Biz Prof Posted May 24, 2023 Posted May 24, 2023 Always a speculative venture with NOS treasure troves. Perhaps one of our "Florida Man" members has an interest. A few years ago, a local guy reached me fourth-hand to seek help with sorting his deceased grandfathers tube collection that sat in a barn for 40+ years after the old man shuttered his radio/TV repair shop. After making it to the old barn on a balmy 36 degree winter afternoon and sorting through roughly 1500 tubes (untested), I assembled a small box of amp-relevant tubes, basically a smattering of GE, Sylvania, RCA, Mullard, Siemens, and Amperex. Most were 12AT7 and 12AU7. There were, however, a quartet each of Mullard EL84 and Amperex EL84, along with a dozen of various brands of 12AX7 and a couple of Fender-spec rectifier tubes. I gave a ballpark estimate of what the guitar amp tubes might fetch IF they tested OK and offered to help him with testing them if he'd cut me in on the deal to sell them. He was in a hurry to clear them out and turned down that suggestion. I assured him the TV tubes would not fetch much, declined his offer for me to buy the whole lot, but then offered him some cash for the Amperex quartet (the Mullard boxes had gotten wet a few times, it appeared), and he just gave them to me for my time. Not a waste of time, obviously, but not something I want to repeat, either.
ArnieZ Posted May 24, 2023 Posted May 24, 2023 ^^^ this is generally the case..most tubes not for guitar players!
Steve Haynie Posted May 25, 2023 Posted May 25, 2023 The seller's name and spelling is familiar. He sold me some Peavey amps and the Peavey cabinet that got the JBL's installed earlier this year. He packs what he sells on Reverb very well. He seemed like a decent guy when I picked up some stuff from him. I like road trips. If someone wants me to drive to Florida to pick up their tube purchase I might just do it.
hamerican gigolo Posted May 25, 2023 Posted May 25, 2023 8 hours ago, ArnieZ said: ^^^ this is generally the case..most tubes not for guitar players! Sadly, this is most likely true... 😞
Thundersteel Posted May 25, 2023 Author Posted May 25, 2023 3 hours ago, Steve Haynie said: I like road trips. If someone wants me to drive to Florida to pick up their tube purchase I might just do it. It's actually in the county I live in.
Jakeboy Posted May 26, 2023 Posted May 26, 2023 That is a $1600 crap shoot. I am always on the lookout for old ANOS or used tubes… mostly from organs. I have bags of vintage 12au7s that no one wants. Doesn’t matter if RCA or Mullard. I have lots of 5u4gb rectifiers too. I have learned to only keep the “guitar tubes”. Very now and then I score, like a couple weeks ago when I found a vintage set of El84s, an RCA ez81, several Mullard 12ax7s, and 2 Mullard ef86s. Usually it is tv tubes and boatloads of 12au7s lol.
Hbom Posted May 26, 2023 Posted May 26, 2023 Last year, about the time the tube shortage popped up, somebody Craig listed one of those repairman type cases full of tubes for I think $150-200. It sold almost immediately. Showed up on Facebook right after that for a grand! I see he's down to $750 now, and probably a good deal if you find what you need. Unfortunately I don't play or hear well enough to be able to tell the difference between NOS and the crappy new glass they are making now.
Thundersteel Posted May 27, 2023 Author Posted May 27, 2023 I suppose one could buy some/all of them, wire up just the filaments, and have the "tube glow" ambience in their music room.
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