Not more than a few months ago I walked into one of my favorite local high end stores and the owner hands me a tube and asks me what it is. Easy. It was a very common and not too good sounding run of the mill GE tube. It was easy to tell with the factory coding on it as well as construction. No seam at the top so not European. The store owner took the tube from me and handed it to some forlorn looking man who I learned had just dropped some serious money for the tube, which now had an "Amperex" brand silkscreened on it as well the famous "Bugle Boy" icon. The tube was shipped in a factory fresh Amperex box. All fake. All bought on Ebay. And all are from a county in Asia with a huge population and are notorious for counterfeiting. Unless you know what you are doing where tubes are concerned, construction of said tubes, codes etc. Ebay is not the place to go. The lure of cheap prices is everyone's downfall. You pay for what you get. Spend a little more from a reputable dealer (TubeWorld, Vintage Tube Service, even TC Tubes) otherwise you will be paying a lot more; once for the junk, and again for the tube you should have bought in the first place.
Ebay sellers switching tubes
so what out for ebay sellers , havinga NOS tube with good/OK/excellent print in the item pic,,and then swaping out for another tube with less print or no print.
w/o print the tube is not worth very much, unless it is NOS, not strong, but true NOS.
If you buy a NOS/low quality print, i would finda tech who can test it against the vlaues stated by seller.
I have so many RCA's and other 12AX7's arriving daily,,,i failed to see seller's listing vs tube acutally sent,,also make sure seller puts INVOICE inside package (allows you to ck your purchases more accurately)
Thus
If you buy off ebay, senda note, I want the tube in the pic sent, not another and please send with invoice and if showing test scores, ask to have text scores taped to the tube,,,, this insures more honesty among sellers.
Please add any notes you have from your experiences.
NOS with strong print , prices will sky rocket,,,,with boxes add another 20%,
If I buy NOS, with low print/no print,,i will let seller know,, i will ship out to be tested,,if not close to your scores, i will ask part refund or ship back to you. ,,and say <<fair deal?>>
It is good we all get these things out in the open, to help newbies comming into the tube world from having to experience all the rip off/bad deals we;'ve all gone through.
Sellers will have to come clean or go out of busniess with negative feedback.
Wish i had been more careful cking packages vs the acutal listing pics.
Now i have to send a bunch of mystery AX's off to be tested./labeled,,,not sure if they are CBS/GE's or RCA's. ,,and how they test.
w/o print the tube is not worth very much, unless it is NOS, not strong, but true NOS.
If you buy a NOS/low quality print, i would finda tech who can test it against the vlaues stated by seller.
I have so many RCA's and other 12AX7's arriving daily,,,i failed to see seller's listing vs tube acutally sent,,also make sure seller puts INVOICE inside package (allows you to ck your purchases more accurately)
Thus
If you buy off ebay, senda note, I want the tube in the pic sent, not another and please send with invoice and if showing test scores, ask to have text scores taped to the tube,,,, this insures more honesty among sellers.
Please add any notes you have from your experiences.
NOS with strong print , prices will sky rocket,,,,with boxes add another 20%,
If I buy NOS, with low print/no print,,i will let seller know,, i will ship out to be tested,,if not close to your scores, i will ask part refund or ship back to you. ,,and say <<fair deal?>>
It is good we all get these things out in the open, to help newbies comming into the tube world from having to experience all the rip off/bad deals we;'ve all gone through.
Sellers will have to come clean or go out of busniess with negative feedback.
Wish i had been more careful cking packages vs the acutal listing pics.
Now i have to send a bunch of mystery AX's off to be tested./labeled,,,not sure if they are CBS/GE's or RCA's. ,,and how they test.
- ...
- 11 posts total
eBay may not be the most reliable source of tubes, but, there are not that many alternatives. I can't run down to a local tube shop. It is also hard to determine if the seller is intentionally ripping off the seller. It is almost impossible to determine what is meant about a tube testing good, even when the tester and value is mentioned, because of differences in calibration of machines and because most testers really don't give much meaningful results (they don't test tubes under full power stress, for example). Ripoffs work both ways. I know someone who sells tubes on eBay that, on quite a few occasions, the buyer complained and he took the tubes back; the return, however, was of different tubes. |
Buy from sellers you know can trust,,,shows tests results, Also not necessary to have strong print,,as these NOS are now 50+ yrs old,,and the print can wipe off fairly easy,,,some great deals can be had with tubes/no/low print. Teles should have Diamond logo on bottom. https://www.audioasylum.com/messages/tubes/246426/do-all-telefunken-12ax7-tubes-have-the-diamond-on-the-bottom |
- 11 posts total