I don't believe that they have a lot of value on the used market. Gold Aero and RAM sold a lot of tubes at premium prices in the 80's and 90's, but they were all just hand selected Chinese and Russian made current stock tubes. They went out of business when folks realized that NOS were where the value was, Mullards, Amperex, Siemens, Telefunkens, etc. Tubes manufacturered in Europe and America during WW II and such. A premium pair of Amperex 7308's might fetch $300-$600 on today's market. Meanwhile, I would be very surprised if you could even get $50/pair for your Gold Aero 7308's. Good luck though!
advice? Value of Gold Aero 7308s??
I found a quad of Gold Aero 7308s I bought decades back now and I'm a bit confused as to what their value on the secondary market would be. Can anyone give me a bit of a helping hand here? I can't seem to find much in the way of recent sales records for ebay or otherwise. I'm GUESSING I should sell these as two pairs (assume most preamps use only two of them?). Hints? Suggestions? I'd appreciate any advice I can get on the matter - thanks.
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Yeah, right? I remember those days when RAM and Gold Aero were all the rage. I think Gold Aero has been out of business for over a decade now. It's funny how fickle this hobby can be. RAM is still in business, selling tubes and amps. They still test and stamp Chinese tubes that sell for $35-$70/tube depending on noise ratings. Still lots less expensive than NOS small signal tubes. I have two pair of 12AX7's that sold for $450(Mullards)-$500(Popes)/ matched pair. Before you just give them away though, I would see if you can identify them. From what I recall, most were current Russian and Chinese stock, but here is a link that says some of the Gold series were older stock Siemens and Amperex from the 50's. These may still have some good value if they test good. I see Ebay sellers looking for $20/tube for the Gold Aero Chinese tubes. I don't know what they are selling them for, but they are asking $20/tube. |
I would be careful about selling them for little money before some research. 7308's were made and/or sometimes rebranded by Amperex, Siemens, Sylvania, Raytheon, and probably others as well. If you can post a close up of the tube, I am sure they can be indentified. Remember, these are decades-old and Amperex 7308's (a GREAT tube) did not cost $300 back then. Gold Aero was known to select premium samples of Amperex tubes for their own brand. You could very well have some very good and very valuable tubes. This image of a Gold Aero 7308 sure looks like an Amperex to me: https://www.google.com/search?q=gold+aero+7308&hl=en&client=safari&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=PMtVUYieFNWo4AOm04HIBA&ved=0CDUQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=672#biv=i%7C1%3Bd%7CQopwsV8Q7RGBOM%3A However, this one does not: https://www.google.com/search?q=gold+aero+7308&hl=en&client=safari&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=PMtVUYieFNWo4AOm04HIBA&ved=0CDUQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=672#biv=i%7C2%3Bd%7C6Ls7VaBf8qGAEM%3A Good luck. |
Fear not Frogman, Jw does not appear to be giving them away. Here is a link to his ad. |