Tubes Asylum

Useless NOS tubes

151.213.167.106

ElWoodrow

I assume that when a dealer buys a large lot of tubes he acquires a bunch that have no use any more. I was wondering if there are tons of Mullard and Telfunken Tubes no one wants as they aren't used in any current audio products. Do these just get tossed out.
Aren't transistors alien technology?

Follow Ups:

RE: Useless NOS tubes - wa2ise 13:35:36 03/06/14 (0)
Pretty much any sharp cutoff pendode or constant mu triode can be used in audio. And remote cutoff pentodes could be used in tuner IF strips.
Could be - Tweaker456 13:17:09 02/27/14 (1)
Evidence of alien presence on earth has been around since the time even of tubes and before, so yes or maybe transistors are alien technology. Tweaker
- RE: Could be - ElWoodrow 17:17:19 02/27/14 (0)
  Possibly reverse engineered from the Roswell crash?
  Aren't transistors alien technology?
RE: Useless NOS tubes - Byrd69 13:08:19 02/27/14 (0)
There's a lot of old Teles and Mullards that don't get used in audio.

I never throw out a tube unless it's guts are busted up, or it tests poor or wacky. Someone will always come along and take the stuff I don't need.
"I can't compete with the dead". (Buck W. 2010)
RE: Useless NOS tubes - SETdude 11:12:48 02/27/14 (3)
A dealer could get a thousand of tube X. There will be some, regardless of manufacturer that will be too out of spec to sell. If the dealer is ethical they would be trashed.

I doubt that tubes would get tossed because they have no application in audio...at the present time.
- RE: Useless NOS tubes - Abacus Music 11:33:44 03/05/14 (2)
  Do you remember times when nobody cared about Russian 6H30 or 6N23P types? that is until somebody at Little Dot decided to start using them...
  - RE: Useless NOS tubes - mulveling 12:36:41 03/07/14 (1)
    BAT is the company that brought the 6H30/6N30 to audio applications; Little Dot had nothing to do with that. And I'm sure folks were also subbing 6N23P in for 6922 in their BAT (and other maker) amps long before Little Dot, too. Little Dot probably affected demand for these tube types on the lower end, but probably not much at all the high-end, where the 6H30DR has long been way expensive and hard to source, and a DR tube in a LD headphone amp is way overkill anyways.
    - RE: Useless NOS tubes - Abacus Music 12:51:32 03/07/14 (0)
      Correct - my point was that tubes come out of relative obscurity once they start being used in more common gear, and their prices start to climb up.
      Little Dot, Shiit(!) and other low(er) end manufacturers started using 6n1p and 6n6p and their variants and suddenly we see "rare NOS" specimens with all kinds of "OTK" stamps of various colors on them.
      I remember talking to one very well known tube amp designer not that long ago and he didn't know what 6n6p tube was...
RE: Useless NOS tubes - gearhunter 10:47:32 02/27/14 (0)
My guess would be, NOTHING gets tossed?
Eventually some smart DIYer will figure out how to use some of those....useless NOS tubes.
That would be all of my tubes... - Ivan303 00:27:27 02/27/14 (0)
at least to hear my wife tell the story!

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