[Jeff[_10_]]

Do people collect rare tubes the way people collect stamps or coins? If so,
would I be right in assuming audio tubes are worth more than TV tubes?
- Jeff
wwww.reframer.com

[glenbadd]

On May 5, 9:51*am, Jeff wrote:
Do people collect rare tubes the way people collect stamps or coins? If so,
would I be right in assuming audio tubes are worth more than TV tubes?
- Jeff
wwww.reframer.com

Certainly, eg. www.tubecollectors.org
Value is generally associated with rarity. TV tubes
are very common, so most are not worth very much,
excluding some types which have audio applications,
eg 6SN7, 12A?7, 6DJ8, PL509/519, EL36/6CM5 to name a few.

G.

[Patrick Turner]

On May 5, 9:51*am, Jeff wrote:
Do people collect rare tubes the way people collect stamps or coins? If so,
would I be right in assuming audio tubes are worth more than TV tubes?
- Jeff
wwww.reframer.com

There are some who collect tubes and never ever use them, hoping that
one day they will be worth more than they paid for them, like stamps,
or paintings, or many other collectables. I know a guy with 25,000
tubes. He bought them all many years ago when large numbers were sold
off at auctions around the country by government stores and TV
stations etc, and he's happy to sell for the right price. He's gettin
old and can't take em with him when he goes and probably his relatives
might find the tubes impossible to sell, and not want the hassle, so
they'll get given to someone else for the "take them away price", ie,
$0.0. Disposal cost to a rubbish tip is a cheap option. The guy has
plenty of rare old tubes for which there no gear in which to use them.
He's sold all his well known audio tubes to dealers long ago.

I've got several hundred tubes, and last month a guy gave me a
suitcase full, 120 tubes. But most are used, put into a box from where
a new one was taken.
I'm fixing his old AM radio. The radio needed 3 new tubes from about
1935 and two were in the suitcase, but only one worked. I never pay
much for old tubes because most offered are very used, often unusable,
and to sort through them, test them, list them and **** about with
them all takes days and my time = money.

Patrick Turner.

[Bob Woodward[_2_]]

Jeff wrote:
Do people collect rare tubes the way people collect stamps or coins? If so,
would I be right in assuming audio tubes are worth more than TV tubes?
- Jeff
wwww.reframer.com

http://www.tubecollection.de/ura/tub...n_language.htm

Robert

[Big Bad Bob]

On 05/05/11 08:58, Patrick Turner so wittily quipped:
I'm fixing his old AM radio. The radio needed 3 new tubes from about
1935 and two were in the suitcase, but only one worked. I never pay
much for old tubes because most offered are very used, often unusable,
and to sort through them, test them, list them and **** about with
them all takes days and my time = money.

restoring old radios might drive someone to 'make their own' like in
that video I posted a while back...

/me wonders if the specs on the old radio tubes are still available so
you could do that if you wanted to...

[Patrick Turner]

On May 6, 7:50*am, Big Bad Bob BigBadBob-at-mrp3-
wrote:
On 05/05/11 08:58, Patrick Turner so wittily quipped:

I'm fixing his old AM radio. The radio needed 3 new tubes from about
1935 and two were in the suitcase, but only one worked. I never pay
much for old tubes because most offered are very used, often unusable,
and to sort through them, test them, list them and **** about with
them all takes days and my time = money.

restoring old radios might drive someone to 'make their own' like in
that video I posted a while back...

/me wonders if the specs on the old radio tubes are still available so
you could do that if you wanted to...

Pentagrid frequency converter tubes like 6A7 from 1935 are way beyond
anyone's ability to make at home. Nobody intheir right mind would ever
bother making anything except a simple triode when there are pile and
piles of cheap radio tubes available to replace the 1935 crap. The
videos I've seen of guys making their own triodes makes it look easy
but in fact they have a pile of high tech gear you don't notice and to
build all that as well prohibits home made tubes unless you have
nothing else to do and you don't have to pay bills like I do. 6A7
became a 6A8 which was exactly the same inside but with octal base.
Then came tubes like the 6BE6, 6BA6, which are tiny 7 pinners, better
than anything before that. I have piles of octal radio tubes which I
routinely use to replace earlier tubes; you just replace the socket
and the octal tube goes in, and the same aluminium shield is used,
looks fine, nobody objects, and in this radio I have used EL34 in
triode to replace 42, 6J7 to replace a 75, added a 12AU7 for tone
control, and used two 2N2222 as a darlington pair emitter follower
after the diode detector which now uses some germanium diodes in
series. I found 3 x ge diodes in series gave much less detector THD
than just using one Ge diode to replace the vacuum diodes. Probably
because ge diodes have some non linear reverse resistance. I don't
always have a vari-mu tube with duo vacuum diodes around, and I see no
need to add a 6AL5 or 6H6. The sound is now stunning, the owner will
be happy, and it will be reliable. I've also added a pair of RCA
sockets for L & R leads from a CD player or FM tuner or I-pod or
whatever. Just turn a switch and the whatever kicks in; only mono
sound, but real good. The EL34 in triode has low Ra so it acts better
than the old unobtanium 42 with NFB. I've retained the 80 rectifier as
I have maybe 20 in a junk box.
Sometimes I use 6AN7, 6N8 whatever 1960's tubes are around. I also
always instal a ferrite rod antenna which has a shielded lead to the
input tube grid and has a brass shield around the RF coil so that
virtually none of the electrostatic input from the electromagnetic BC
band waves may be received, only the magnetic portion.
This means you don''t get terrible hum tryna pick up AM because of
****ing compact fluorescent lamps etc everyone now uses, and made in
asia and contravening all our laws about not causing interference. The
SW input is the only one which can work off a long wire antenna which
needs an LCL pye filter to obstruct BC band noise. All these ancient
old sets are rather horrible performers in today's world unless one
spends a week or two completely re-engineering them. Most are budget
models from earlier times, often un-branded like this one, not worth
much, not collectible, because some furniture maker iguy bought a few
radio chassis and installed them into timber work he made and sold it
with added value. Often the radio dial is awful, small, lacklustre,
budget budget, a poor man's pretentious 1935 accoutrement of life.

I got 3 more AM radio sets to fully restore, one is a proper radio
manufacturer's floor stander with beuatiful curved veneer and unlike
the budget model I've just worked on it is amoung the best from 1937,
and quite beautiful looking, and with big unique illuminated rotating
drum dial and maybe its worth a few grand. But its electronics will be
in a very sad state when I go inside.

Patrick Turner.

[Big Bad Bob]

On 05/05/11 22:17, Patrick Turner so wittily quipped:
I got 3 more AM radio sets to fully restore, one is a proper radio
manufacturer's floor stander with beuatiful curved veneer and unlike
the budget model I've just worked on it is amoung the best from 1937,
and quite beautiful looking, and with big unique illuminated rotating
drum dial and maybe its worth a few grand. But its electronics will be
in a very sad state when I go inside.

sounds like fun. I'm guessing that the 'floor stander' model will need
original parts whenever possible to retain the highest value.

[Old Al]

Hi RATs!

Looks like the tornadoes are done, for tonight, here

People collect everything. Some collect people

I used to collect tubes. Not the rare birds of high cost, just
anything I thought I could use in an audio amp. I was a radio fixer in
the army, back when transgendersistors were just getting into mass
production.

I lost interest in radio when the sublime bought all the stations to
broadcast Family Christian programming and the beloved Rush Dimbulb.

I just put four 6Y6G into my homebrew to replace the EL34. They sound
just fine. The 6Y6G was used for the output on home radios, but, in RF
applications they used it, running much higher voltages.

The 6Y6G is speced for 12.5 watts of Pd (plate dissipation). The EL34
is 25 watts. In my circuit: the EL34 was pulling 11.5 watts, as
triode. The 6Y6G is pulling 17.5 watts, same circuit.

I know there are lots of important things to consider when designing a
circuit. I also know it is no great sin to just plug in a cheap tube
and see how it sounds. Sound is not specified anywhere. Lots of things
are specified that they try to pretend are really sound, but, they
ain't. But, selling audio to people that have no clue means you must
tell them what is important. I had to get really old to realize Count
Basie was not stupid: "If it sounds good - it IS good."

You just have to listen. It does not matter what you think about while
you listen, you just like some stuff better than others. But, you have
to listen to decide. Reading about percentages and stuff is thrilling,
but, has nothing to do with how you feel when you listen.

I was lucky enough to wipe out on the first little ripple in the
economic collapse tsunami, so, was able to find good homes for my
collection of tubes and old audio junk. I kept a few pieces for
souvenirs.

6Y6G are available at Auntie Klectonix for under five bucks each, NOS.
Worth plugging in to see if you like the sound

I do. But, I am an old sick dude who has been medicated out of pain
and sorrow for decades. YMMV.

Happy Ears!

Al

[Big Bad Bob]

On 05/24/11 21:57, Old Al so wittily quipped:
The 6Y6G is speced for 12.5 watts of Pd (plate dissipation). The EL34
is 25 watts. In my circuit: the EL34 was pulling 11.5 watts, as
triode. The 6Y6G is pulling 17.5 watts, same circuit.

output transformer Z is probably one major reason. B+ value is probably
another. If you get the right output Z and supply voltage you should
get higher output power with the EL34. Also you'll need to make sure
you bias the G1 near 'the center of the curve' so that G1 voltage swings
(as closely as possible) between pinch-off and saturation at max power
out with a reasonable THD. That curve point is apparently WAY different
between EL34 and 6Y6G, resulting in ****-poor performance (by
comparison) when you swap 'em within the same circuit.

[Big Bad Bob]

On 05/25/11 20:01, flipper so wittily quipped:
On Wed, 25 May 2011 14:43:51 -0700, Big Bad Bob
wrote:

What you describe is impossible. While pinch off is real enough your
other end, 'saturation, is dependent on the load impedance, the very
thing you claim to be calculating.

you're splitting hairs on terms again. I'll ignore the irritation
factor for the moment. 'saturation' = max current carrying capacity for
the device, or in this case, Eg1 = Ek (or similar, maybe slightly
positive even, given the circuit conditions). Sorry, but I can't speak
in any kind of generality (where use of any kind specifics is either a
waste of bandwidth or my time) when someone is waiting in the wings to
jump in on significant details like that.

[Old Al]

I switched back to EL34 and put bypass caps on each cathode bias
resistor (1uf & 500uF).

There is something attractive about the sound without bypass caps,
but, coming home ain't all... Delta Dawn

Al