[isaacc7]

I went on a tube buying frenzy a couple of years before I moved out of the country. I had grand ambitions of launching myself into the DIY world. Bought a lot of useful audio tubes for DIY like 12v6, 12sj7, 12w6, and all sorts of *av5 tubes of various filament voltages. At some point I just had to admit that I liked the tubes all on their own and then started to buy with abandon... I'm a big fan of the 6146 and 2e26, they're just great looking tubes!

These days I still have tube gear but I don't have any ambitions to build my own. Luckily I do have a bunch of useful tubes as well like 6sn7, 6sl7, 6v6, and their loktal equivalent. The preamp I ordered can use either 6 or 12 volt tubes so I have a variety of 12sn7 and 14f7 tubes. Doubly luckily for me I tended to buy Sylvania tubes when I could. Looks like I own some valuable tubes like the metal based 6sn7w. Question is do I sell them or use them? Hmmm....

Anyway, I got a real rush when I pulled this box out of storage, got another 4 or 5 to go! This is the largest one.

[SteveFord]

So THAT'S where all the tubes went!

[isaacc7]

I am now trying to fill in the gaps of what I missed the first time around. Those round plate tungsol 6sn7 and 12sn7 have all gone away. When I think what I could have bought back then...SIGH

[JakeJ]

First you should do some homework on the ones you can use in your system, like  tube type and substitutions, mfr, production date, and tube constuction and materials.  Once you have determined which ones should be better (generally older production but depends on a lot of factors).  Then take the ones you think are best and start rolling them through the sonically best equipment you have.  Be sure to test listen to tubes that work in both pre and power amps so as to determine which application they are best in and build your "keepers" stash from that.  Sell the rest off.

Just one option.

[isaacc7]

Yeah, I've already Scoped out a bunch of 6v6/7c5, 6sn7/7n7, and 6sl7/7f7 to use in my current amp. Think there re also some 6bg6 in there as well. I'll be looking for anything else I can use.

[isaacc7]

Now I'm back home and I'm starting the process of figuring out what I actually have.


This is a real hodgepodge of tubes. There's 6146, 7c5, 12w6, 6080, 2c22, and more. The most intriguing tubes I've run across so far has been 3 el39 tubes.



This box has a bunch of boxed tubes. Man, I must have been trying to corner the 14c5 market! Also have a ton of 14af4 and a crazy loktal single 12v triode tube with a mu of 100.

This was the box I was looking for




This box is full of loose 6sn7 and 6sl7 tubes, mostly Sylvania. They are all used but supposedly tested well. There are all sorts of vintages here, I've got bottom getter military versions, chrome domes (both tall and short bottles), and later versions as well. I'll get them tested but I'm pretty sure I have a lifetime's supply of these tubes! Somewhere in these boxes I have some NOS metal based 6sn7 Sylvania military versions in original boxes.

[isaacc7]

Spent the night going through the tubes. The TL;DR is... I win. lol.

The split between tubes I could possibly, conceivably use and the ones I will never use was about 50/50. Of the ones I will never use the most common types are 6146/6159, 2e26, 12j7, 1625, and various *dq6 and *av5 tubes of various voltages. All of those are useful tubes for DIY but I can't imagine I'll ever run across a commercial amp that uses them.

I now have an endless supply of 6sn7, 6sl7, and the 12v versions, mostly Sylvania. I haven't found the metal base 6sn7 JAN Sylvanias that I thought I had. Maybe I misremembered. In any case I have so many great tubes I'm not too worried about it. I also have an endless supply of 6v6, 12v6, 7c5, and 14c5 tubes. I'm not sure why I bought so many but they are supposed to be great sounding tubes and my current amp can take the 6v versions. I have kept a bunch of loktal tubes that could possibly be used in the future. 7af4 and 14af4 are supposed to sound really good in the right circuits, maybe I'll have one on the future.

I am keeping the 6j5, 12j5, 7a4, and 14f4 tubes, of which I have tons. Once again, they could conceivably be used in a regular amp and since tubes of that quality aren't being made any more I'll hold on to them.

My biggest surprise was finding a pair of seemingly NOS Ken Rad 6f8g tubes with round plates. Looking forward to listening to those!

I have several more boxes left in storage that I probably won't be able to get to until Christmas time. Pretty sure those are mostly 6080/6as7, more *dq6, and a box of mystery miniature and noval tubes. I'm glad my big tube buying binge was 12-15 years ago, I'd never be able to afford this stuff now!