Originally Posted by MartyStrat54

You know it's funny. I went out and ran some errands and I came back home and decided to go on Ebay and look at 12AX7 tubes. I spent about thirty-five minutes doing this and then I had to start thinking about bidding. I had saved about 12 listings. Well the first batch of RCA black plates started low, but in 40 minutes had went over $140 so I wasn't interested in that. However, next up was a 1956 Sylvania gray plate that tested 129/130!!! Current bid was $11.50. I kid you not. With my trusty pocket watch and a deft move of my index finger, I was the winner at $15.50. (Five bucks to ship which is high, but oh well.)

The point I'm making is that I just won another ICBM for twenty bucks and I wasn't even trying. Ebay has sellers who list all of the new Tung-Sol and Mullard tubes and they want 20 bucks for one of those. Tomorrow, I will be bidding on some black plate Mullards (if they don't go sky high) and a lot of four JRC (Military) black plate 5751's. If they stay low, I'll bid on them, but I usually want 12AX7's. There are some other great deals on a pair of Telefunkens and a quad of Amperex (Holland made) 12AX7's.

I guess if you want to get your hands on some of these you will have to make time to do a little bidding during your time off. I think it's fun to use strategy to ensure a winning bid. My techniques give me around an 80 per cent chance on winning. I can't wait to get this old 1956 Sylvania. I know it's going to be a killer V1 or V2.

Cheers, Marty

Originally Posted by steelhorse

I couldn't handle it after a few minutes. I got whiplash during the cleans (from almost nodding off) and then thought the dog was howling during the first part of the distortion.

He pretty much lost me with the tongue thing right off the bat though to be honest.