[DressTolmpress]

Hello,
 
This might be a stupid question, but I couldn't think of anywhere else on the internet to ask it.
 
Anyway, I noticed that on the internet tube amps are REALLY expensive! However, the other day I was in an antique shop and I found an old radio with a tube amp inside! Are those also really expensive? (It was about $50 in the antique shop.)
 
Thank you.

 

[MalVeauX]

  Hello,
 
This might be a stupid question, but I couldn't think of anywhere else on the internet to ask it.
 
Anyway, I noticed that on the internet tube amps are REALLY expensive! However, the other day I was in an antique shop and I found an old radio with a tube amp inside! Are those also really expensive? (It was about $50 in the antique shop.)
 
Thank you.

 
Heya,
 
Tubes are ancient tech. The older the tube, and depending on where it's from, the more it will be valued as an antique, but some people will actually put that antique to use in a device of some kind. There are plenty of tubes that cost hundreds of dollars out there. Some people go to antique shops and junk yards and seek out old radios, old TV's, etc, and hunt down old tubes that are still intact. It's a nostalgic thing. It's not like they're distortion free and provide perfect reproduction. But that's not the point. If you like tubes, it's because you like the distortion sound they provide, and the warmth they tend to have over solid state.
 
Very best,

 

[DressTolmpress]

If you search "tube-amp" in google the cheapest ones are $300-$400 so I thought maybe the antique shop owners just didn't know that tube-amps were so expensive ;P
 
So, just to clarify, a vintage tube-amp radio isn't as expensive as any of these: https://www.google.com/search?q=tube+amp&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS506US5065149,vw:l,p_ord:r#q=tube+amp&tbm=shop ?
 
Thank you.

 

[MalVeauX]

  If you search "tube-amp" in google the cheapest ones are $300-$400 so I thought maybe the antique shop owners just didn't know that tube-amps were so expensive ;P
 
So, just to clarify, a vintage tube-amp radio isn't as expensive as any of these: https://www.google.com/search?q=tube+amp&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS506US5065149,vw:l,p_ord:r#q=tube+amp&tbm=shop ?
 
Thank you.

 
Did you not notice you just compared guitar tube amplifiers, with speakers to an old tube radio?
 
Also, old TV's had tubes in them too.
 
Many old electronics had tubes in them. It's what powered most things around WW2. Read up on vacuum tubes.
 
Unless they're high quality tubes, vintage with no current large stock pile in a warehouse for distribution, and have "audiophile collector status" they're not worth much. Tubes are common, even today. But high quality vintage tubes are not. Figure out the quality and innards of the radio in question and you'll know whether you have a tube there that is useful or already burned out dead--they don't last forever.
 
Very best,

 

[DressTolmpress]

Oh, well thank you for helping, I thought maybe the antique shop owners didn't know tube amps were expensive. (And yes, I know I compared guitar amps to a radio but I thought maybe it' just the innards that make a difference).
 
Thanks again.