Not just guitar audio! I own a tube amp for my guitar and 2 tube amps for driving my higher-end headphones! They are neat little pieces of electronics history, not just in how they run, but also because most of the best tubes are old military surplus. My oldest pair are from 1945 and were made for early army/navy radar systems.
Yes, I’m a reseller. I bought a large collection of them from a pawn shop that was closing. Some of them are quite sought after. The most expensive I’ve sold were $200/ea. Some sellers use higher end testers in order to make claims that the tubes are “matched” in their percentage of specification from new. I think it’s a dubious claim. I have a cheaper tester that says if they’re good or not. I only state that they are tested and appear to be new since I obviously have no way to know if they actually are NOS or if someone used them at some point.
Some folks are still using tubes for audio equipment aren’t they?
Vacuum tubes are super common in high-end guitar amplifiers
Not just guitar audio! I own a tube amp for my guitar and 2 tube amps for driving my higher-end headphones! They are neat little pieces of electronics history, not just in how they run, but also because most of the best tubes are old military surplus. My oldest pair are from 1945 and were made for early army/navy radar systems.
1945 JAN-6AK5 tubes
I’ve got a tube amp and a tube DAC/ headphone amp for my HiFi system. They sound amazing.
They are still commonly used in RF amplifiers for ham radio too.
Yes, I’m a reseller. I bought a large collection of them from a pawn shop that was closing. Some of them are quite sought after. The most expensive I’ve sold were $200/ea. Some sellers use higher end testers in order to make claims that the tubes are “matched” in their percentage of specification from new. I think it’s a dubious claim. I have a cheaper tester that says if they’re good or not. I only state that they are tested and appear to be new since I obviously have no way to know if they actually are NOS or if someone used them at some point.