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Television Media Technology

What Can Be Done with a Tube Collection? 70

Posted by Cliff from the it's-not-old...it's-vintage dept.
caffiend666 asks: "My grandfather was a TV repairman in the 50s to early 70s. Most of his repair equipment is still available, complete with hundreds of tubes, discrete components, switches, tube tester, dot bar generator, oscilloscope, and more. They are selling the farm, and we are trying to dispose of this equipment gracefully. Anybody know of a good way to donate them as a complete set for a write-off? The condition of the equipment varies from great to horrid. There are some pictures showing a little of what we have, on my website. Any advice or stories for selling 35+ year old electronic equipment? Does anyone know of a museum that would appreciate the equipment?"
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What Can Be Done with a Tube Collection? More

What Can Be Done with a Tube Collection?

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  • eBay (Score:5, Informative)

    by AtariAmarok ( 451306 ) on Wednesday February 02, 2005 @10:28AM (#11550592)
    Aside from some fun skeet shooting, there is always eBay. I've considered this for my remaining tubes. They do have some value there.

    • No museums! (Score:4, Informative)

      by Roadkills-R-Us ( 122219 ) on Wednesday February 02, 2005 @11:20AM (#11551253) Homepage
      Please, don't give it all to a museum! There are lots of people who would *love* to have this stuff, including me, and dozens of people I know.

      Tubes are a Big Deal for guitar amps and high end audio. They're also in demand for people restoring old radios and other equipment. Thnere's a huge market for the tubes *and* the equipment.

      If you don't want to mess with it, I'd be happy to handle the selling for you, for a small commission, most likely taken from stock (with an independent third party valuation so you know it's fair). Or I can point you to the forums to find large groups of buyers.

      -Miles (MEO at RRU dot COM)
      • Yea, but guitar amps pretty much only take two tubes these days ...

        That being said, I'll take any 12ax7's he might have :)

        • Bah, only two tubes my ass! Lets see, in mine I have 12ax7's, 12ay7's, 12at7's and 6v6's in my Fender and 12ax7's and el34's in my Marshall, plus several oddballs in an old Silvertone that I'm gonna fix one of these days... My partner has 12ax7's and 6l6's in his Marshall and a whole handful of unidentified mystery tubes in an oddball amp we nicknamed the chickenbox. They use a smaller socket than 12ax7's... But the thing sounds so damn cool that it would be a total shame to lose it!
          Vintage!

        • Re:No museums! (Score:3, Informative)

          by log0n ( 18224 )
          Tube preamps generally use only 1 or 2 tubes. Power amps are a whole other story. I've got 12 tubes in one of my Mesa bass heads and that's pretty typical.

          Seriously, to the topic poster, you've got a fortune on your hands. Don't give it up so quickly.
          • One or two? That's a pretty general statement not based on fact. You haven't looked in an amp in a while have you? I know a little about this as I repair tube amps on occasion and I'm an active musician.

            Most quality tube amps have more than two preamp tubes. Even my hybrid Ampeg bass amp has three. My Fender Bassman has three, my Bandmaster has four, my lead guitar player's Marshall and Soldano each have four, our singer's Peavey XXX has four. Some of the higher end guitar amps like the Fender Twin have s

            • I'm also an active musician (of around 20 years). Additionally, I too build my own gear (instruments, speakers/cabinets, effects and other solid state junk). Basically everything I play currently I built.

              Also, I'm a bassist, not a guitartist and our gear is A LOT different. And no, I don't regularly crack open amps, but when I do, I know what I'm looking at (let alone know how to count ;-).

              Sorry, I didn't realize people would be so anal about generalized non-really-specific info.

              Most modern musical in
              • But you're stating something as fact when it's not. Most tube amps have more than one or two preamp tubes. Even the small ones. And they are definitely not as you described, enhormonics and distortion. There is an input tube that is usually divided into two stages, normally half before and half after the tone controls. Then there's another tube called a driver between there and the power tubes. typical tube distortion does not come from just the preamp tubes, the gain from the preamp tubes overdrives the po
      • Only burnt out tubes belong in museums, unless they are installed in working equipment AT a museum. It's stupid to put working tubes on display when the burnt out ones have just as much ashtaetic value if all you are going to do is look at them.

        So if you can find a museum that will actually install them in equipment, sell them on eBay. Better yet - let the museums that really want to use them buy them off eBay then if you are still in a donating mood you can donate the proceeds to the charity of your cho
  • you should really sign up for Geocities Pro, if you're going to have slashdot traffic. :)

  • Donate them to your church... (Score:5, Funny)

    by sockit2me9000 ( 589601 ) on Wednesday February 02, 2005 @10:33AM (#11550643)
    You must have faith if you post a geocities adress to slashdot.

  • Depends on what you have (Score:4, Informative)

    by Takeel ( 155086 ) <v32gd4r02@sne a k e m ail.com> on Wednesday February 02, 2005 @10:34AM (#11550647) Homepage Journal
    Depending on what you have, my alma mater might be able to display some of it in their little media history collection. Unfortunately, your Geocities website didn't have a shot in hell against the Slashdot effect, so I can't tell what you have or find an e-mail address for contacting you directly. :)
  • Seriously. I'll even pay shipping, if you'd like. Email in sig. :)

  • Ham Radio... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by True Freak ( 57805 ) on Wednesday February 02, 2005 @10:35AM (#11550665) Homepage
    Contact your local Ham Radio club. They should be able to help you out.

    • Re:Ham Radio... (Score:4, Informative)

      by harrkev ( 623093 ) <kevin.harrelson@gm[ ].com ['ail' in gap]> on Wednesday February 02, 2005 @10:54AM (#11550922) Homepage
      I second this. Amateur radio operators LOVE tubes. Some people specialize in the collection and restoration of "boat anchors," which is another name for an old tube-operated radio. The problem is that many tubes are not being made any more, so finding them might be a bit of a chore. So, by not trashing your tubes, you will make others happy, and might even make some coin.

      Try THIS [google.com] google list, or THIS [virhistory.com] amateur radio list. One of the vendors might give you a good lot price. It would get you less than eBay, but at a fraction of the time and effort.

      But PLEASE do not throw them away. Let somebody get some use out of them.
  • I think eBay would be a great place, I wouldn't throw them away. They would be a great decorating someone's computer den.

  • Hams want it! (Score:5, Informative)

    by n1ywb ( 555767 ) on Wednesday February 02, 2005 @10:36AM (#11550675) Homepage Journal
    There is a big market for old tubes and test equipment among ham radio operators.

    Go on the ARRL Hamfest Calender [arrl.org] and find the soonest closest hamfest in your area, bring the stuff there and sell it yankee trader style.

    Alternatively, ebay might be good for some stuff. Use the "search completed items" feature to see what if any of it will actually sell.

    Alternatively alternatively you could try to find a local ham who will take it off your hands.

    Good luck!

    • Re:Hams want it! (Score:5, Informative)

      by ASCIIMan ( 47627 ) on Wednesday February 02, 2005 @10:47AM (#11550827)
      Even better: If you want the best possible response (in terms of number of hams there, etc.) to something like this, you might want to try the Dayton Hamvention [hamvention.org], the biggest amateur radio gathering (I think) in the world. It's from May 20-22 this year, and Flea Market spaces are available for reservation [hamvention.org] until April 1. One Flea Market space (9' by 17') costs $70. If you really want to sell your stuff (and not do it on Ebay) this might be your best bet.
    • One small comment about hamfests -- avoid.

      Don't get me wrong. If you are into amateur radio and/or electronics, they can be a lot of fun. On the other hand, if you just want to dump your tubes, you will likely get a lot of "ones and twos" being purchased, but you will likely go home with at least half of your collection, if not most of it. Hams are also notoriously cheap (I know that I am) - so expect some hagglilng and low-ball offers.

      So, the bottom line is that if you want to spend a day or two selli

    • Re:Hams want it! (Score:4, Informative)

      by leighklotz ( 192300 ) on Wednesday February 02, 2005 @05:10PM (#11555540) Homepage
      Plano, Texas (where you live) has one of the largest national dealers of ham equipment, Texas Towers [texastowers.com]. Why not call them on the phone [texastowers.com] or drive by their location on Summit Avenue. It's lower energy than EBay and you might strike a local deal.
  • ...who refurbishes antique radios et al and is always interested in acquirung tubes and such. email me at dzantispam@REMOVE_THISdirecway.com and I'll put you in touch.

  • Well, Tubes are still big you know... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by sgant ( 178166 ) on Wednesday February 02, 2005 @10:40AM (#11550713) Homepage Journal
    I'm sure quite a bit of the equipment could be used in the music industry for repairing and testing tube amp components on the cheap.

    Tubes are still HUGE in the guitar world. Sure, modeling amps can get close to old tube amps, but still nothing sounds quite the same as a overdriven tube amp with that crunch and distortion.

    Plug a Les Paul into a Marshall SLP-1959 or JCM45 or even a Blackfaced Fender Deluxe from 1966 and you'll see what I mean. All tube driven.

    Just because you think the equipment is old doesn't mean that it's not treasured somewhere else.
    • The reason valves sound 'better' to a guitarist's ear, is that they introduce various impurities into the signal chain which the ear percieves as an 'enhancement'. As the power is upped, the tubes begin to overdrive. Favored tubes are those with smooth clean->overdrive transition properties, a quality that Mesa/Boogie is known for. Thus, TV tubes may not function as expected if they have been optimised for an 'i/o' state. Further, I have no idea whether tubes from vintage TV sets will fit into powerva
  • In what part of the country are you? (I could use an O-scope)

    Do some searching on eBay to get an idea of the value of the various items you have. Are there any TV repair shops in your area? See if they have any interest in any of what you have. A community college nearby with an electronics repair curriculum? See if they can use any of the stuff and if you can get a tax write-off for a donation. Look for online companies that sell old schematics and service manuals. See if they want to buy any document

  • U. S. Marconi Museum (Score:4, Informative)

    by kevinl ( 38843 ) on Wednesday February 02, 2005 @10:42AM (#11550751) Homepage
    You might want to contact the U. S. Marconi Museum in Bedford, NH. http://www.marconiusa.org/index.html [marconiusa.org]
    In addition to the exhibits, they restore vintage radios.
  • And pay shipping, obviously! r o o t a t m a d a x e d o t n e t

  • eBay (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 02, 2005 @10:52AM (#11550903)
    Somebody will buy that stuff on ebay. One thing you might try is separating out all the tubes separated by type. 6550, 6L6, 6V6, EL84, EL34, 12AX7, 12AT7 and 5U4G tubes are all still being use in new guitar amps and so should be easy to get rid of. Other types may not sell as well or may fetch a really good price from someone with an old piece of gear they're trying to maintain. I have a friend with an old bass amp that has "strong nostalgic value for affectionados of funk" and it's a pain to find tubes for it. Some tube lover will buy the rest of your stuff for DIY projects.

  • College electronics department (Score:3, Informative)

    by Short Circuit ( 52384 ) * <mikemol@gmail.com> on Wednesday February 02, 2005 @10:54AM (#11550926) Homepage Journal
    Donate to a community college; they're considered public schools. (At least, here in Michigan.)
  • I'll talk to one of my fundy prof's after class about what you should do (he's a tube freak so...we'll see :P)
  • I seem to recall a project for making a working X-ray device from old tubes. It was in The Scientific American Book of Projects for the Amateur Scientist [amazon.com] (also raved about here [slashdot.org]).

  • Tubes 4 Sale (Score:2, Informative)

    by poena.dare ( 306891 )
    http://www.tubedepot.com/contact.html

    Try talking to these guys. Last I heard they do a brisk trade in discontinued tubes.
  • i was at the smithsonsian a while back and they had these measuring cups from the fifties that i had in my kitchen! (they'd been passed down) you might be able to give it to them, and they'd keep good care of it too.
  • You know, I can think of a few people who would love to take this collection off the guy's hands and make good use of it. Real professional engineers.

    I'm not sure how many of them are likely to post a random query on Shlashdot though, especially since everything to do with the post has been slashdotted to death.

    This really is a situation where it would have been wise for the guy to post an e-mail address, or at least a link to a slashdot profile. Anything really.
  • I'm sure they [xs4all.nl] could probably [clara.net] use [analog-synth.de] it somehow [metasonix.com] ...

  • Sorry for the geocities link (Score:3, Informative)

    by caffiend666 ( 598633 ) on Wednesday February 02, 2005 @01:16PM (#11552580) Homepage

    Here is a link to these pictures on my main website: http://64.81.113.250/tubes.html [64.81.113.250] . I've killed off torrent/seti etc, so it should be better than Geocities. The geocities link was for longer term access. My email address is critter_75075@yahoo.com .

    Although the equipment is in eastern Oklahoma, near Howe, we live in DFW in North Texas. Either place would be an option for those interested.

    We know the equipment is intrinsically valuable. But, it has no real book value. Which is why we were looking for a museum type arrangement. Several good leads here though.... Gotta be someone here dreaming of this stuff. The idea of cleaning up and testing these hundreds of tubes one at a time, selling them for a dollar or so a piece on eBay with three dollars shipping is a nightmare none of us want.

    There are a total of three tube cases, two full one half full. One box of misc parts like tube brighteners. One 707 tube tester. One misc tube voltage tester, in very bad shape. The old rca oscilloscope. A bag of dozens of misc discrete components. I'll work on adding the rest of the pictures to my page tonight, along with a partial parts list.

    • The idea of cleaning up and testing these hundreds of tubes one at a time, selling them for a dollar or so a piece on eBay with three dollars shipping is a nightmare none of us want.

      So sell the box (plus, perhaps, the tester) as a lot. There's a box full of tubes that looks like yours but the case is in terrible condition currently listed on eBay for $149.99 and another with a good case listed for $20. Both currently have no bids but keep your eye on eBay and decide if it's worth the trouble of selling th

    • It only took 68 visitors to bring down the geocities web page.

  • If you were looking at selling... (Score:4, Informative)

    by CliffH ( 64518 ) <[moc.liamg] [ta] [notsriah.ffilc]> on Wednesday February 02, 2005 @02:13PM (#11553433) Homepage Journal
    ... then audiophiles would LOVE you. If the tubes are in good shape (and of the right type), you could sell them for a mint on eBay or other places. And if any of them are new old stock (new in package, old in year) you're talking a very hefty sum per tube (valve if you're European). In essence, you're probably sitting on a goldmine to an awful lot of people with varied interests and industries. Personally, if I had the cash, I'd buy it from you now and "donate" it to my dad. :)

  • '82 Subaru (Score:3, Funny)

    by Saeed al-Sahaf ( 665390 ) on Wednesday February 02, 2005 @02:41PM (#11553828) Homepage
    I have a '82 Subaru hatch-back filled with old text-books. Anyone want them? Car comes with the deal, you tow.
  • I mean, just how many people here would really be interested in acquiring this collection? No, that site is only down because thousands of slashdot geeks couldn't resist the chance to ogle a wanton display of naked tubery. It's like... geek porn!
  • You could see if they will take the collection off your hands:

    http://www.triodeelectronics.com/ [triodeelectronics.com]

    I've dealt with them before and they are fair and wise in the ways of thermionics.

  • Ah, the good old days. (Score:4, Funny)

    by sakusha ( 441986 ) on Wednesday February 02, 2005 @05:59PM (#11556096)
    Does anyone else recall the olden days when the local dimestores had tube testers, you could bring in your tubes and test, and then get replacements from the rack under the tester? I remember going down to the local Woolworth's all the time, our TV was always on the fritz and I seemed to be able to repair it most of the time. The Woolworth's machine always had a stack of little stickers with pairs of numbers, so you could put a numbered sticker on each tube and the same number on the socket, so you could put them all back in the right spots.

    I remember an old "how-to article" in Mad Magazine about how to repair your tube TV. It went something like this:

    1. Open the TV and remove all the tubes.
    2. Take them down to the store and test them one by one in the test machine.
    3. Identify the defective tube(s) and buy replacements.
    4. Put all the tubes back in position according to the little numbered stickers you used when you removed the tubes. Oops, did we forget to mention that in step 1? Uh-oh, now you're in trouble!

    • As I recall the meter on those things had two positions: bad and worse. I do recall my dad taking a bunch of tubes to k-mart back when I was a kid.

      • Nah, go look at the pics via the mirrored site. The tube tester shows a meter that's half red on the left (bad), green on the right (good) and a little band of yellow in the middle which presumably means it's marginal. I haven't seen that sort of tube tester for decades, but that brought back memories, it's just like I remembered on the Woolworth's tester.
        Anyway, as I vaguely recall it, you could pretty much tell which tubes were fried because they were obviously ruined, with black burned smoky glass on the
    • The other thing about the tubes. They were surprisingly resilient! I used to have an old tube tv (don't remember if it was color or not). Well, one time I accidentally spilled a glass of orange juice into the back of it. Well, needless to say, it stopped working, but after a few days, it started working again. The only thing was, that the smell never went away.
      • OK, I need to know how you 'spilled' a glass of orange juice into the back of a TV. And are you sure that's what the smell was? Just what were you doing back there?
        • well, it happened in basically the way you'd expect. I had set the glass of orange juice on top of the set and accidentally bumped the glass. As for the smell, no I am not sure, but I have never smelled that exact smell before or since.
    • That was such a big deal back then. Every drug, dime and grocery store had a tester stand, with all the replacements (always RCA as I remember... no wait. There was another brand. Red and blue boxes. Oh crap... Can't remember it.)

      Not just TVs, but stereos and tabletop radios. Real 'amateur radio' hacks (ham operators) would never get their tubes there. They'd go to the (old, original) Radio Shack, or Lafayette store. Or more likely, order them out of the catalogues.

  • http://www.sphere.bc.ca/

    They specialize in this stuff - old tubes, nixie tubes, o-scopes, test equipment, and slide rules.
  • Find a guitar shop that specializes in vintage equipment. Those old tube amps are highly prized by musicians, and the shop I ran used to make a killing on the tubes and the repairs. They'd have the demand for the tubes and the equipment. We used to buy replacement tubes from some Russian company who was still cranking them out, but when we could get our hands on originals they were worth 2-4X as much.

  • Tube Banks (Score:3, Informative)

    by SagSaw ( 219314 ) <.slashdot. .at. .mmoss.org.> on Thursday February 03, 2005 @08:12AM (#11561111)
    There are a number of groups, primarily amateur radio clubs and the like, that run vacuum tube banks. The idea is that people who have extra tubes donate them to the tube bank, and those who need a specific tube for a piece of equipment can they can receive a tube from the bank.

    Google for 'Tube Bank' and you should find a number of such groups. Find one in your area and drop them an e-mail.
  • For starters, try the classified sections of the major audiophile magazines like Stereophile or The Absolute Sound.

    Depending on where you live, check out the local hi-fi shop. If the shop carries tube gear, they or a known customer might be interested in the lot - easier for you that way. there's always ebay... good luck
  • I was jamming away when my sound suddenly fizzled and a terrible smelling cloud of smoke wafted up out of the back of it. I flipped it off and looked inside. Large, very fried cockroach on top of the main circuit board.

    I de-bugged the amp, but it refused to work anymore. I took it to the local shop and they worked on it. When it came back, it worked for a while then died again, this time for good. Now all that is left are two Black Widow speakers and six 6L6 Groove Tubes in matched pairs.

    Those tubes cost

  • Keep them, and then when your kids get old enough, show them what things were like A Long Time Ago.
  • Some of us appreciate the "good old days"

    I just restored an antique oscope [systemrecycler.com], fully tube type, no IC's at all, not one.

    My dad was a TV/Radio repairman in the 50's and 60's and his tools were my toys when I was little.

    I remember going with him to Rat Shack to buy tubes. I also remember his angst when Rat Shack quit selling tubes.

    About two weeks ago I went to Rat Shack to buy some IC's and other small parts to repair something. The moron punk had no clue what I was talking about. I could have been speaki
  • If you're electronically inclined, I'm sure there's all sorts of cool projects you could do with them. Perhaps you could find some old TV boxes and turn them into little techno lights or something. Even if not, this might just be something else that a possible buyer might be interested in..

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