Mother Load

[John_H]

This all fell into my lap not long ago. They are mostly pulls but everything I've tested is fine. I estimate they sat for decades. Somewhere around 800 of them. I've found some nice stuff but they're mostly TV tubes.

[tedmich]

wow they were stored well: boxes as bright as the day they were made! Congrats!

[mozz]

Very nice find. Mine are similar but always smaller. I think i see 6CZ5 (6973) in there. Never diss TV tubes. You can find 6DJ8's, 6GK6, 7189, 6201,6C10, 6sj7 (red), 6AQ5, 6BK8, 6CF8, lots of others. Try rewiring a el84 amp with 6GK6 and you'll be searching for them.

[Justin Thomas]

TV tubes are pretty dang good with a little bit of creativity... Superb score!

My last big tube haul was a guy selling 1500 tubes for $300. I went to check them out, saw 5 6C10s, & plunked out the $300. I got about 500 useable tubes out of it, LOTS of small power pentodes & tripse/pentodes, along with a mess of dual triodes.

Jusrin

[DrGonz78]

Kids in a candy store!! That’s how I get when I see that stuff all nicely boxed up. I need to sell off a bunch of tubes but I always can stuff another box somewhere. Hoarding never been this good. Congratulations

[Mick Bailey]

Nice to see all those clean boxes.

I had a few NOS Mullard TV tubes with 16v heaters. Plenty of audio tubes and ones that can be pressed into audio service. They get overlooked for 6v and 12v versions. The last amp I built with them used a standalone heater transformer with dual outputs so I could use either type.

[John_H]

Thanks everyone. I already had a pretty sizable hoard of around 400 or so. I've been toying with RF gear lately and there are many usable for that as well. TV sweep tubes are common in radio amplifiers. I love having all of these, but they take up a bunch of space. I have a friend who is always on the lookout for tube radios, PA's, or whatever. He spotted these at a yard sale and informed me. $25 for all of them.

[mozz]

" I love having all of these, but they take up a bunch of space."
I stopped counting and inventory at 6,000 more than 5 years ago. Most audio types i have inside in the basement, but I have boxes of TV tubes out in the garage. Occasionally i find one which has gone white i guess due to 95f to 0f temp swings thru the year. There are some oddball tubes such as 6CS7 which are going up in value because somebody designed a hi-cost amplifier using them.

[John_H]

" I love having all of these, but they take up a bunch of space."
I stopped counting and inventory at 6,000 more than 5 years ago. Most audio types i have inside in the basement, but I have boxes of TV tubes out in the garage. Occasionally i find one which has gone white i guess due to 95f to 0f temp swings thru the year. There are some oddball tubes such as 6CS7 which are going up in value because somebody designed a hi-cost amplifier using them.

Wow! That's a hoard. NOS and good vintage tubes for guitar amps are getting harder to find every day. I do really need to evaluate what I've got here. I only quickly culled through them and separated out some obvious stuff.

[DrGonz78]

I think the coolest part about this old vintage gear and tubes is it will outlive us all. Bums me out thinking people probably trashed a bunch of older gear over the years. But this was when they made something to be serviceable and passed down to other generations.

[tedmich]

wait...does this make you a hoarder??

[Helmholtz]

Sorry, but shouldn't the title read "Mother Lode"? Can't find a translation of "mother load".
Always eager to learn and improve my English.

[Chuck H]

Sorry, but shouldn't the title read "Mother Lode"? Can't find a translation of "mother load".
Always eager to learn and improve my English.

And mine too as it happens. I probably would have written "mother load" as well. A "load" being something of substantial mass it seems to fit. But indeed that ISN'T the right term and "lode" would be correct. A "lode" being a source for something. The term "mother lode" was used by ore miners to describe a rich deposit. By trying to improve your english you've managed to find a common flaw in the modern American dialect relative to this antique and misunderstood term

[DrGonz78]

Yeah I started a google search for mother load and it got a little pornographic. Well not really but I wouldn’t be surprised.

[John_H]

wait...does this make you a hoarder??

Right now it's making me a 'loader'.