Lol…definitely could be seen as nutty. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve elicited that sentiment
What I really like about it is having my choices at a glance as opposed to piled in a drawer or box as I did. Easier to peruse and pick things out. I’ll be adding labels so they’re easier to identify without pulling them out.
The bigger reason for me is it preserves the original boxes. I really didn’t like taking tubes in and out of those old, soft, delicate boxes. After I tore a tab off the first one I knew I had to find another way.
Those of us who have a tube component, we obviously have a collection of tubes and their boxes. I have been using an old cardboard box which was never intended as a permanent solution, and now has reached the point of not having any more room.
I was wondering how you all store those boxes, spare tubes, and what have you tube accessories? Accommodation for different size tubes would also be appreciated.
My initial thoughts are pelican case where there is added protection and can customize the foam, down side is this could be bulky. Second option is fine a small cabinet or set of drawers. My third and least favorite option is a simple rubber maid container.
I struggled with this for a while, and landed on what I’ve found to be a compromise solution. I have a plastic organizer with drawers in my closet, and three of the drawers are devoted to tubes. One drawer gets rectifiers and power tubes, another gets small signal tubes, and the third has the empty boxes.
I generally move all tubes into the new white boxes, label and number them, and have started tracking hours I put on tubes in a spreadsheet. OCD? Definitely.
I got the boxes from Tube Depot. Just search for “Tube Box”.
I love this question as it’s taken me a while to iterate and hone in the solution that works best for me and my collection. I’ve tried to keep it functional with minimal cost. Here’s what I’ve found that works best for me:
I use mostly the Container Store Tidy boxes: large size for power and large signal tubes, small size for small signal tubes. I like that they come in different colors and have squared corners so boxes fit snug against the edges upright. I also have some cheap rubbermaid boxes mixed in. Boxes are labeled with masking tape and sharpie .
Highly recommend re-boxing with plain white boxes like @andris said. I almost always remove the original tube boxes and store them separately if they’re interesting and worth keeping, or simply discard if they’re uninspiring.
The “rolling tray” (or anti-rolling tray?) where I keep tubes on deck, tubes I’m currently experimenting with different combinations of, or tubes waiting to be put back. This has saved more than a few tubes from rolling off my desk when unboxed…
You know I think it is amazing how many tubes some of you guys have.
It is really quite amazing. Again. One man’s crazy is another man’s normal.
So far I can’t say much. Have about 12. I role basically 2 sets of 5….I’m workin on upping that up quite a bit. As of now I store my tubes in my final audio D-8000 case. Lol.
Wow, this takes tube organization to another level! My favorite piece here is your rolling tray, as many times I have set a tube down during a change only to have it roll…
Thank you for the links and breakdown of how you organize it all, amazing collection!
@genefurit thank you for your suggestion, this is where I was leaning towards at first and was hesitant, seeing how you have it laid out and choice of case along with cigar box for the small tubes changes my hesitancy. I was initially looking at a much larger case, at a cost of a few hundred…
So many great ideas so far, hope others will be willing to share their methods too. I also hope these shares help others like they help me in better organizing the glass we are deeply invested in. Thank you all!
I really like how well this works and how compact it is. It’s surprising how many you can fit in here…. I have about 80 tubes with room for just a few more. I use a label printer to keep track of their type and values under each tube.
This one I’m more torn on. It works great and I like being able to see what I’ve got all right there but…. It’s ginormous!!! I didn’t realize just how big (and it weighs 23lbs) a rifle case was till it arrived!! If you’ve got room to slide it under a bed or space for it, it might be an option.
One of the cool things about this is that the case is deep enough that 6SN7s and shorter 6J5Gs can stand straight up which really lets you fit a lot of them in here.
To give an idea of capacity I currently have ;
4 pairs of 300b
3 pairs of 6F8G
1 pair of CV-181
3 quads of 6J5G
16 pairs of 6SN7 and variants
5 pairs of socket adapters
So 60 tubes and ten adapters with a bit less than a quarter of the case left.
As for the empty original boxes I just keep them in a big box in the garage and some in this thing…
My Ken-Rad VT-231, JAN CKR 6SN7GT, Black glass tubes came in. Initial impressions are positive. Seem to be smoother without sacrificing any detail or impact. Still need more time but enjoying it. Maybe less glare or roughness vs the stock psvane?
Thanks to @hazi59 for the recommendation. He’s always a help with tubes, I have a hard time keeping them all straight
According to the seller “having matching date codes of “U4”, October 1944”
Crazy good shape for that age imo. Also a noob with toobs…
Talk to Deyan over on headfi. I’m sure he could figure out a way to do a custom base that is positioned exactly for the stickers. He makes great stuff at great prices!
2x 6J7 to 6J5
2x 6DJ8/6922/6N6P/ECC88 to 6J5
2x EL34/KT66/KT77/KT88 to 6J5
2x 12BY7/12HL7/12GH7/12GN7 to 6J5
2x C3G to 6J5
1x 12AU7 to 6SN7
1x 6080/6AS7/5998/6BL7/6BX7 to 6SN7
All driver tube rolling. Just waiting on PCB’s to be made and then will also be getting 6x EL34/KT66/KT77/KT88/6L6GC to 6080 for power tube rolling.
Since getting my first tubes to roll in the Envy. I noticed when I paused tracks I could hear some tubes ringing for a second or so. Especially noticeable in the EAT 300bs.
So I can actually understand where these can actually do something.
The “snaky” part is how much these silly little things cost! Can’t possibly cost more than a buck or two to construct I would think. So it goes with the hobby
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first world problem for sure. An adjustable socket that rotates would be awesome though…
