• WARNING: Tube/Valve amplifiers use potentially LETHAL HIGH VOLTAGES.
    Building, troubleshooting and testing of these amplifiers should only be
    performed by someone who is thoroughly familiar with
    the safety precautions around high voltages.

6AS7 getting rare?

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Pretty much my experience when I unloaded the 24 or so I had on hand a few years ago.. (same brand and lot #) I got < $4 a tube if memory serves on eBay..

You're lucky... I had 6 from a power supply, tested matched (all 12 sections), had them as a lot of 6 for $1.99 and they never sold in three relistings.

Ended up getting more by trading them for sockets in stuff with forum members.

Cheers!
 
I have collected about 50 or 75 of them over the years. I tried to Ebay some of the known good ones a year or so ago. Same results, no bids.

I seperated them into 2 batches. Those that are cosmetically OK, and those that are ugly, or have loose bases. Of course I have more ugly ones than pretty ones, so there will be some "tube testing" experiments on some of the ugly ones at a later date.

20 some years ago I managed to generate a controlled plasma ball inside a 6AS7. This used up all of the vacuum in the tube and when I got the tube hot enough to melt the glass, it bulged outward indicating a positive pressure inside the tube! I lost that example long ago, but I now have a power supply big enough to repeat the experiment, and I still remember the technique.
 
I have tried Mullard 6080's and they were the brightest of the lot.
I have tried RCA 6080's and they were clean deep and detailed - very good.
I have tried the Winged C 6H13 and they had that lovely smooth sound with strong deep and detailed bass response. and they are in the lovely ST bottle.
For me the 6H13 wins on all counts for my system.

Shoog
 
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