So guess what I found for $8...

[Justinginn]

So I was wandering around our glorified flea market here in Budapest, looking for an old radio/record player to turn into an amp a la CB when I found this yellow shoebox filled with a bunch of ancient looking tungscram tubes. I found a bunch of old resistors still in their cardboard packaging dated "June 1 1963" and got excited. So I asked the guy how much he wanted for his box of "useless junk" and he says he wants 2000 forint for it (little over $11). I talked him down to 1500 (about $8) and he looked at me like I was crazy for buying tubes. So I get home and find a description sheet, written in Hungarian, with the date 1972 printed on it and a reciept stamp from 1978 on it, dating the tubes to 1972. I've got some 20 ECC82's, 4 EL84's, some other tubes that I've never seen used in guitar amps (EZ80's, PL81's, couple others) and did some digging to find that thetubestore's selling the ECC82's for 37.95 each and the EL84's for 44.95 each. I guess I'm not sure that any of them necessarily work but if any of them do, score. Yall need to come to Hungary. We're loaded with old tube-driven stuff over here. So now I need to test them. Being a child of the 90's and never having heard of a tube until I started playing guitar, I don't really know how to go about this. Any instruction? I'm pretty excited so don't say anything to rain on my parade or you'll crush me forever.  :laughing7:

Thanks for any help.

 

[Justinginn]

I guess EZ80's are used as rectifiers. I knew they sounded familiar.

 

[-CB-]

Those are what... EI tubes?  Made in Serbia?

 

[Justinginn]

Tungsram, apparently they were made here in Hungary. I think the name comes from them being the first company to patent the tungsten filament in a lightbulb. There was also an old Tesla 12AX7 in there too.

 

[-CB-]

AFAIK, any 70's or 60's Tungsram tubes are rebadged GE.  In fact... they all might be.  Tungsram was (is) HUGE in the lightbulb market in Europe, and GE grabbed them (for the bulb manufacturing) early on.  I'm not sure if they actually ever made vacuum tubes in Hungary.  It might have been GE cashing in on the VERY popular Tungsram name to sell more "American" tubes in Europe.  I really dont know for sure, its just suggestive by the history of the two companies.

 

[Justinginn]

I read somewhere that Tungsram wasn't bought by GE until 1989 so that wouldn't make too much sense but they might have been related long before then.

Anyway, how do I test if they work? Can I just stick 'em in an amp and see if they light up/let sound through or will that risk blowing anything up? Do I really need a tube tester? Can I use a multimeter?

 

[-CB-]

Lighting up tests only the heater.

Stick them in an amp - in the first preamp position.  Thats the most critical (everything it does gets amplified from there).  See how they sound.  Thats about all you can do really.  And thats about all that matters too.

 

[Justinginn]

So if they're bad, they're not risking my amp, right? They'll just not let any sound through? Thanks for your help CB.

 

[Alfang]

We used to take our tubes to the local Grocery store and plug them into a tube tester right near the checkout
Yep, Every couple years when the TV picture starts doing funny things we'd pull all the tubes, Test em, replace the bad ones and have a NEW TV

 

[kboman]

We used to take our tubes to the local Grocery store and plug them into a tube tester right near the checkout
Yep, Every couple years when the TV picture starts doing funny things we'd pull all the tubes, Test em, replace the bad ones and have a NEW TV

You're old :tard:

 

[bpmorton777]

We used to take our tubes to the local Grocery store and plug them into a tube tester right near the checkout
Yep, Every couple years when the TV picture starts doing funny things we'd pull all the tubes, Test em, replace the bad ones and have a NEW TV


these days you are lucky if your plasma/LCD lasts 4 years and even then your warranty is up, no one has parts, and no one wants to fix it for a reasonable price. :sad1: everything is desposible these days.

Brian

 

[kboman]

All in the name of making money - it's a conscious business strategy not to build things that truly last, even if it's possible.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

I have a B&K Model 747 Tube Tester, send them to me, I'll sort them out and send you the bad ones back at no charge.  :icon_thumright:

I remember the days when Radio Shack had tube testers in their stores.

 

[Wana_make_a_guitar]

We used to take our tubes to the local Grocery store and plug them into a tube tester right near the checkout
Yep, Every couple years when the TV picture starts doing funny things we'd pull all the tubes, Test em, replace the bad ones and have a NEW TV


these days you are lucky if your plasma/LCD lasts 4 years and even then your warranty is up, no one has parts, and no one wants to fix it for a reasonable price. :sad1: everything is desposible these days.

Brian

Inbuilt obsolescence. Keeps the money literally pouring in.

 

[Justinginn]

Lol. Thanks for your offer DBU but I'll find some other way.  :laughing3:

 

[Superlizard]

So I was wandering around our glorified flea market here in Budapest, looking for an old radio/record player to turn into an amp a la CB when I found this yellow shoebox filled with a bunch of ancient looking tungscram tubes. I found a bunch of old resistors still in their cardboard packaging dated "June 1 1963" and got excited. So I asked the guy how much he wanted for his box of "useless junk" and he says he wants 2000 forint for it (little over $11). I talked him down to 1500 (about $8) and he looked at me like I was crazy for buying tubes. So I get home and find a description sheet, written in Hungarian, with the date 1972 printed on it and a reciept stamp from 1978 on it, dating the tubes to 1972. I've got some 20 ECC82's, 4 EL84's, some other tubes that I've never seen used in guitar amps (EZ80's, PL81's, couple others) and did some digging to find that thetubestore's selling the ECC82's for 37.95 each and the EL84's for 44.95 each. I guess I'm not sure that any of them necessarily work but if any of them do, score. Yall need to come to Hungary. We're loaded with old tube-driven stuff over here. So now I need to test them. Being a child of the 90's and never having heard of a tube until I started playing guitar, I don't really know how to go about this. Any instruction? I'm pretty excited so don't say anything to rain on my parade or you'll crush me forever.  :laughing7:

Thanks for any help.

Yes, Tungsram (vintage) gets high marks for tone... sounds like a big SCORE!  Especially the EL84s.

The real key in determining where the t00b was manufactured, date, etc... comes from the codes found on the t00b itself.

Many times they were re-labeled.  For example, I have a 60's G.E. -labeled (General Electric - American company) GZ34 rectifier t00b, but reading the code
(and of course the "MADE IN GT. BRITIAN text), it turns out it was made in the Mullard factory located in Blackburn, England.  So it's actually a Mullard.

 

[Superlizard]

Here's a repost to give you an idea of t00b coding:

I've dated the tubes.  For those not versed and/or assume that "a tube is a tube", not all tubes are alike; very few, if any, current manufactured
tube brands can hold a candle to the tubes of old in terms of tone and longevity.  I'd say about the late 70's is when tube quality started going
downhill.  Nowadays, the vast majority are made in eastern europe.  Load your tube amp up with Sovtek 12AX7WAs or WBs (for ex.) in the preamp and I can
guarantee you'll sound like @$$.

Take a look - and if you're serious about your tone, if you can find any of these brands around the same vintage... for a fair price, grab 'em.  I can
guarantee your ears will not be disappointed.  Especially Mullard (not the new repro stuff) or Telefunken brand.

Keep in mind though, you could (as in my first example - the GZ34 rectifier) have a Mullard but with a different label (G.E. in my case).  You need
to know the correct tube codes to make a proper evaluation.  This re-labeling was very common back in the day.

Anyhoo - here's the glass:

===

G.E. GZ34/5AR4

f32
B8K4

Mullard Blackburn - 4th week of November, 1968

===

RCA 6V6GTA (x2)

AX

January 1966

===

Telefunken 12AT7

xl 

November 1966

===

Amperex 12AX7/ECC83

(triangle)7J3

Philips, Heerlen - 3rd week of October, 1967

===

RCA 7025

BA

April 1966

===

Bugle Boy (made in France) 12AT7/ECC81

Tk2
F3C1

La Radiotechnique, Suresnes - 1st week of March, 1963

 

[Justinginn]

Yeah I'll have to do some code-checking when I get to actually testing them. So sorry for being dogged, but I repeat my question regarding CB's advice that I just stick 'em in my amp and see if they work: if they don't they're not gonna risk anything right? Like my amp's not gonna be in danger if the tubes don't work? I'm eager to test all these out and wanna get started but I don't wanna accidentally kill my amp doing so.

 

[Superlizard]

Nah you'll be fine.  If there is a bad one(s) (say, you get no sound), look at them to verify which ones aren't lighting up... then turn the amp off immediately and replace the bad one(s).

 

[Justinginn]

Thanks a lot guys. School's in major crunch-time so I think I'll get to testing tomorrow night. I'll tell yall how they sound.