6AQ5, 12BH7 (maybe) are all that I see. Looks like old radio and TV tubes from the 50s and 60s. Maybe someone else sees other ones.
If they are in boxes and look nice maybe a wall display or something to reflect the past. Add some transistors and Ics and ??? to the mix and you could call it "The past, the present and the future".
If they are in boxes and look nice maybe a wall display or something to reflect the past. Add some transistors and Ics and ??? to the mix and you could call it "The past, the present and the future".
Typical box of valves from an audio standpoint. Hours of sorting & researching, even more hours of testing for a grand haul of 3 good valves. Your then stuck with a big box of valves cluttering the place up. I'd say no thanks unless it's a big box of ECC83's or KT88's, even then I'd be cautious. Been there, got several holey T shirts.
Andy.
Andy.
I see 7DJ8/PCC88, the series heated sister of 6DJ8/ECC88/6922, and 10CW5, sibling of 6CW5/EL86, both suited for audio purpose. Anyway, If there's just a single 10CW5, what could one really do with it?
Best regards!
Best regards!
Apart from those mentioned, this is landfill. The tube market is getting very polarised around a smaller number of "premium" tubes for which prices are going sky high. If you're not in this exclusive club you're out in the cold as far as moving on your stock goes.
The tube experimenters and pioneers who "discovered" rarer tubes are now all getting old and find themselves sitting on stock they just can't move at any price. Tubes used to be fun in the past. Right now, it's a very predictable and mostly uninteresting situation as newer generations don't seem to want to look beyond the usual suspects found in Chinese amps and stage amps. Endless shootouts of "what's the best 12A*7 tube" and so on. Boring, boring, boring, but that's what the market has become. If you want to invest in tubes, buy the small number of tubes that actually sell and just forget the rest. Sad, but there it is.
The tube experimenters and pioneers who "discovered" rarer tubes are now all getting old and find themselves sitting on stock they just can't move at any price. Tubes used to be fun in the past. Right now, it's a very predictable and mostly uninteresting situation as newer generations don't seem to want to look beyond the usual suspects found in Chinese amps and stage amps. Endless shootouts of "what's the best 12A*7 tube" and so on. Boring, boring, boring, but that's what the market has become. If you want to invest in tubes, buy the small number of tubes that actually sell and just forget the rest. Sad, but there it is.
This is the resource you NEED - where you look up data sheets.
https://frank.pocnet.net/sheets64.html
A lot of TV tubes lend themselves well to audio if you’re not just copying somebody else’s design (but you may be starting from an existing design). Off voltage heaters work fine if you’re willing to use dropper resistors, regulators, series connections, extra transformer windings, etc. Small-signal (and small power) pentodes can be strapped as triodes, or used as pentodes if one isn‘t afraid of using feedback. Some are better than others so you have to experiment. Hook it up as a gain stage, give it a listen. Many of the triode/pentode combo types (type number ends in 8) have very pretty triode curves, others horribly nonlinear. That 6AW8 looks particularly good - I might try some myself. The pentodes in the combos are also all over the map - some nice as pentodes, some nice triode strapped, and some of the pentodes are big enough to use for a 5 watt power amp when used in push pull. “Video amplifier“ pentodes deserve consideration because there are designed for linearity, and when trioded make VERY good driver stages or small power stages for speakers or headphones. If any of that kind of experimenting floats your boat, look at anything on the list ending in 5,6 or 8 and at least triage them. If you’re just interested in resale value, forget it, as others have already stated. Those of us (mostly old farts) who have been doing this already have good sources of $3 tubes to experiment with - And buy them by the dozen.
https://frank.pocnet.net/sheets64.html
A lot of TV tubes lend themselves well to audio if you’re not just copying somebody else’s design (but you may be starting from an existing design). Off voltage heaters work fine if you’re willing to use dropper resistors, regulators, series connections, extra transformer windings, etc. Small-signal (and small power) pentodes can be strapped as triodes, or used as pentodes if one isn‘t afraid of using feedback. Some are better than others so you have to experiment. Hook it up as a gain stage, give it a listen. Many of the triode/pentode combo types (type number ends in 8) have very pretty triode curves, others horribly nonlinear. That 6AW8 looks particularly good - I might try some myself. The pentodes in the combos are also all over the map - some nice as pentodes, some nice triode strapped, and some of the pentodes are big enough to use for a 5 watt power amp when used in push pull. “Video amplifier“ pentodes deserve consideration because there are designed for linearity, and when trioded make VERY good driver stages or small power stages for speakers or headphones. If any of that kind of experimenting floats your boat, look at anything on the list ending in 5,6 or 8 and at least triage them. If you’re just interested in resale value, forget it, as others have already stated. Those of us (mostly old farts) who have been doing this already have good sources of $3 tubes to experiment with - And buy them by the dozen.
I think that only you can decide if these tubes are worth taking. As Andy Evans says above, the general audio community has no interest beyond the 12AX7, 12AU7, 12AT7, 6DJ8, EL84, EL34 and 6550. On the other hand, if you are adventursome and willing to investigate these tubes and their function and experiment with various circuits and come up with something different, then this could be a great opportunity.
Personally I'd take them, I've got the space. Most arent useful but when someone needs one for a restoration.
If you like to experiment then you get free parts to experiment with. If you need to turn every spare minute into money these tubes are going to cost you time.
Weather you see the value in them or not depends on your situation.
An old miner told me once.
Gold is where you find it.
If you like to experiment then you get free parts to experiment with. If you need to turn every spare minute into money these tubes are going to cost you time.
Weather you see the value in them or not depends on your situation.
An old miner told me once.
Gold is where you find it.
If they aren't new in box, then most of them will measure at 80-90% emission with unknown residual life and several will be weak or microphonic. 4 of them are audio tubes (6AV6, 6AQ5, 7DJ8), a dozen or so are usable for personal projects (12BH7A, 6CS7, 6AV6, 18gv8, 5aq5...), most of them aren't useful for audio.
Lots of useful types for audio there! But how many of each? When you listed a tube type, does that mean just one of each type? If so, that's a bummer.
Oooohhhh... I missed that.
6EHH8/6KN8 is a very desirable Japanese tube. It's a twin triode. You could make a stereo preamp out of that, or something.
6EHH8/6KN8 is a very desirable Japanese tube. It's a twin triode. You could make a stereo preamp out of that, or something.
Taking into account the current tube supply issues I would keep everything if the price is right. You can always throw away later whatever you don't need. Even the sometimes dreaded series heater tubes can be easily handled these days by a cheap 300mA CC LED power supply.
Even better, so-called 'series heaters' are not actually different from standard parallel heaters. This was explored in some depth in Morgan Jones' Valve Amplifiers 4th Ed. and I think is also covered in Merlin Blencowe's Building High Fidelity Valve Preamps.
In other words, you can use two 2GK5 tubes with their heaters wired in parallel across a 2V 1.2A DC supply. or you can wire them in series to a 4V 600mA DC supply. It's all good.
In other words, you can use two 2GK5 tubes with their heaters wired in parallel across a 2V 1.2A DC supply. or you can wire them in series to a 4V 600mA DC supply. It's all good.
The issue with “series heaters” is you just can’t slap them on the 6.3 volt winding without thinking about it. They parallel just fine - you just need to have the voltage they want or be willing to figure out how to get it given what you have on hand.
I’m not sure I understand this correctly. Could you elaborate, please. Perhaps with an example.
The “series heater” versions don’t have to be run in series. They just require 300, 450 or 600 mA of heater current at whatever voltage it ends up being - not necessarily 6.3 or 12.6 volts. 10CW5 requires 10.6 volts - it can’t just run off a 6.3 V heater winding. It can be run off 12.6 with a dropping resistor. Or a 450 mA CCS on a DC supply. Or a custom 10.6V transformer winding, if you were so inclined. It was intended to be used in a series string of other 450 mA tubes of other voltages, adding up to 120V and being run off the power line directly. Nobody says you have to. But you will have to do something besides just run it off the 6.3 volt winding along with 6.3 volt heater tubes.
If you just use one or two "series heater" tubes, then is easy to run them in parallel, especially if the tubes are the same. But if you have, for example, a pair of PL509s for output, PCC88, PCL805 or the likes for drivers and input stage, then I believe the easiest way is running them in series with a 300mA constant current supply.