Dunce Tube Inquiry: Which Ones to Keep?

OK, time to go through the boxes and piles of tubes I've gathered and stuffed away, and I have no idea which ones I should keep and which should leave. I just want to sell the whole group together, but keep the good audio amp tubes. Those will either stick around or leave separately. I suppose I could take a look at my Sherwood, Fisher, and mono amps, but this is more fun, plus you guys know your stuff.

I may or may not have some good ampers, but likely have close to a thousand +/- or more tubes, don't even know, most new in the box. I think most of the guys I bought inventories from were into radio and TV repair, so probably mostly that's what I'll find.

Without going too extensive, common amp power tubes or other heavyweights to look for? Thanks :thmbsp:

Tubes commonly used in audio/stereo amps:
Power output:
7591 (60's Hi-fi amps)
7868 (similar to 7591, different base)
6L6GC/6L6 (Guitar/PA amps)
5881 (like 6L6)
807 (theater, PA amps)
6V6 (Guitar, PA, older Hi-fi amps)
2A3 (very old amps and some more modern "boutique" amps)
6A3 (similar to 2A3 but less common)
6BQ5/EL84 (late 50's through 60's hi fi amps, also record players, TV's etc)
8417 (High-powered PA amps)
6973 (Jukeboxes and a few stereo amps)
6BM8 (Late 60's lower powered amps)
6AQ5 (table radios and TV's usually)
7027 (higher powered PA amps)
6550 (higher powered amps)
KT66 (heathkit amps plus some others)
KT88 (higher powered amps)
6CA7/EL34: higher powered hi-fi amps, some guitar amps

Pre-amp, lower signal level amps:
6SN7, 12AX7, 12AU7, 12AT7, 6CG7 (more rare) 6J7 (older equip.)
6F5 (older equip.) 7199 (was commonly used but now rare)

Rectifiers:
5U4G/GB (mostly older amps, plus TV's, consoles, PA, Jukebox, etc)
5AR4 (hi-fi amps, some guitar amps)
5Y3G/GT older equipment
6CA4 later model amps
6X4 some earlier amps/tuners
12X4 Dynaco
6V4 some older tuners
5Z3 very old equipment like '30's amps
5V4 some older lower powered amps

What A List!!!

Brilliant Chad, thanks so much!!! :thmbsp: :thmbsp: :thmbsp:

I was thinking there may be four or five common tubes, not thirty five! I VERY MUCH appreciate the time you took to put that together. Nice job, with luck I can send some tube work your way in the future.

I'll print the list out for reference while sorting. :yes:

You will also find 6AU6s in just about every tuner and reciever out there. They are about as common as dirt so they are not worth much money. Good to have around though.
12AY7s can in some circumstances replace 12AX7s (not in tape or phono sections) and tend to be quieter and more linear, or so I have been told. I am going to hunt me down a pair to put in my Fisher's front end where I now have 5751s which are also worth keeping.
Tubes that are still being made in China and see use in new gear are 6SN7s which the NOS US ones have a bit of demand. 6SL7s are anothe octal dual triode that is fairly popular and in a lot of gear.
Anything that starts with a number like 17 or 35 will likely be TV tubes and of no use in audio where your basic filament voltages are 5V and 6.3V. The first number in later tubes that don't have a 4 digit military number usually tell you the filament voltage, so 3s, 7s, stuff like that won't work in audio gear.
2 digit numbers with 4 pins can be worth quite a bit sometimes, so they are worth looking up.
Anything that has the letters JAN or VT are worth looking up as they were made for military use and the VT numbers only mean what number of acceptance into use they are. VT-229 is a 6SL7 for instance and was the 229th tube accepted for use in military gear.
Real large tubes with stubby 4 pin bases are usually transmitting tubes and some of those are used in powerfull singe ended triode audio amps, and there is a demand. Again worth a bit of research.
Of course to get market prices the tubes have to be tested, have all the lettering and preferably be in the original box. Brand is important. A Telefunken 12AX7 is worth more than a GE 12AX7. Be very carefull handling tubes because Valvos, Telefunken and Amperex for instance have a white stencil label that comes off just from touching it, reducing the value.

You guys are great, I'm beginning to tube. I scare myself thinking of the time I'll have to take picking through everything, good stuff though. Interesting about the military tubes, I had a bunch of mil-spec stuff once.

I hit a ton of auctions and estate sales, on occasion come upon mother lodes of tubes, already have more than I'll ever need or use but good for resale. Last time I did it I grouped and listed every tube separately, this time I may shoot a photo and say, "You're buying THAT", naming a few of the choice groupings but selling them all at once, likely appealing to dealers and servicers only.

I'll check out the voltage's, never knew that before about the first number, nor did I know that audios used 5v and 6.3v. Some day I'll be an old timer passing this info on to the younguns in the group--