Found some old NOS valves - where do you sell them?

StringEmil

Hi,

A few years ago I got 5 ECL86 valves with an amp I bought. They look unused and NOS.
The valves didn't fit the amp (and don't own the amp anymore) so the valves were just put away.

I have been clearing out a lot of stuff going for sale on eBay and I rediscovered them today.

Problem is I don't have any means to test them or anything, so I wouldn't feel good about putting them up for sale without actually knowing that they work.
They also seem to fetch a pretty penny once for a few of them, so I don't just want to throw them away!

So my question is, do you guys know if there are anyone buying NOS valves or do testing for people with the old valves?
I live close to Reading if that helps.

Thanks for any help, I am a bit lost!

ICBM

You can easily sell them as NOS and untested - most serious buyers will know that means they're almost certainly fine - with a money-back guarantee if they aren't.

You need someone with a Marshall 'Popular' amp (or possibly one of the later WEMs - can't remember for sure if any of these took ECL86s not ECL82s), so if you're listing them on Ebay or similar it's worth putting that in the listing title.

Gassage

Didn't the old WEM PA systems use these?

StringEmil

Thanks for the replies! 

I googled a bit, and it looks as they were only in a handful of guitar amps used but a few more stereos utilised them.
However I did find a few DIY forums where they used the ECL86 for guitar amps.

They are the same as the 6GW8.
Does anyone know why they have multiple names?

nick79

I had a few Mullard and Braemar valves kicking around a while ago, i  was given them years ago to save them being chucked out. I had no way of testing to see if they worked at the time so i just put them on ebay as untested/might work, might not. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount they reached, and the buyers were happy too. 
So my advice would be stick them on ebay and see what happens. 

StringEmil

Gotcha.

How many did you have if I may ask?
I have 5, so not sure if I should sell the whole lot as one listing or multiple.

nick79

From memory i had about 4 12ax7 (mixture of both Mullard and Braemar) and 1 6l6. the 12's i just listed together and the 6l6  on its  own too. Ebay wont let me look that far back to check what i got for them but i remember it being a nice little amount, about £50 i think. I may have been ripped off, i've no idea, but it seemed a fair way to sell them and was a nice little bonus for a few things that owed me nothing.

DJH83004

Apart from the Marshall 1930 popular combo, some early Wem / Watkins and Hammond gear, I have mainly come across ECL86s in '60s HiFi amps, such as Rogers & Armstrong, so maybe worth making sure your listing is included in vintage HiFi as well as guitar amps.

ICBM

StringEmil said:

They are the same as the 6GW8.
Does anyone know why they have multiple names?

ECL86 is the British/European type number, 6GW8 is the American. Each system has different codes for some of the valve characteristics, eg filament voltage and general valve type, for example E is the British code for a 6-volt filament, C is a triode and L is a pentode, so an ECL is a 6V triode-pentode (dual valve), 86 is the type number. In the US, 6 is the voltage - the '12' series preamp valves like the 12AX7 (British ECC83) are so called because the Americans added the two filament voltages in series. I'm not sure what the G and W are for, the system is less logical there.

[/geek]

StringEmil

^ Wow - I learned something today!

Greatly appreciate your comments and answers, thank you so much!

ecc83

Nice valve was the ECL86. Effectively half an ECC83 and close to an EL84 in one envelope.

Found in tape recorders, radiograms and the "better" record players. IRRC at least one colour TV used one for field output where it almost never failed.

It replaced the ECL82 itself a decent bottle. There was the smaller, ECL83 (all 3 valves were made as a " P" version for series heater operation in tellies). Truly awful valve used in CTV CDA boards and ran very hot and cooked PCB and components. Also found in the otherwise excellent (for its time) Pye Black Box record player in which they lived longer but still cooked things!

Dave.