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Is it possible to "score" a tube amp?

WillVT

WillVT

Super Member
I always like reading about gear people here score for little or no money. Last night I had a dream that I found a tube amp in my old high school music room of all places, and it got me thinking, I have never read about anyone "scoring" a working tube amp.

Is this because anyone who has a working tube amp knows the value and desirability of it, and therefore would not give it away for nothing at a garage sale? I am curious because I would like to enter the world of tubes, especially since I have a pair of Quad 57's coming my way in a few months, and it seems they like tubes.

This brings up another question. I just got a Yamaha C-30 receiver. It says in the manual that it's stable down to 2ohms. Would this be a viable match to the Quads?

Sorry for 2 unrelated questions, but thinking about one led me to the other, and they kind of fit together...
 
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about 2yrs ago a widow put on san diego CL a mcintosh 275 - $100.00

My 1st thought was it was a joke or scam

I email her... the next day she replied with 'I'm sorry' because it took her that long to answer all replies even though the ad was up for only 2 hrs
 
The late 70s and 80's were a great time to find tube gear for nothing. Now the stuff is scarce or quite pricey. There will always be that lucky score, but you have to work a lot of garage sales and estate sales to find them. They will likely be in need of repair, but if the iron is good, it is cheap and easy to fix them.

17 years ago I found a stripped down Macintosh chassis laying next to a dumpster behind a store my apartment was next to. On it was a perfectly good power transformer and choke. I kept these until last year and sold them on eBay. I got $150 out of the transformer and another $15 out of the choke. Tube amps need the big iron thus are expensive.
 
Found this on the scrap metal pile at our town dump... with all original tubes.

ST40frontsanstop.jpg
 
In the late '90s I bought a superclean Voice of Music 1448 amp (see my avatar) and matching 1457 tuner for $60 at a flea market in Oakland, CA. Both pieces worked flawlessly. I only had the amp recapped a couple of years ago after it finally started hissing.
 
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I scored my first tube amp in about 1976. An older woman I did odd jobs for as a kid had her tube TV catch fire so she lost faith in them, so offered me the guts from her Viking console and she made the cabinet into a chest. I have not had it since about 1978 of course...
 
Not all working 100% when acquired, but ranging in price from free to $100, in the last two or three years:

Heathkit W5M
Fisher 50AZ
Dynaco Stereo 70
Harman Kardon A500
Bogen M30 (PA amp)

None are basket cases, not by a long shot. The Dynaco is my daily driver, used it pretty much stock for 2 years. Still has the original Mullard EL-34s.
 
Montycat said:
I scored my first tube amp in about 1976. An older woman I did odd jobs for as a kid had her tube TV catch fire so she lost faith in them, so offered me the guts from her Viking console and she made the cabinet into a chest. I have not had it since about 1978 of course...
Click to expand...

That brings up another question. Are old consoles a good way to find tubes? I seem to remember seeing one a few weeks ago on CL free section.
 
score...

If you are patient and persistnet, you can score just about anything.

for 10 bucks (and they delivered it) I got a big old console with a nice little stereo tube amp in it. Not a McIntosh but a nice warm sounding unit with schematics and a beautiful teak cabinet.

They may not be as plentiful as they once were, but they are out there.
 
I scored a couple tube 'amps' today. Dirty and needing some paint and tlc but there are tubes in there. Just a couple pics of the two boards in the 'amps'.
 

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I've come into an ST-70 for $20, Heathkit W5M free, and tomorrow am supposed to be picking up a Magnavox console, with tube amp (168AA) free.

Stuff is out there.
 
I was given a pair of Magnavox AMP150's, the 4x 6v6 mono bi-amp setup from the late 50s. Both were complete and basically working, other than needing a couple caps.
 
Not even in the electronic/repair/music shops or craiglist in this big city. Some years a go... yes....I replied to newspaper ads and bought tube amps on the cheap.

Now they are like the proverbial hen's teeth.:D
 
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