fini Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 Yesterday I was being a good son, hauling my Mom's old couch to the landfill. As is customary, I swung by the recycling area, just in case. What I found were 3 pallets of old electronic test equipment, all full of tubes! I asked the attendant how much, she said "the big boxes were $10, the small ones $5... no, 2 for $5, they're small" I took a quick scan, looking for something recognizable as a useful audio tube, and found quite a few 12AU7's, some 12AT7's and other miniature tubes, hundreds! When I spotted some Amperex Bugle Boys, I started getting a little excited. I was soon joined by another enthusiast (who, as it turns out, was a guy I knew in high school...35 years ago...still with a pocket protector!), so I knew I'd have to move fast. Another attendant came walking by, and casually said, "Hey, we'll make you a great deal, one you can't refuse, if you take 'em all!" so, of course I asked him to elaborate. $25 for all, and I said "Sold!" Roger helped me load the osciloscopes and what-not into the back of my truck (it doesn't stay empty for long), and I gave him one piece as a parting gift. I have't decided whether or not I will just salvage the tubes or the equipment, or both. I haven't yet inventoried the haul, but it completely fills the bed of my Toyota truck. fini Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clipped and Shorn Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 Good score fini. Was mom still on the couch? no... Those meters and knobs are also valuable to someone. Put items up on eBay "as is" and let those "hams" and other electronicoweenies fight over them. With the $$s you make you can buy your own mongrammed pocket protectors. C&S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted July 8, 2003 Author Share Posted July 8, 2003 I was saving for some mammogram pocket projectors. fini Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkrop Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 Nice going fini! Any tele ECC83/12AX7s in the mix? Let us know how it all shakes out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 Let me know your source for the monogramed pocket protectors. With a volume discount we might get PWK put on them and have some really nice gifts for sound geeks! Great discovery. Dee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted July 8, 2003 Author Share Posted July 8, 2003 Here's the waveform Synthesizer. 78 tubes in there. March of the vacuum tubes. fini Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clipped and Shorn Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 That wave form synthesizer could be a cool audio/musical instrument. Get it running and feed the output to an audio amp and you have a very hip equivalent to a moog or buchla electronic music unit. You can have alot more fun than the kick of just finding the stuff and learn a bunch in the process. Finding out stuff should be even more fun. C&S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1stcav Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 Damn, that's quite the collection. It never ceases to amaze me the things some people throw out. They don't either know what they've got, or they're just sick and tired of having their "junk" sitting around taking up space (or a widow is just throwing out her late husband's equipment because she has no use for it). Wonder if any of it's still operational? Great find! Wish you much success with whatever plans you have with all of it. If you sell it, hope you make a pretty penny (or two)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clipped and Shorn Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 Makes you wonder: besides the minority of audiophiles, retro guitarists, and people who fix vintage radios and jukeboxes etc. is tube gear prized by anyone else in the electronics industry? What other contemporary electronic equipment, if any, prefers tubes? Are tubes just a novelty throw back or are they coming back anywhere else in the world of technology? If so, why, if not, why not? C&S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1stcav Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 C&S, all I know is my dad has a little business on the side restoring antique vacuum tube radios from the '20's thru the '50's (his business is good). And working at a Guitar Center I see guitarists all the time purchase Marshall or Fender tube heads/amps (we sell alot of Groove Tubes brand vacuum tubes). Maybe tube technology is making a major comeback, or maybe it never slowed down to begin with. I can't really think of any other practical use for vacuum tubes in today's technological industry, but it's nice not to see classic bottleheads disappear from the scene...I hope vacuum tubes stick around for another 100 years or more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheltie dave Posted July 10, 2003 Share Posted July 10, 2003 Fini, I just had a brainstorm regarding the waveform generator. Management has been concerned about our ability to detect changes in background contamination levels using the little 1/4 watt speaker, and knowing that I have a fairly decent knowledge of sound gear they asked for me to present a little show tomorrow am on possible solutions. I showed one of the managers the generator this morning and told him it was a late fifties alpha, beta, and gamma radiation multichannel analyzer powered by tubes that was developed at Livermore. He actually bought it, and asked if I would be willing to bring my Heresy singlet in so the clicks could be heard over the grinders, forklifts, and other heavy machinery. It would be greatly amusing to run the generator for a few minutes, varying a click pattren rate, but it would scare and intimidate too many people. I have a $10 dollar bet with the site manager that the Heresy will produce 112 dBA slow at thirty feet with a twenty watt input, so I should be eating lunch for free tomorrow, thanks to Klipsch! And if you have any 7199s or 7591s in there..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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