200,000 Tubes for sale in Michigan

[Trout]

I came across this listing on Craigslist.

http://chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/msg/294947822.html

I have emailed the guy back and forth a few times.

For what its worth, He has 200,000 or MORE tubes for sale with an asking (negotiable) $5000.00

If any of you guys live up in Michigan near GRAND RAPIDS it might just be a goldmine of an investment.
He said it is an all or nothing deal so no picking sorting ect

I actually considered buying them, But I am finding I just plain do not have the time right now for this endeavor.

So, I thought I would pass this on to you guys!

Quote from Email:

II have a bunch of tubes, perhaps more than 200K+ in sheer volume alone. I have no idea what there really is, But I do know that there is at least 1000+ tubes that are for guitar amplifiers. There is no way I am going to inv. all these tubes, who ever buys them, that is what THEY will have to do.

These things are just stored in big boxes, small boxes, 5 gal buckets, large pails, anything that was handy just to move them from where I got them.. I do know this, just in 3 five gal. buckets, there is perhaps 300+ 5u4 tubes alone. That would include the "coke bottle type, and the straight sided type alone. There is absolutely NOTHING that is Soviet made, or China made, nor even Japanese made. 90% are all old US mfg. and the rest are made in either England or Germany.

Who ever gets these tubes, will have a gold mine of vintage items.

thanks for your time

ceroslanic@peoplepc.com
KRW/CER

Trout

[janneman]

Lessee... this place has about 60k members. Sounds like the mother of all Group Buys...

Seriously, sounds like a good opportunity. I guess the shipping to Europe would be the same amount again...

Jan Didden

[Dave Cigna]

I dunno. A bunch of used/untest pulls? I suppose if 10% of them are of a useful type, and 25% of those are in usable condition, then let's see:

200000 * .10 * .25 = 5000 useful and usable tubes. $1 each for a bunch of used tubes doesn't excite me.

I see small collections at auctions for about the same (or less) money per tube, and much of it is NOS. I don't bother with those because I really have no use for a bunch of radio and TV tubes.

-- Dave

[Brian Beck]

Dave, you beat me to it. The way these are described (in buckets, etc.), they must be pulls. Probably a lot of old TV repair types that you can get at electronic swap meets and hamfests for pennies a piece. The pack rat in me was tempted, but I had a moment of meditation and the urge passed.

[tubelab.com]

Lets see, this sounds familiar. I got a similar lot for free, well in exchange for 2 days of unloading 2 semi loads of stuff and stacking it in a warehouse. 20 amp 3 phase variacs are heavy! The tubes were stored in similar packaging (boxes, barrels, grocery bags, etc.) Some were indeed pulls, but most were new from military bulk packaging. The packaging had been mostly eaten by the rats, which brings me to the real problem, the packaging material after it had been through the rat! About 50% of the tubes had to be tossed because they were broken, or the pins were severely corroded (rat "stuff" is corrosive). I got to examine the guts of just about every possible type of 807 tube. There were hundreds of broken ones.

I have had these tubes for several years now, and I still have not seen them all. I believe that I have found all of the good stuff. There was several hundred pounds of sweep tubes, about a third of them are 6 volt. 24 pulled 833A's. Wrapped in newspaper were 4 NOS GE 845's. They all work well. There were also a few used but good 845's and 211's. I have hundreds of 1625's and 807's.

I have thousands of 6AL5's (why would someone save these) and 2D21's. There are also large boxes full of tubes that may be useful for audio, but require some testing time. 5670's, 6AU6's, 6J6's, 6CL6's, 6AG7, 6AC7, 6GH8 and so forth. I have enough 6AS7's to build the mother of all OTL's. Someday I will have enough time to build it.

Yeah, there are a lot of 5U4's. They are almost all puls. Most look like they are toast. Several hundred 12AU7's and some 12AX7's. Most of these work.

I have about 500 pounds of thyratrons and other useless military surplus tubes. They didn't sell on Ebay.

If anyone is serious, go see the tubes. Examine the condition of several boxes. If they are stored (he mentioned a 10 X10 X10 cube) in boxes stacked on top of each other (mine were) expect most of the tubes on the bottom to be crushed. If these have been stored for some time, expect that the "audio tubes" may have been sold off already.

Think about where you are going to put them. Mine are in a rental storage warehouse. It costs $200 a month. That adds up to $2400 per year. I have had these tubes for several years. Free tubes start to get expensive. These are not free.

[Eusebius]

In the UK one or two of the main tube sellers are getting out. Business has dropped to a quarter or less of what it was. Expect a steady stream of tube sellers to be getting out of the market. Ron Ford recently went in Canada, and he was very big. Looks like the most likely scenario is mountains of tubes in warehouses. The guitar tubes will sell for a while. I'm personally keeping hold of DHTs because I think they'll survive a lot of the other tubes. But for most of the tubes - even good to great ones like 6J5, 7N7, I think it's hasta la vista baby. I think that's the most likely future scenario, frankly. Tubes that are not in current equipment will stagnate, and the DIY market is likely to shrink very considerably.

[Trout]

Originally posted by Dave Cigna
I dunno. A bunch of used/untest pulls? I suppose if 10% of them are of a useful type, and 25% of those are in usable condition, then let's see:

200000 * .10 * .25 = 5000 useful and usable tubes. $1 each for a bunch of used tubes doesn't excite me.

I see small collections at auctions for about the same (or less) money per tube, and much of it is NOS. I don't bother with those because I really have no use for a bunch of radio and TV tubes.

-- Dave

Thing is, the $5000.00 is not in stone, sorta like buying a used car, ya Kick the tires, point out the drip stain under the car, offer the guy a low ball price, when he realizes its his only offer,

Bingo.

Trout

[rdf]

Originally posted by tubelab.com
...5670's, 6AU6's, 6J6's, 6CL6's, 6AG7, 6AC7, 6GH8 and so forth. .

The painful part is not knowing whether it's gold or garbage. I was rummaging through the pile for a p-p amp front end tube and came across a unfamiliar sleeve that referenced as a version of 6J6A. On the bench this uni-cathode twin triode appears to be excellent for audio. Some of the compactrons I bought for testing hold terrific promise and are being dumped at a dollar or two a pop.

[Bandersnatch]

So I'm thinking...get them for a lowball price, and have a party. Invite all the tube guys in these here parts and take over the back yard. It could go on for a whole weekend I suspect( with good weather assumed ). BBQ, tube sorting and sunshine!
cheers,
Douglas

[Trout]

Originally posted by Bandersnatch
So I'm thinking...get them for a lowball price, and have a party. Invite all the tube guys in these here parts and take over the back yard. It could go on for a whole weekend I suspect( with good weather assumed ). BBQ, tube sorting and sunshine!
cheers,
Douglas

Hey your up his way even, He's in Grand Rapids. It would be worth the drive just to see what he really has!

I thought about going up there myself yesterday, 5 hours each way. But, my gal would kill me If I brought that many more home. It took forever to thin out the last 8,000.

I mentioned it and got the old look, You know the one.

A snarly " just go" haha

Trout