|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
Well....I believe it has finally happened. For 2 or 3 years now, I have scored a number of tubes off eBay. With very minor exceptions, I've not had any trouble with any of the sellers I have dealt with. Unless I am mistaken, I would say only now has that streak of good luck come to an end.About a month and a half ago, I bid on some ostensibly NIB Hytron 6SN7's. Now, after all this time, they have finally arrived.
Oh yes, they DO appear quite pristine and most likely to be unused. Hytron boxes identical to others in my inventory. The tube bases have the expected Hytron markings...not identical to my inventory, but reasonably close. Inside the glass....completely different than any of my others.
The catch to all of this???? Silkscreened on the envelope is "6SN7GT / USSR"!!!!
Somebody PLEASE tell me that Hytron had some off-shore production?? Otherwise, I've clearly been taken.
I'll not say who this was who got me until I find out for sure if these are re-labels.
Anyone have comments?
Follow Ups:
I would say that one-third to one-half of my eBay purchases have been disappointing. Once or twice due to plain dishonesty of sellers who have never responded to my private complaints and mostly due to sellers who are or claim to be naive about what they are selling. These latter usually replace the bad tubes with others, which are usually ALSO bad. I have totally given up buying from anyone except reputable dealers, and mostly I don't need any more tubes, thankfully.
It would seem that "Tube Re-Branding" was going on long before ebay came along.Especially in this case where no attempt to hide the fact that these Hytron tubes were made in Russia, as they say so on the tubes.
I have made over 50 ebay purchases and have left less the positive feedback only once or twice, and have yet to be really ripped off.
I recall an ADZAM ECC-35 I purchased from an ebay seller in Belgium that failed after about 100 hours.
I e-mailed the seller only because he had mentioned at the time of the purchase that he had a few more. I asked if he would be kind enough to sell me a replacement for the tube that had gone bad so that I might have a pair. He REFUSED to sell me another tube and wanted the replace the 30-year-old NOS tube that had failed after months of use! I refused to accept his offer as I felt he might have miss-understood my request as a complaint about the tube he had sold me some months before, so I explained in was just a normal tube failure and sent him the same $$ as I had paid for the tube at auction (only about $35). Forced to take my money against his will he promptly sent me TWO perfect ECC-35's. One for the $35 and one for replacement of the tube that failed after 100 hours use.
Yes, that is the not the average experience, but I have had great luck on ebay and will continue to purchase tubes there.
This particular episode notwithstanding, I have also had pretty good luck on eBay myself. I will admit I don't buy GREAT quantities there, though.I have had two tubes which failed to pass my tester. In both cases, the seller cheerfully (and quite quickly too) refunded the appropriate amounts.
One seller sent the 6SN7s I had purchased from him....they checked out and all was well. THEN, about 6 weeks later, I received another box from him which had three 6SL7's in it. No idea why.....just out of the blue. I suspect that he got my address confused with someone elses....but my attempts to email him were bounced back undeliverable.A pity I've nothing which requires 6SL7s.
....sT
This particular episode notwithstanding, I have also had pretty good luck on eBay myself.Me too. In probably over 100 different auctions I've bought tubes from, I've had problems with only a handful. Buying on Ebay *is* a risk, if you don't know what you're looking at, and don't have some way of testing the tubes when you get them. Otherwise, it's a good way to get good prices, even if you do have a fouled up deal once in a while.
Good to hear a nice one for a change!Last year, I bought 14 12AU7's from a dealer in Switzerland through ebay. Nice guy, and I asked him at the time if he had more. At first, he said yes, a couple more, same price. So I sent my bucks, and when I received the package, the additional two werent there and the money for those two was enclosed with a note saying he couldn't find them. No problem for me, an honest guy!
Well, eight months later, I come home and a box has arrived. I'm surprised because I wasn't expecting anything, and the sender's name didn't ring a bell.
I opened the box, and there were two 12AU7's exactly like the ones I had bought, with a note saying, maybe you don't remember me, but here's a surprise!
So, I tell you this because, with all the disappointments around, there are some superb people who make it all worthwhile.
Hytron, Westinghouse, Heintz & Kaufman, and other famous brands have been applied to Russian tubes over the years. I have run across many a "Hytron" that was Russian, and it appears now that you have too.BTW, look at the getter and see if it looks like a "flying saucer". That's a dead giveaway that it's Russian.
>
> BTW, look at the getter and see if it looks like a "flying saucer".
> That's a dead giveaway that it's Russian.
>
> Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
>
Not quite bad news. Clearly, these weren't what I thought I was getting. But, they apparently are what was advertised. As such, the error was mine.Although I suspect the misinformation was probably not completely innocent. But again, no one to blame but myself.
I can live with that.
And yes....your 'flying saucer' getters are there.
I know its not unusual for tube companies to rebrand some tube types from other manufactures they do business with (GE,RCA etc), but it seems odd that a US company would be buying Soviet made tubes during that time period for any reason. If nothing else, that wouldn't have gone over very well with US consumers.Another thing, though.. the USSR 6sn7 is not called a 6sn7, its a 6H8C. I have some and thats stamped on the bottle. 6sn7-gt was later stamped on the box in addition. Not bad tubes, fwiw.
>
> Another thing, though.. the USSR 6sn7 is not called a 6sn7, its a 6H8C. > I have some and thats stamped on the bottle. 6sn7-gt was later stamped
> on the box in addition. Not bad tubes, fwiw.
>
Actually, this was part of what made me so suspicious...the fact that the glass IS silkscreened with the "6SN7GT" label and not 6H8C... as well as "USSR" not Russia or similar.Obviously, they weren't the Hytrons I was expecting....but I was not even sure they were even 6SN7 variants, not having any other Russo tubes to compare them against. They do match some pictures I've dug up since, so that question seems answered.
Sounds fishy to me.
Good question - the "HYTRON" you thought you were buying had production in Massachuesttes and ceased around 1960.However, the HYTRON name was used for years by THOR ELECTRONICS of Linden, NJ and they bought surplus/imported etc - so maybe that will point you in a direction.
THOR is no more, but the some of the operation personnel formed SUMMIT and operates in Florida
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: