Talkin Vacuum Tubes With AL

[@johnwilson2250]

People like Al are worth MORE than their weight in gold.

[@ricknelson947]

I learned a whole lot 30+ years ago from a gentleman like Al. In fact his name was Little Al, because he was 5’ 3”. He’s been gone for years now, but some of the things he had taught me. I got to pass on to technicians that I have worked with all over the world. Every technician needs an Al to learn from.

[@mmkuyt]

I'm an Al myself (57 year old bicycle mechanic). I could teach new mechanics quite a few tricks, but it seems, they just can't be bothered these days.

[@ricknelson947]

@@mmkuyt I’ve somewhat been in your shoes. I am 59. I installed and maintained Paging infrastructure for Motorola from the mid 80’s to the late 90’s until the industry became mostly obsolete. The younger technicians were only learning board swapping and could care less about component level repairs. At 35 I had to take what I learned and reinvent myself to another part of the radio industry. You may not even realize it, but I’m sure at your age that you have passed repair techniques on to others without knowing, but the person that learned from you will remember you for the rest of their years.

[@mmkuyt]

@@ricknelson947 Hey, don't worry about me. I enjoy my work, make plenty of money while they loose sleep over an angry custumer that will or will not return with a complaint.

[@tompsheridantsheridant7354]

VACUUM TUBES WITH TINY VACUUM CLEANERS IN THE TUBES

[@martiehensley4452]

If you see this Al thank you for your time explaining all these tubes.

[@algrabenbauer]

Hi , This video was completely unrehearsed and unplanned. I made a few mistakes, missed a few things that I would have liked to say but I was surprised how well I did do on camera. My cousin and both spent our childhoods building tube projects with push-pull audio amplifiers being our favorite to build. As Shango says , the value of resistors can drift far off before the performance drops off. Those were the fun days and fun past memories to think abut.

[@truthsmiles]

@@algrabenbauer I also want to say thank you for sharing your knowledge with us! I’m already looking into how to make a 0A3 nightlight! :)

[@mrshmanckles1463]

Listening to him made me happy and relaxed the whole time. Thank you!

[@me3333]

It almost breaks my heart to know that these guy with unending knowledge about tubes are going away and wont be replaced.

[@zx8401ztv]

Al sounds like a smashing chap, he has filled your mind with so many things you will find useful. You will never look at tubes the same way as you did. No need to buy tubes for a long time lol.

[@KeyboardBuster]

I smash my chap every morning

[@iroll]

that was an hour of my life that I might just have to relive again! re: the radiation, as long as you aren't grinding up these tubes or the ore and doing lines or sweetening your cereal with them, you could store them in your nightstand and be fine. The fact that you can pull the geiger tube a foot away from them and silence it is clue #1. Clue #2 you can check by closing and opening the metal window on the geiger. If closing it silences it, then you're not seeing gamma rays, so it's even less of a concern (can't penetrate skin). The only radiation danger associated with these things is chronic exposure to dust over a long period of time, bypassing your skin and accumulating in internal soft tissue. (yes I am a professional in a relevant field)

[@rogersmith7396]

The gamma tube sounds ominous. I worked with an GE tube powered 1958 X ray diffraction machine the size of a car in college. It had 9 counter tubes which gave digital outputs. It must have weighed a couple of tons. In back it had a very large ceramic component in a 100 gallon oil bath which glowed white hot. I always assumed the oil was PCB. It was pretty scary and the prof showing me it was'nt radioactive did not allay my fears but I completed the experiments with it. A modern machine would be automated of course but this was no doubt a donation by a large company of an old timer. We had two of them.

[@iroll]

​@@rogersmith7396 I was thinking more along the lines of gamma-emitting rare earths in the tube, but a gamma tube does sound ominous! I don't think you can get enough horsepower out of any tube to generate gamma electrically, though. That is definitely a bigass x-ray tube that you described, and yeah probably PCB oil. But... unless you were physically exposed to the oil and then picked your nose and ate your lunch without washing your hands, your PCB exposure would be between zero and trivial. And the x-ray tube couldn't generate enough power to be able to leave residual radiation, just the x-ray 'light' while turned on, which you detected with the counter tubes. X-ray machines in general add cumulative risk to workers with chronic exposure over a career, but aren't too concerning otherwise unless you spend a lot of time basking in the glow. I double-checked and a transatlantic flight gives you exposure to about 5 chest x-rays of radiation, so you can imagine that airline pilots rack up exposure over a career. On the other hand, gamma-source medical instruments are tracked extremely tightly because they have a large chunk of highly radioactive material in them, enough to cause actual radiation sickness and potential terrorism concerns. There is occasionally a story about some old machine being junked, somebody finding the source, and severe injury resulting. Real curious now, what were you studying? I'm going to guess... material science? What kind of material?

[@rogersmith7396]

@@iroll Well as per my sci fi shows I know if a star goes nova and emits a gamma pulse it can kill everything light years away. Smoke alarms are radioactive as far as I know. They like medical equipment use a short half life source which used to be Americium. None use uranium or plutonium. I think those sources are man made. Of course alchemists always wanted to turn lead into gold which we now know is theoretically possible. I live about 100 miles from Times Beach, MO. where a dumb ass used oil cheap for the streets which turned out to be a great deal on PCB. Superfund site. I live in a forrested area and see great mounds of old line pole transformers laying on the ground behind fences. What do you suppose that is all about. Many of the active line transformers here are rusty and look 100 years old, why do you think that is. I believe pcb has to be incinerated like nerve gas at a Federal incinerator like Rocky Flats the same as sarin nerve gas. pcb has been described as the most toxic material ever made. There are studies which go down miles into the earth to exclude gamma rays from what ever they are studiing, I think looking for the elusive gravitron. Their detectors still get some gamma strikes deep in the ground. My prof had a 1920s doctors x ray device, like a bare tungston filament . My job was to use a micrometer turntable with the GE x ray emitter with a sample of plastic held at 0 degrees on the table. Shoot it, read the big counter tubes which looked exactly like the lost in space space ship inside, write the number down, change the shot angle on the table, repeat. I think we would do 3 or 4 different angles. It was a secret Federal project which I did'nt have need to know. He would take the plastic and expose it to the doctors x ray machine. I had another early japanese gizmo which was a 6 inch diameter loudspeaker with a huge coil and magnet. The plastic would clamp on the voice coil the other end immobile. I could control frequency and amplitude. The plastic ran through a chamber which could be heated or cooled with liquid nitrogen. I would run different settings at different temps, write down the results and give then to him. It measured hysterisis in the sample. If warm, plastic becomes rubbery, if cold it becomes stiff. Stiff transmits energy better than rubbery. His doctors x ray machine was key. At the time neutron bombs and neutron pulse was all the rage. I theroize he was trying to make a neutron resistant plastic for wires in planes and vehicles for the military. If neutrons could'nt penetrate the insulation on wires, electrical apparatus would not be knocked out. Never knew of course. The general theory is their is no safe lower limit for xrays. The dental equipment has far less power now than when I was a kid. It breaks the bonds in chromasomes. The body can heal some damage but not excessive damage. Astronauts take radiation damage from the sun so theirs hope for Bezos after all. Just need to keep him up there longer. Like a decade or two. Then he will come back like the doctor who plant monster. The Army can take care of it with flame throwers.

[@jamesluck2969]

The detector shango is using looks to be a Ludlum measurements model 44-2 but possibly a LM model 44-10 ( didn't get a definitive answer as of yet). Both detectors that are listed are scintillation based and the only difference between the two are their crystal sizes. A important note, detector model doesn't matter here, what Shango was using is a gamma only detector. As previously stated a scintillator detector in this case most likely equipped with a Thallium doped Sodium-Iodide crystal. These types of detectors are extremely sensitive compared to Geiger-Muller based. We can also look at the tubes Shango was inspecting. In this case a group of Westinghouse 346B's most commonly containing around 2uCi of Radium Bromide, although there us a variety of 346B's that are marked with the trifoil and can contain much more. That said his probe being gamma only and very sensitive his readings were rather low. If I recall correctly Shango said in a reply to my comment his meter was on the low multiplier, which I cant tell what meter he is using here but I will assume a LM model 3. So if on low range we can assume unless told otherwise his measurements were either 5uR/hr max scale on x0.1 or 50uR/hr on x1. Which is reasonable for the sources at hand. Important note: the probes real effective range is 0-5mR/hr or 0-5000uR/hr unless electronically compansated then it pops up to 50mR/hr. Just shows the sensitivity compared to other detection types.

[@alphabeets]

Shango, you never need to apologize for your videos. Us folks subscribe because we love this stuff!

[@jimw7ry]

I just re-watched this again. LOTS of great info here! Thanks Shango!

[@petemiksich5760]

This was one of the most interesting videos I've seen. Wonderful info about the vacuum world of tubes. Thanks Shango!

[@bandbgamesroom]

This is probably of the most, if not the single most informative video I've seen on KZbin this year. Thanks a lot to you and Al for this!

[@olradguy]

Halogen bulbs run hotter because they have to to maintain the halogen cycle

[@AndySpicer]

I watched the intro part of this video and thought “well, that sounds boring but I’ll watch a bit of it.” An hour and a half later it ended and my brain said “wait! That’s it! There isn’t more?” That was fantastic. Thank you so much for breaking out the camera and letting us listen. A real gem.

[@rinner2801]

Here is a sad tale for you: My grandfather worked at Bletchley park in the UK during World War II. His attic was completely filled with rare radio electronics including literally thousands of brand new, unopened vacuum tubes, some of which were not available to the general public at that time. When he died the entire collection was thrown away because it was deemed "useless".

[@linuspoindexter106]

We can hope someone intercepted the trove before it hit the landfill...

[@hadireg]

yeah that's sad indeed

[@earlblakley4910]

Be surprised how often that has happened. People now think nobody is interested in them.

[@denisohbrien]

not uncommon im afraid, was at my loacal scrappers (edinburgh, UK) chucking out a half tonne of engine blocks and heads. on the pile was a solid 30+ lovely looking heathkit boxes. well lovely before other scrap got dropped on them. I assume someone passed away and the clearing guys got brought in and it was all just weighed in. . family probably didnt know or care of the worth and neither did the scrappers. I told the fellas at the yard, they are generally resourcefull, so hopefully any uncrushed units find there way to ebay or that.

[@rustymotor]

That is a sad end for such a valuable collection of historical technology, I bet many of those tubes were Dekatron counting tubes that were used for logic gates in early computers. I can only imagine the knowledge of early electronics your Grandfather must have had.

[@Evan420]

This guy is a plethora of knowledge! Fun learning from him!

[@DougDingus]

Thanks for sharing Al with us. Holy cow! Look at all the tubes! One could spend months just looking them over, getting familiar with what they can do and how they do it. As a kid, I had accumulated a big stash of mostly TV tubes, some radio. I was doing simple calibration and setup on old sets for people just as a hobby. Was a small tool shed sized collection. Got married, parents tossed it one day, told me after the fact... yeah. That hurt. Plan was to do some of this stuff later in life and maybe use the tubes, or get them to people who would. Seeing this collection brings back memories. Definitely entertaining! Tubes are fun, in my view. They are big, and gear made with them tends to be human scale. One can see everything, and of course the glow, smells, and sounds are just great experiences. And old engineering! Radios would really perform. There is something basic about a well performing piece of tube gear that is satisfying to experience. Every tech has a sweet spot. And that is the thing is does in exemplary fashion. Most tech overlaps and that commonality bridges us on to the new for a time coexisting with the old. Thing is, it all never really goes away. As time passes, the newer tech takes hold, and the old tech settles into whatever niche they will excel in. Sometimes it goes away entirely, but the more common scenario is a small niche and a few able and or willing to keep it going for those times when it makes the best sense to use. All of that is our base. We build on layers and layers of stuff and looking at all these tubes? This stuff represents a great time! Lots of innovation. Everything, computers, radios, embedded systems, you name it. Amazing history, and so much about it still hidden, uncommon tubes, specialized uses, and not so much secret, just idle, those niches very small, rare, but probably contributors to stuff we do not even think about today. I see art in a lot of this stuff too. During this time, real human skill mattered. Mass produced stuff, with a sprinkle of human skill tying it all together. A while back we saw the stories about big rockets, the generation of people who built rockets, airplanes, all that stuff had to have the smarts and command of first principles at hand because the requirements pushed the edge of potential. Variations in manufacturing, often skilled hand labor, each part similar, required the machine to be finished as it was made to perform. Great examples of people who had to know their stuff and work together to make powerful machines so other people could do amazing things! Just a great era. So much happened. We don't even think about so many amazing things we take for granted today. Thanks again. Fun to think about.

[@brentschmitt3338]

This video will be essential for enthusiasts in a couple generations.

[@timmygilbert1371]

Awesome video Shango on so many different levels . I have so much respect for guys like you and the other guy for all the older an new knowledge yall have . Thanks so much for taking the time to do videos like this .

[@hallieboy]

I used to work on 16mm projectors and Movieola editing machines. For films with optical sound tracks, phototubes were used. (some films used magnetic tracks as Shango mentioned). Two methods were used with optical tracks-variable density and variable area. Both depended on the principal of varying the amount of light passing through the film's soundtrack, modulated by the audio. The varying light struck the phototube producing a tiny current of a few microamps which was then fed to an amplifier. Excellent video! Shango has one of the very best channels on KZbin!

[@rotormaxx]

Thanks shango for sharing your time with Al with us. It would be such an experience to meet and talk with him and you. Regards, R.

[@0tt0z]

What valuable information here. I'm glad that you made this video.

[@blobscott]

About the light detector tubes used in film: I was a theater projectionist back quite some time ago. All 35mm prints you see in the theater, up to the move to digital projection, used the optical sound strip based on modulating light amplitude. 70mm film used a mag strip, but all 35mm used the light. So most films you've ever seen in a theater that aren't digitally projected worked this way. Probably done because it was durable and the sound was part of the film (chemical) development process and didn't require another step - like applying a perfectly synced mag strip.

[@KameraShy]

I was the projectionist for my grade school when I was 11. 16 mm. I was the only one who could thread the thing. So I knew about how the sound track worked with the optical strip. I vaguely remember a round drum about 3" that the film wrapped around with a light that shone through. Never needed to change any of the tubes, though, so never saw inside.

[@dougbrowning82]

35 and 16mm were both optical, while 8 and 70mm were magnetic. 8mm sound came along late in the game and didn't last long.. Imax is sideways 70mm with the sound on separate, synced magnetic media.

[@5roundsrapid263]

I know an owner of a drive-in theater, and he was still using 35mm optical sound until he went to digital projection about five years ago.

[@blobscott]

One other bit of semi-archaic info.. The film moves through a projector briefly pausing at every frame for projection of that particular still image (24 fps for standard 35mm). This is typically done using a "geneva drive" mechanism with a loop of film on either side of the paused frame. These loops both increase and decrease in size as the film is briefly held paused in the gate. Essentially, the feed and take-up reels move continuously and as the film pauses in the gate, the loops of film act as mechanical buffers. This whole process is why film projectors make so much clattering noise. In terms of the sound strip, this must be read continuously - meaning the part of the film that is paused cannot be where the audio pickup is located - otherwise the sound would keep pausing. So, the audio reader is placed either before or after the loops of "buffer" film (I don't remember which) where the film is moving continuously. The audio has to sync with the piece of film paused in the gate, so the position of the audio track relative to the image has to be offset by a very specific amount to accommodate for the constantly pausing action of the image versus the continuous feed of the audio. It's always surprising to me that projection worked so well at scale (i.e. Tons of prints being distributed to all the theaters in the US and abroad). Theater projectors really were amazing mechanical marvels. Look up "Norelco" projectors to see the best ever made. I believe there's an online registry of the ones left in existence.

[@christopher88719]

I swear EVERY old TV repair shop stored their tubes like this. I have so many cut down boxes from the grocery store full of tubes. I have bought around 5 or 6 vintage TV and radio stores and the similarities in how each store was run in really intresting when you consider this was before the internet and they were independent stores.

[@gregoryclemen1870]

I went to an "OLD ACE HARDWARE STORE" and asked the owner, who was around 85 years old at the time( this was back in the mid 90's), if he had any vacuum tubes for sale. he told me "YOU ARE KIDDING ME!!!!, I have the basement of this place full of tubes that I can not sell" I told him "YOU JUST SOLD THEM" he just about gave them to me ( new in the box). it took 3 full van loads to clear out the store basement. I did find some transmitting tubes that were made by "DEFOREST"!!!!( new in the box). I sold those tubes to a collector

[@hauptuhrdotnetblog6700]

It took me a few days to get the time to go through this one. I'm glad I did. Excellent. Great questions at the end. Fascinating. Thank you shango066.

[@TrakThora]

Thanks for taking me to his place. Got some new ideas installing other tubes in my 6 tube push pull amp. He is a treasure of knowledge.

[@glenncerny8403]

Big thank you to Al. Quite the cache there.

[@davepike6170]

I thoroughly have enjoyed this video, from start to finish! Loved the drive through countryside I haven't seen in person, and the visit with Al. He's a fountain of knowledge about tubes!

[@Vaultovinyl]

Back in about 2009, I went to an estate auction of a guy that had owned several movie theaters and had at one time been a partner in a radio station. It was the most amazing estate collection I had ever seen in my life. I'll probably never see anything like it again. There was so much good stuff I wanted to buy it all! I was nearly broke at the time so that wasn't going to happen. There were three 20 foot flatbed trailers piled full of tubes. Whole cases of 6L6's, 6V6's, 2A3's, 6B4's and Western Electric 300B's. Every kind of tube you could imagine. There was also a fantastic record collection. Me being a record collector, blew most of my money (which wasn't that much) buying the record collection. While trying to secure my purchase from the vultures that were circling around and asking a lot of questions about what the records were that made me pay so much for them, the auctioneers went directly to the trailers full of tubes. I was not able to get outside to them quick enough. They sold whole trailers full for $20 a piece. I damn near had a stroke! The guy that bought them, was a scrap metal guy! He was touting their scrap value and talking about how he was going to bust them up and get the precious metals out of them. I tried to talk to him, he wasn't having it. He thought he had a gold mine and didn't even have a clue just how big a gold mine he really did have. I didn't enlighten him or attempt to rescue any tubes from him. He wasn't going to sell anything. He tossed them in his truck and stock trailer and drove away. I've always wondered if he really did bust them up or if they survived to someday be rescued. The world may never know.

[@5roundsrapid263]

Wow. I have a similar story. About 15 years ago, I saw an estate sale ad on Craigslist. An abandoned TV repair shop was being torn down. I didn’t find it until a week after it started. I still got a garbage can of tubes, some rare, but no telling what I missed out on. They said the place had been full of TV’s, radios, and test gear.

[@KeyboardBuster]

The vacuum tube destroyer/grapist, sounds like he was either a dead hearted greedy unthinking Canadian or a human with some Canadian blood. R.I.P vacuum tube little ladies.

[@tenmillionvolts]

That is by far the most valves I've ever seen in one place. Nice haul!

[@RobertNES816]

People like this are a treasure to have these days. What this man knows should be documented and passed down to anyone looking for hard to find information like this today. Information today is too easily lost, even though we have an abundance of information at our fingertips. However it can easily be deleted in one keystroke.

[@hestheMaster]

Long drive from LA to Tempe/Phoenix area and back. Bet you were bushed! It looks like it was worth it. Lots of tube knowledge shared by Al. Thanks again Shango.

[@jaysmith179]

shango. Do not worry. We love the videos you put up. You are the best. This is a dying hobby and I really respect you and your channel. Stay safe out there in California. Crazy times.

[@The0nionKnight]

California is doing just fine. Worry about yourself.

[@dr.zarkhov9753]

Thanks for doing videos like this. Al is one of those guys who's knowledge about this technology is quickly fading into non existence were it not for people like Shango, etc to take the time to record it.

[@christinecortese9973]

Build that shop! Make the time. You’ll never regret it.

[@Monza62000]

kid i am 68 still here ,,grew up on tubes why i think you are very smart ,,gee keep it up

[@digitalwoodshop]

Very Interesting Video. I started my career in the Navy in 76 with Tube Fire Control Equipment to aim the guns. Nice walk down memory lane. The comments are excellent... Need to come back and study them. :)

[@mjg263]

Awesome amount of valuable information, glad it’s been preserved. I never knew that about one manufacturer making tubes for another yet I always noticed the different numbering styles on the same brand of tube. Guess I never put that together but it totally makes sense now!

[@cthoadmin7458]

California is awesome. Those sunrise scenes in the desert are amazing! Thanks for bringing this to us shango.

[@rustymotor]

You and Al have so much valuable collective knowledge of tube technology, thank you for taking the time to make this video. I love to see more videos of the treasures you scored and I would love to purchase those Radioactive tubes for my collection! Thanks for showing this and great to see such a collection saved from a possible trip to the dump.

[@lizardofoz5329]

What a wonderful opportunity to learn about the bedrock. I recently had a similar experience which I feel compelled to share with you. I live in a formerly quiet formerly small city in a Western State which has been popular because it is not so noisy. There is a remarkable store here which accepts donations of old electronics and sells such in order to fund STEM classes for kids. In the store is a fellow of such remarkable knowledge it is hard to believe he is only about 30 years old. I was purchasing some used tubes there and asked him if he could test them first. He told me no, that tubes were sold as is. He also did'nt understand why I was concerned with buying a bad tube as they are so easily repaired. "Women made tubes in their garages during the war." He found it hard to believe that people were lamenting the dwindling supply of tubes as they are so easily made or repaired. One only needs to replace the 'elements' inside and since tubes are metal that is no problem. He restated the women in garages line again and ended with the statement, "We have a thing called transistors now." I tried to ask him about vacuum pumps and such but he said they were easily obtainable. I had to leave because being 67 years old my attention span failed me. I left with the strange impression I had been in a comic book store. At any rate I thought I would share this knowledge with you and hope you can pick through all those tubes to find some that were garage made by women in the war. It would make and excellent follow-up video.

[@tedcowart3647]

Wow! What a great and informative video. I'm so glad you documented your journey so all of this information won't be lost forever and be available to us now and the future generations of radio and tv geeks.

[@seanobrien7169]

'68 year I was born. Great guy! You found a gold mine there not only in the tubes but in the knowledge.

[@nicholaslemonakis5138]

I always enjoy these videos but more importantly I learn a lot! Thank You Shango and AL!

[@ka4dqe606]

Really enjoyed this. Thank you. Technically interesting ... and interesting insight into people.

[@Pdor_figlio_di_Kmer]

My father in his youth used to repair radios and stopped when he started working in the state railways (before the advent of the TV broadcast here in Italy). In his time there were only vacuum tubes, he used to narrate a lot about the tubes he used to repair radios. I wish I could hear again those stories told by him. I miss him so much.

[@tucker934]

Mr Al thank you for sharing your knowledge, and Letting Shango capture it and sharing it with US! I’m still quite new to tube gear, this information is a treasure to US, and I’m very thankful for You, Shango, and everyone else who’s spent many years to gather there knowledge, and share it! Sorry for the lost as well may He rest well!

[@SarahRWilson]

Al sounds like someone who has probably forgotten more than a lot of us will ever know about something. I'll have to agree with him that sweep tubes hold a lot of promise for audio output devices, and not just for OTL amps either. The last tube developed for audio output service, the 8417, had a channeled plate structure more like that of a sweep tube more than the flat plate of a 6550. On the subject of OTL amps, the only design I can think of that used sweep tubes was the Julius Futterman amplifier. This used a set of 6 6LF6s in a parallel totem pole circuit, but was capacitor coupled. Julius probably found that easier than chasing the offset around the drift, as likely happened with his first attempt in 1954 with 12B4s on the output. More recent attempts with vacuum tube OTL amps use a circlotron design. These are actually superior to the totem pole aa the drive is equal for each half of the waveform, and the drift cancels itself out. This was a heck of a video Shango, thanks for sharing with us!

[@luisreyes1963]

M

[@otakujhp]

Amazing collection of tubes. Glad they're going to a good home.

[@Seiskid]

These things fascinate me. Almost magic. I've spent my life working on transistor gear, and only in the last few years repaired and developed an interest in tube equipment. Great video. Really appreciate you putting it up. Many thanks to Al for sharing this knowledge.

[@rolfsinkgraven]

Well learned something again, wish i knew a Al 30 years ago :-)

[@LakeNipissing]

Thanks for sharing this brilliant man's knowledge with us. Watching this video was like being right there!

[@ObsessionoftheMonth]

25:38 just blows that whole "only use our brand tubes in our sets" right out of the water.

[@lambdaprog]

I'm not into tubes, but I wanted to watch and learn. Great video.

[@Vaultovinyl]

Yes, learn your EIA Codes too. That will help ID who made the tubes. They may have a brand like Motorola on them but have an EIA code of 274, which is RCA. 312 is Sylvania, 188 is General Electric, 280 is Raytheon, 322 is Tung-Sol, 210 is Hytron. Everything Al is saying here is exactly what I've learned over the years as well. You do get to the point where you can for the large part ID them on sight. I also look at the plate crimps and perforations. As far as "Black Plate" goes, the belief is that they have a sweeter sound to the audiophiles. The only place I notice a difference in the tonal quality of tubes is in preamp tubes in amplifiers. Particularly noticeable in guitar amps. 12AX7, 12AT7, 12AU7, 12AY7, 12AV7, EF86, 5879. RCA, Mullard and Telefunken are generally the best in V1 in a guitar amp. I've found they have the best gain and headroom. We're talking the real deal vintage ones, not the new Russian made reissues. There is so much to know about tubes. I don't think you could ever learn all there is to know. Great video!

[@gerardcarriera7052]

Sylvania stacked their EIA code vertically most of the time.

[@boulderbobb]

You can hear the difference between different 6 V6 tubes on a Fender Champ pretty easily

[@davidball1341]

@@boulderbobb you'd do better to swap the preamp tube than you would swapping 6V6's. The difference is subtle swapping output tubes. The preamp is where the action is.

[@gregoryclemen1870]

@@gerardcarriera7052 , YUP!! , they sure did, you read sylvania tubes top to bottom, and that went for the date code also( if it had one----- service replacement tubes were not date coded)

[@gregoryclemen1870]

@@boulderbobb , on "push-pull" output tubes they have got to be "MATCHED PAIR" ( electron conductance) this also includes the last stage / phase inverter amp before the final output !!!

[@JerryEricsson]

Man, I learned more about tubes on this video then I knew could be out there. Makes me aware of the things I do not know even existed to learn about. I guess that's why your cannel is on the top of my daily list to check for new lessons of the old days. And I thought I had found a deal with Electronic Goldmine special on bags of electron tubes of various types 30 bucks a lot of 50 to 75 tubes. Not that I have any use for them, back in the day I used to have a repairman's case filled with tubes, moved it from town to town till at long last I stopped working with them on old TVs and gave them to the guy on main street who was struggling to keep his shop going with the advent of cheap crap from China along with my old military tube tester given to my by my communications officer at Fort Myer Va in 1976. He was pleased with the gift and eventually gave me an early top loading VCR that was virtually worthless but did work OK if you tuned the speed for each tape.

[@greggdevlin8686]

Boy that was really enjoyable, I'll definitely watch it again. Thank you very much for this!

[@karelkarel6721]

I love tubes! Nice :) And original boxes.

[@DeathCapAmplification]

Wow. Some really interesting info here. Super cool vid man. Thanks for sharing this. Just a couple guys shooting the shit about dirty old glass.

[@kano8474]

Love this video. Vacuum tubes are amazing

[@darrenbird124]

Nice haul also valuable information thanks mate.

[@frankowalker4662]

I'm so glad they didn't just get thrown away. :)

[@vtjmproductionsusa2390]

Wow great video, I thought I died and went to tube heaven. 😊 Thanks 👍

[@Channelscruf]

The most important video Mr. Shango has done? I think so.

[@johnnytacokleinschmidt515]

More than their weight in Western Electric 300A's? 😆 He is great and seems like a kind-hearted person.

[@cpufreak101]

It seems you are correct. This video has been marked for long term archival

[@Yanus3D]

Amazing video! Loved this technology.

[@richardweinberger2756]

Fascinating information from Al. Really stellar content. Kind of funny because we put so mach belief in the brand names of vintage tunes, and now an actual expert shows us that the name means very little. I have bought vintage American tunes when I came across what I thought was a fair deal, so I'm good for another 10 years. Most last a long time, which is nice.

[@hadireg]

it's a treasure video with all the pieces of knowledge shared!! TY! Uncle Doug must be enjoying this video too :)

[@johnmadow5331]

I am a former employee of Westinghouse Electric and Raytheon, and we used to owned Power Tube Division in Waltham, MA. The division used to be very large 7 story brick building. We owned an old manufacturing of Radio Tube, Hand Wire Transformer for Commercial and Military application. Also, state of MA used to be a major manufactured hub for electronics like Gen Rad or General Radio. In 1993 I was laid off of this industry and American Tube and components were shutdown and employee were let go.

[@danmackintosh6325]

This is great, only 12 minutes in and learning so much. (including why movie soundtracks are called as such. Never really thought of it before, literally a track on the film)

[@andybonneau9209]

What an incredible amount of vacuum tubes. Score!

[@Radiowild]

This is absolutely the most entertaining and educational video I've seen in a long time! Thank you so much for your efforts!

[@matthewpage8108]

Wow, thank you Shango and thank you Al!! I imagine you could’ve spent a month with Al and we would’ve watched every second of it. An amazing wealth of knowledge, again, thanks Al and thanks Shango for introducing us to the “Einstein of tubes”

[@Theoobovril]

A nice change from the normal...much enjoyed, Dan...

[@knotbone869]

Man you’re so lucky to find this cool stuff! Great video by the way shango!

[@MichiganPeatMoss]

Great video! I got a Tektronics 545B from Jack Burg (JB Electronics) out of Skokie Illinois back in the 80s. As quoted by anonymous: Jack Burg will share his opinions about damn near anything with you until your eyes begin to glaze, perhaps longer. He has lots of Tek and HP test equipment. Those Jacks and Als from The Greatest Generation are getting rarer and rarer.

[@joeblow8593]

This is your best non repair video to date.

[@hightechstuff2]

Excellent Video! Very informative on tube branding. Thanks Shango!

[@bob4analog]

I salute you, you have struck gold!

[@erikburman530]

I have one of the 346B's. I love the way it makes my GM tube counter sing!

[@BobWiersema]

I remember changing those projector sound tubes in high school projectors. The film's sound track looked like a negative of a Audacity track printed on the film along side the picture.

[@robertgift]

Wonderful! Glad theyvento a good home. Thank you, donor.

[@derzanov]

Very interesting & educational video, I always wondered who made various brands & how to identify them. Such a tube stash!

[@richardh100]

Absolutely fascinating really learnt a lot from a true professional thank you so much its sad we cant carry on with tube technology

[@5roundsrapid263]

I’m so glad you saved these tubes, and all this knowledge that might have been lost. Al was correct about British tubes; they were made by Mullard, and fetch big prices now. Marshall used them in every guitar amp because they were top notch.

[@maltronics]

EL84 ,ECC83 the best for audio quality

[@Antony_Jenner]

I know NOS Mullard but Marshall did use other valves. Back in the day some export to US Marshalls had GE 6L6s in them. I recently sold a pair of NOS 60s Telefunken EL34 Double Getters for a $1000aud.

[@goodun2974]

There were several high quality "valve" makers in the UK besides Mullard: Genelex/GEC, and Brimar, come to mind.

[@5roundsrapid263]

@@goodun2974 Definitely. However, most of the rebranded ones in the US were Mullard.

[@dougbrowning82]

Mullard was actually the British division of Phillips, the Dutch tech company. Their American division for years was Norelco.

[@K31TH3R]

Watched this while listening through an ECC82/12AU7 based headphone amp. Some may call it "asymmetric distortion", while others simply call it "tube sound". Me? I just say "it sounds right." Both the tubes and the information here is a real treasure trove. The good thing is that there are more and more people rediscovering the incredible blend of artistry and technology incorporated in tubes, and because of that, tubes don't look to be going away anytime soon. But unfortunately the same can't be said for the diminishing numbers of NOS tubes, because when they're gone, chances are they will never be replaced, so listen while you still can!

[@algorithminc.8850]

Thank you. Useful video.

[@Pulverrostmannen]

Talking tubes for more than one hour? I am definitely in!! Quite a lot you got there too

[@poulx]

Something of a treasure! Congratulations.

[@markae0]

I have a collection of tubes and I had no idea some could be radioactive! Thanks for the video! 4:30

[@teacfan1080]

Feels like I just graduated from Tubes 101. A treasure trove of information. Never new how tubes could be so fascinating! You scored quite a haul. Nice that you were able to get a whole bunch like that. That must have been one hell of a road trip! On your way back at the beginning when the sun was rising, saw a road sign that showed "Los Angeles 289", that was quite a trip.

[@1McMurdoSilver]

Wonderful video. Hopefully it will open up similar opportunities like this in the future. You deserve them. Keep up the good work.

[@jeffshaw4039]

It's great that all these tubes will be saved interesting video.

[@earlblakley4910]

Al was very informative. Great video Shango!

[@radiorexandy]

Very interesting choice of "fave" tube brands. Mine are: 1. Amperes (Euro, Genelex) 2. Tung-Sol 3. Sylvania (but, stay away from their later, spiral heater-cathode audio power output tubes -- too many "hotspots" 4. GE -- prior to 1960s 5. Sovtek -- selected tubes, only. What are YOUR favorite brands,?

[@johnnytacokleinschmidt515]

1:17:15 Yes! Build a workshop! It'll totally help you with what you love to do. And Mary Jane girls on the highway is the best. I used to have a 330 mile run and there's something that happens driving through overnight and getting past the sleepiness. You become a driving machine and click the miles off by the 50's. Great video and information. Thank-you, Al! God Bless the memory of your friend. Shango will put some of those tubes to great use.

[@jeffreyhickman3871]

Sounds like 👍 ya hit the gold mine with vacuum tubes. I understand your warnings about vacuum tubes. If they get wet, they go to air. Your friend, Jeff.

[@WolfmanDude]

That sausage(?) machine is the best thing I have ever seen. It just rolls them around and heats them up? Thats mental, have never seen that!

[@goodun2974]

The number that ends the tube nomenclature usually refers to the number of active elements in the tube. For instance, a 12AX7 contains 2 grids, 2 plates and 2 cathodes, plus a filament or heater, which adds up to a total of 7 elements. Usually you will not see any tube number that adds up to exactly the same as its total number of pins because the heater or filament invariably requires at least 2 pins (or 3 pins if the heater has a center tap, as is the case with a 12AX7). Therefore you might see a mini 9-pin tube ending with the number 8, such as a 6U8 or 6GH8; but if the tube number ends with a 9, such as a 6AF9, 6C9 or 6T9, those tubes actually have 10 pins! Yes, you read this correctly! There are a few tube types that have either a standalone center pin in the middle of the tube base as the 10th pin or it might have 10 pins in the semicircle instead of the usual 9 pins. And yes, the 1st number typically stands for the heater voltage, voltage except that Loctal tubes that run on a 6 V heater axttuakky start with a 7 such as the 7C5 (which is basically a 6V6 with a totally different base and pin out), and a Loctal tube designed for 12 V operation will start with the number 14. You've also got other weirdness such as the fact that a 12AX7 and the other tubes in that family can be wired to run off of 6V as well as 12V, but a 12SN7 or 12SL7 cannot run off of 6V.

[@franklynpolster8949]

Nice BLAUPUNKT radio towards the end. Dial glass is laminated GLASS. My favorite German radio manufacturer.

[@jdlives8992]

Holy smokes that’s a lot of tubes. Wow just wow

[@simonlunt353]

Gentleman you know about your values and wow all of them values as a kid we used to love listening to old values radios special at night time l did have some great amplifiers wish I still had them the sound on them sounded so good have not seen any old value amps or radios here in the uk 🇬🇧 for sometime now stay safe sir 👏👏👍

[@rogersmith7396]

They are still made but cost as much as cars. See McIntosh and Audio Research. Lots of Chinese cheapos on ebay. Dynaco made a good inexpensive tube amp.

[@josepheccles9341]

I am really glad you are here.