Introduce myself and vintage vacuum tube collection

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1561 (aka RGN2004) Made by Neotron / Visseaux in France , nos with original envelope (not box) black smooth plates dark black , squared getter @ bottom , black base , hanging filament (top springs) very nice tubes full life, strong emission & balanced systems . Good stock in my collection

 

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You’re right Steve, probably I started from the opposite side collecting first instead using first. I started collecting the tubes that fascinating me first , driven by the rarities, the progress they made to the society (eg. postal tubes for long distance telephony service) at that time , their wonderful inner structure and the key part of them into develop of tele communications first. You can see at the tubes from many perspective. Only recently I started to use some of them . My current system is an humble upgraded stereo amplifier based on SUN Audio with 2x 2A3 Fivre / 2x 6SN7 Marconi black plate / 1X 5R4GY Marconi twin mica on top and double DD getter bottom. I like this system made by an old friend that build it for me (I’m not a technician / engineer) . When you said collector don’t reap the rewards during their lifetime you’re right 100% , personally I swapped many tubes during the years and sold / bought the ones I like the most but …. Reinvested almost everything on “new” old tubes and yes I thought about to sell all of them to buy a new house is an interesting perspective but it’s not easy to sell all that amount of tubes in one time but if I can make happy some people interested I’m willing to part with some of my tubes. I always had a strong focus on tubes. I already know when I sell something where the funds goes I would prefer to describe myself as a keeper instead of old style “collectors” , I’m not jealous of tubes that I own so far , if someone need just ask and try to do my best to find , I already did it with some friends here I’m at your disposal Steve. During the years I had the opportunity to meet many different people, with their plus and minus, sometimes win and sometimes learned but the travel continues and I’m happy you can be part of it, always happy to know , to share , to learn and enjoy together with friends

Marconi Italy black plate 6SN7 is one of my favorite 6SN7. Also Marconi Italy black plate 12AX7. Very, very few European 12AX7 have the black plate. The only other two I know of are the very first British Mullard - just released for one year and the first Brimar 12AX7.

I have a lot of Italian tubes purchased from a friend of mine. Most are not as nice as yours, but they are in much better condition than when I received them! Glass and pins were very dusty/dirty, but cleanup up nicely. I have quite a few different Fivre tubes with Fivre boxes. I only have about 1500 tubes in total though.

 

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Marconi Italy black plate 6SN7 is one of my favorite 6SN7. Also Marconi Italy black plate 12AX7. Very, very few European 12AX7 have the black plate. The only other two I know of are the very first British Mullard - just released for one year and the first Brimar 12AX7.

I have a lot of Italian tubes purchased from a friend of mine. Most are not as nice as yours, but they are in much better condition than when I received them! Glass and pins were very dusty/dirty, but cleanup up nicely. I have quite a few different Fivre tubes with Fivre boxes. I only have about 1500 tubes in total though.

Thank you , what is your preferred one ? What are your rarest type ? Could you share more infos ?

You’re right regarding black plates version , hard to find and only from the very first / oldest production , I prefer them, great performances vs the grey plates (later version / production )

Tks