, they would work in preamps. But what kind of tubes are they? 12AX7's, 12AT7's, etc. There is definately a market for quality vintage tubes particularly NOS (New Old Stock).

The problem that you would run into is knowing whether those tubes are any good. Without a calibrated tube tester you really wouldn't be able to tell anyone how the tubes test. Leaks, shorts, etc.

Check out audigon.com under their tubes section. You'll get an idea of what I'm talking about.

Then if you want to peal off a few good ones. PM me, I'm always on the lookout for good signal tubes for my Jolida equipment.

Good luck.

Excellent advice from Fred!


I notice you're in California...are you anywhere close to Upscale Audio ? If you are, it may worth having a chat with them!

[un4gvn94538]

Yes, thanks for the advice. Where I'm at in California there's not much more than best buy

When I get a chance ill post a list of all the boxed tubes and perhaps some of the loose ones .

[pentatonic]

Originally Posted by un4gvn94538

Yes, thanks for the advice. Where I'm at in California there's not much more than best buy

When I get a chance ill post a list of all the boxed tubes and perhaps some of the loose ones .

You'ld be surprised at how much certain NOS output tubes are worth when you can get them. Surprinsingly there's still a healthy competition for tubes, wether be it used for HiFi or musical equipement such as guitar amps, etc.

[mdabb]

You should definitely make a list of the tubes you have before seeking out a place/person to test them. There are people out there that may be kind enough to test them for free. Then there are places/people who will test them for a small fee. But... before you get any of them tested do make a list of what you got because the tubes might not be of any real value, and won't be worth paying a fee to have them tested. There is a right way (or I should say better way) to test vacuum tubes, and it all depends on the tube tester. A simple tester that indicates good or bad won't tell you all that much and should be avoided. Vacuum tube value can be all over the place. A single tube can fetch anywhere from a few dollars, and can exceed a thousand dollars each.

Good luck!