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In Reply to: RE: Agree... posted by TUBOS on May 30, 2009 at 06:36:01
For audio use, I like a tube tester that measure small signal tubes in db gain. It puts things into perspective.
One fellow wanted to buy some TFKN ECC88s. I made a nice matched pair of what I believe are/were mil surplus that I bought from Billington's a few years ago. They measured in the normal range for the hundreds of NOS ECC88s I've tested.
He called me complaining that they only measured 70% on his tester. When I asked how he converted his test results into dbs there was silence. I discovered that he defined checks as NOS as 100% on his tester. That's a good way to buy champion tubes, but it gives a lot of false negatives. His view was 30% of the tube's life was gone.
Since it was a small sale, and I knew that if I wanted to sell the tubes for more I could (he bought some 12AX7s and E88CCS also), I simply had him send them back for a refund.
I still have those tubes. TFKN<> E88CC and ECC88s, which I use in my gear; they are worth more, in my hand, than buying some in the future.
When I went to college and studied Marketing Research a little, I read a couple of papers that proved a Sigmoid response to risk under certainty. The curve was more pronounced under uncertainty.
Getting HIGH prices for tubes that can be measured, even when the measurement is not related to how the tube is used, is a good example of how people are willing to spend a lot more to avoid the possibility of buying an under performing tube.
After a while its easy to spot NOS tubes that aren't from the past but are recent production masquerading with an old name. I've still got a few Orange Amprex World Logo JAN E88CCs that are NOS, but they don't have gold pins, they have flying saucer getters and solid Russian type glass.
Best from Hot Tucson
Bob
"He (R.M. Nixon) was a foul caricature of himself, a man with no soul, no inner convictions, with the integrity of a hyena, and the style of a poison toad." H. S. Thompson
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