700 unknown tubes... next step?

[egr]

Hey,

So today I "inherited" a tupperware crate of somewhere between 700 and 1300 vacuum tubes (plus relays and mystery pieces) from my dad. Also grabbed a classroom oscilloscope but that's another post. We had been looking at a diy audio gear magazine I'd brought with me and when I mentioned wanting to build a tube amp (not guitar but stereo) he remembered the tubes and handed them over.

So that's incredible but I have no idea how to start sorting the "useless tv parts" from the "possibly useful for a home stereo/mic preamp/ etc".

I've been researching spec sheets here:

http://www.tubecollectors.org/

Anybody want to point me to some beginner level resources?

Here's a pic of the amount of stuff I'm talking about (brand names range from RCA, Zenith, and Sylvania to Potter and Brumfield, Raytheon, and Rayovac):



Thanks in advance for any help you can give!!

[Sean Sullivan]

Most of the tubes should be labeled, or the boxes. You're going to need a good tube tester to make sure they work!

[kslight]

I saw a large tube tester kiosk at an antique store in Iowa if you're interested..

[egr]

I guess my real question is: Are there any easy rules for eliminating the tubes will not have an application in audio? Like, all the short fat tubes with 25 pins are of no use. That kind of thing?

[Scodiddly]

Some of those short fat tubes with a lot of pins are used in Ampeg amps, and are kind of rare. I'll start by going through the Groove Tubes product list for ones that are at least popular.

Gotta warn you, though - I got a similar box of tubes from an antique-dealer cousin. I do have a tube tester, and found that pretty much all the tubes were "pulls", ones taken out of service and stuck into the box that the replacement came in. Repair dudes would keep old tubes like this for testing purposes.

[egr]

Ah thanks, the Groove Tubes list looks like the starting point I wanted. I do expect that the vast majority of the tubes will be either dead or useless but hey... ya never know!

[Rolsen]

You should take good close-up photos of these and post some on vintageamps.com tube forum. There are some dudes here that are true fanatics, and can seemingly identify years and factory origins amongst other things by pictures alone. Diserable tubes like Mullards were often relabeled. 'Pulled' tubes have great value too, especially if they test well. Pulled preamp tubes should be even better, as they get very little wear.

We'll cross our fingers for you, and curse you if you find you've got yourself a $5000 dollar box of tubes!

[Scodiddly]

Rare & valuable tubes include:

300B (an old old tube, still beloved by hifi fanatics)
KT88 (also KT66), British variants of more common 6L6 family tubes. Also worth a lot to hifi nuts.
12AX7 family, of course. Fender loved those, as well as the 6L6/6V6 family.
7591, a rare-ish output tube used in some older Ampeg amps. Not popular enough to have remained in production like the 6L6 family.

If you find one that looks like it came out of a WWII german submarine and that says "VF14" on it, you've got the tube that the U47 mic is based on and which hasn't been produced for decades.

[egr]

Rare & valuable tubes include:

300B (an old old tube, still beloved by hifi fanatics)
KT88 (also KT66), British variants of more common 6L6 family tubes. Also worth a lot to hifi nuts.
12AX7 family, of course. Fender loved those, as well as the 6L6/6V6 family.
7591, a rare-ish output tube used in some older Ampeg amps. Not popular enough to have remained in production like the 6L6 family.

If you find one that looks like it came out of a WWII german submarine and that says "VF14" on it, you've got the tube that the U47 mic is based on and which hasn't been produced for decades.

Thanks for that list. The treasure hunt is on! ...and the hunt for an old tv/radio repair shop that still has a tube tester.

[egr]

A not to exhaustive search turned up six 12ax7's and one Telefunken ecc85 so it looks like there's some good stuff in here after all!

OK, I won't bug you guys with this anymore. Thanks!

[Nate Dort]

Keep an eye out for some 6386 tubes also. Used in old tube compressors and they fetch quite a bit now.

You might want to put all those in a database, like this:

http://www.glass-ware.com/

I'm sure a few of those tubes will pay for the $29 software cost.

[rjacobsen]

Here's a link to the free "Tube Data Sheet Locator" from Duncan's Amp page. It's a great little utility, I use it all the time. The download is at the bottom of the page.

http://www.duncanamps.com/tdslpe/

rjacobsen

[egr]

Wow, those are some great resources! I had planned on putting everything in Excel but this seems like a much better idea.

...still haven't found a repair shop that still has a tube tester

[Producer/Engineer]

Look up "Bowie" and send him a PM. He's a genius tube nerd! Very informative and right on ear.