NOS? NIB?? UOS???

[boots]

NOS is a badly mis-used term.

I assume that many (most?) of the "NOS" tubes we see advertised are not really un-used. I assume a lot of them are "pulls" that test good.

If I buy a NOS tube from one of the tube dealers, am I supposed to think it is unused, New Old Stock? If it is truly un-used, wouldn't it be advertised as NIB - new in box?

I have a ton of pulls that work great. But if I try to sell them to a tube dealer, they would pay me "used" prices. And then probably list them on their site as NOS if they test good???

What are the standards that a tube must meet in order to qualify as NOS? Are there really stashes of un-used, NIB old tubes out there. I keep hoping to stumble aross a mother lode of NIB's some day....

[Reeltarded]

Yeah, they are around. Most places where you find them is a pile too. Not something you normally find in tiny quantities. Hundreds at a time, thousands.

Tests great and has clear screening of ink as new is NOS, and the box is also part of the deal. The box might totally suck and have water damage, or bug damage or whatever. Rust stains, covered in bird poop..

In 1990 I actually bought a Strat and a Tele that had never been taken out of the shipping cartons. 1963. Did you know that strat knobs came with a plastic wrapping shrunk over them? I didn't.

You'd be surprised at how often things have fallen out of barns, and attics of old stores, and buildings that went unused since the glory days of.. everything... but were cleared out in the last few because the last owner died at 98 years old and you now, stuff happens.

[212Mavguy]

New old stock means just that, unused except socketed in a tester or very briefly auditioned in circuit to verify operation...VOS is the term I prefer for used vintage tubes, Vintage Old Stock.

[boots]

I hate to think of all the vintage tubes that end up in the landfill because somebody never knew what they were worth. It is my mission to save as many as possible....

[rdjones]

I agree with the strict interpretation of NOS being truly unused except for testing.
Usually this means in the original box but sometimes OEMs would have bulk packed tubes that don't have an original box. This muddies the chain of evidence or "provenance" of some tubes that might be NOS but not NIB.

I've been bitten a few times by eBay sellers that used the NOS or 'new' descriptions for tubes that were not so.
I've also had good luck and snagged some deals at times from sellers that are a bit more honest.
Even new tubes can test weak or below 100% and still be perfectly usable and sound good.
I've got a tube tester to weed out defective or poorly performing tubes but the proof is in the actual circuit for good sounding guitar amp tubes.

I'd rather have a used RCA 7025 with half it's life left than any current mfg 12AX7, but that's just me ...

rd

[Firestorm]

The unfortunate thing that happened is that stockpiles of NOS tubes (whatever that means) keep getting tested and sorted and sold off. What's left is increasingly just OK. Even the JAN stockpiles are becoming mediocre. No choice, really, but to design around current manufacture. Good used preamps, though, still have a lot to offer. But where are you going to find 100 of them at a time?

[Tillydog]

I hate to think of all the vintage tubes that end up in the landfill because somebody never knew what they were worth....

You think you've got problems?

When I was in my early 'teens, people would give me their old valve TVs and radios because I was "the kid who was into electronics". Some I fixed, some I scavenged for parts. I pulled any spare valves (tubes) and put them in an old dresser drawer. The drawer was about 4' wide, 18" front to back and 12" deep. It ended up FULL. Maybe 2 or 3 out of 10 would have been Mullard ECC83s.

After I left home, my dad cleared the house out. I didn't think anyone would have any use for them...

...so they all ended up in the dump.

Then I discovered guitar amps.



Andy