Almost unbelievable stories , What good fortune have you had ?

[okgb]

I'll start [ posted this to riggler's thread ]

someone once gave me a dynachord tube tape echo , because someone else was bugging them for it
It was the BEST gtr d.i. I have ever heard , but the motor was quite loud and inflexible delay time
, sold it when i was more desperate

More often i'm lucky buying non working things and fixing them , Do lose some but win more often

 

[hobiesound]

I'll start [ posted this to riggler's thread ]

someone once gave me a dynachord tube tape echo , because someone else was bugging them for it
It was the BEST gtr d.i. I have ever heard , but the motor was quite loud and inflexible delay time
, sold it when i was more desperate

More often i'm lucky buying non working things and fixing them , Do lose some but win more often

a friend called me up a few months back. He told there were a few old speakers sitting amongst a pile of old paint cans and some old tiles and concrete in his hallway, since his neighbour moved out a few months back i could pick them up if i wanted to. he said they were probably broken since the front was loose of one of em. So i drove there on a lazy afternoon and low and behold it was a pair of Mackie HR824 mkI 110V versions. i reconnected the woofer and tweeter, glued the front back on and dug out a big old step down converter and they've been in my living room ever since... working perfectly......

greetings,

Thomas

 

[sr1200]

A friend of mine's father worked for Harmon/Kardon for like a million years and was laidoff due to the company moving their tech dept to India.  He got a new job somewhere out in the mid west and couldnt bring all his stuff with him.  I wound up with a scope, tone gen, solder vac, and about a million "spare" parts from the 60s, 70s and 80s all cataloged and in little storage drawer cabinets.  Countless transformers and weird PS looking things of various sizes that i have absolutely NO clue what to do with... (if anyone is interested, ill post some pics of things, xmas is coming )

 

[pucho812]

got my first neumann u-87 for 100 dollars because the mic was intermittent. turned out to be a faulty solder joint. ;D

 

[abbey road d enfer]

Vox Continental Duo for 100 bucks because not working.
All the trimmers on the main oscillator card were corroded (they really fell apart).
Replaced them, works like a charm now.

 

[mylesgm]

a friend of mine was working at a library and said they had a cardboard box of old mics and would I find them useful?  They just gave the box to me and said we've got no use for this.  Turned out to be a pair of c414eb (one with the original ck12 brass capsule) and two 70's md421.  Turns out I find them very useful.

 

[zayance]

I was recently given a A&H GL2200 (24tracks) console + Flight Case, they wanted to throw it away because of some distortion problem on the output  .
Anyway it's in my hands and will try to figure the problem out when i'll find the time, clean it etc..., will learn some things in the process...
Not that fancy, but it was a nice console as far as i remember them....

 

[warpie]

I feel depressed...

 

[okgb]

Ya gotta look , but sometimes other things are more important than the time
My brother who knows i like tubes was a power engineer at a printing place ,
they used to have an old " tube printer ? ] but got rid of it , he gave me a box of tubes
-some usefull - and a tube checker ........................try ham flee markets in your area

 

[pucho812]

Still having a job

 

[adeptusmajor]

Still having a job

Heh, better knock on wood ;D


Not as nice as some of the scores you guys have have, but someone recently gave me a Hickock 539B tube tester for free because "nobody uses tubes any more". Works nicely, great condition, yay.

 

[pstamler]

When I got to Washington University the library's listening rooms used Dynaco PAM1 preamps and Mark IV power amps (monoblock version of a Stereo 70). Several years later they went stereo and replaced the electronics with Pioneer integrated amps. A few months later I went down and asked what they'd done with the old stuff. They'd stuck it in a storeroom. I asked if they'd sell me some of it. They did -- two Mark IVs, at $10 apiece.

Peace,
Paul

PS Now if I could only get 7199 tubes...

 

[peterc]

13 Western Electric 300Bs still in the box for $30.....

 

[gyraf]

This attached pic is a snapshot of me looking at weird old radio stuff in a shop window downtown Budapest, Hungary - sometime around 1995.

Pic was taken seconds before I realized I was looking at a genuine, brand new looking, connector/stand mount for a U47. Now, you don't see these every day.

The very old lady in the shop didn't speak English, German, French, or anything I could use to interface, but luckily her friend came by with lunch as I was in the shop - and she spoke a bit German, so I landed the connector. Very good score indeed.

I asked about tubes, and yes, they had a big lot of them, but none of the standard types like ECC82, 83, EL34 or such. They explained that the shop was an outlet of leftovers of a big electronics shop that the lady's husband had had in the 50'es and 60'es - and all easily-used consumer stuff was gone many years ago.

The lady's friend insisted that they had a very big collection of a-little-unusual-type-tubes - couldn't I come up with some non-standard type I could use (I wasn't allowed to look through the many handwritten lists myself).

So I say: Would you happen to have some VF14's? - woman looking through papers for some time, and then yes, there should be four of those stashed in the storage somewhere. Old lady goes into the storage room and starts pushing boxes around.

My hands starting shaking..

And sure enough - four VF14's, in their beautiful red and blue boxes and all.

..Those are expensive, the lady's friend explained: They're Telefunken, very good German brand, impossible to find for many years in Hungary. So the price regrettably can't be lower than four euros a piece.

Aah yes, that's a lot of money, but if they're good, I'll take them anyway - with thanks. The old lady ensures me that they have never sold duds in her shop - and explains that the tubes are guaranteed working - shows me the warranty label on the inside of the tube box

Went home to the hotel, still shaking, with my four VF14's....

A couple of days later I pass the shop again, and note that the window decoration has changed somewhat: A pile of top-hat tubes (like the EF/VF14) in the middle of the window - but no "gold" that I can see from outside.

I go in to ask if I can take a look at the tubes - but communication is too hard as her friend is not there - I get a handwritten note saying "12:30".

Aah, we're waiting for her friend..

I return at half past twelve, and her German-speaking friend is there alright.

They explained that the reason for redecorating the window was that I had seemed so happy about the tubes, that they looked through the lists once more - and found two more VF14's that were overlooked the first time because they were a matched set for Hungarian Radio (no idea about what parameters they were matched for, but a lot of officially looking Hungarian documents).

And they'd hope I would pass by and see the hint in the window decoration (!!) so I could get the last two VF14's....

Jakob E.

 

[gyraf]

PS Now if I could only get 7199 tubes...

I'm pretty sure that I saw some at Billington's (UK) web catalouge recently..

Also, http://www.ciel-electronique.com/ seems to have three in stock

Jakob E.

 

[Davo]

Four euros apiece!!!!  My jaw just about hit the floor

 

[peter purpose]

I bought some Audix modules from a guy and when he delivered them he gave me 16 marinair T1442 transformers gratis.

 

[zayance]

There is a Studio near where i live that had a call one day from the wife of a tech Guy the owner worked with once,
the woman informs him that his husband passed awat a year ago (he was 80 or so) says come and have a look maybe you'll find something you need.....
he left us a lot of  amout of old audio stuff...., goes there, take a look and BAM U47 in perfect condition in there with some other goodies 
Since the woman never knew the price of it, he had it for 200Frs (180euros).....
I mean he didn't even look for it, unbelievable....

Moral of the story, don't forget to add your rare pieces price in your will, and never let your wife sell your goods ha.....

 

[okgb]

It's tough eh ? almost want to give people a reasonable or better price
but without them suddenly deciding to jack it waay up

The deals are getting fewer and farther apart , A friend gave me a 70's mxr phase 90 that was dead ,
jack was so black i had to replace it , then i gave it back , working

these days anything almost old is vintage and worth 5x as much on fleebay , good ol days are over ?

 

[zayance]

It's tough eh ?

Even got a tougher one, one of my friends that has a small home studio,
and does mostly DJ stuff etc... had a TLM103, a guy comes into his studio
and sees the mike, hears it in use, loves the sound of it and exchange it with
the M149 he had, saying he didn't like the sound of it, SHOOT ME.