RCA 6SN7 grey bottles

@billpete  Good point about hunting and gathering. 

Brent Jesse is a good source. A few months ago I purchased a pair of Tekefunken 12AX7’s curve matched @ $318 delivered. They look great but didn’t offer a sonic improvement over the other two brands I had. That was my fault as I’m a Tekefunken fan boy. I didn’t consider returning them as my new ( to me ) pre amp lacks a phono stage. So I’ll just save em for future use. My tube drawer has about $3-4k in tubes that cost less than now. Most barely used. I saved all the original packaging and invoices. I keep track of the hours and can always get my money back. I lack a pre that takes large signal tubes which is sad because I’ve read they sound better. Regards , Mike B. Some years back I purchased quite a few tubes on EBay from sellers that had huge volume and basically searched and cleared out old warehouses. One was a radio supply that moved from SoCal to Las Vegas. I’m leery of individual sellers especially foreign. Other reputable dealers like Vintage Tube, Antique Radio Supply in Arizona and Tube Museum I’ve had good luck with. Prices are crazy and most people aren’t offering anything below market. Regards , Mike B. 

Thanks for your input 

How expensive is the equipment the Tubes are to be used as part of the Circuit.

Matching Glass Colours on a Valve, is very very far removed from matching Valves. 

@billpete 

If you have a visually mismatched pair of RCA Grey/Tinted glass tubes and you want a visually matching pair, send me a photo of the two tubes you have and indicate if you have a preference for one over the other) and I’ll even swap you a tube that looks (and tests) like the one you want in exchange for the one you don’t want. No problem.