Tung-Sol.com:: FAQs What are NOS and NIB tubes?

FAQs

Question:
What are NOS and NIB tubes?
Answer:
"NOS" stands for "New Old Stock", which means that the tube has never been used and is from old production. In most vacuum tube circles NOS generally implies that the tube is in the original box.

"NIB" stands for "New In Box". These are old production tubes that have never been used and are usually placed in plain white boxes. This is done because the original box has deteriorated over the years or the tube was from a manufacturer who purchased bulk-packed cartons of tubes that were not individually boxed and used for assembly line installation.

If you are planning to outfit your tube equipment with NOS/NIB tubes, it is wise to have knowledge about the actual types of tubes you are intending to purchase. When purchasing NOS/NIB tubes, be aware that there are dealers who will rebrand current production tubes with famous desirable brand names from the golden days of tube production and sell them at high prices as NOS or NIB. As the supply of popular NOS types dries up, sometimes tubes that were originally rejected by the manufacturer and left in a warehouse will find their way to Ebay and other Internet dealers. Used tubes will also be found from these sources that are sold as "tests as NOS." There is no such thing. The simple bottom line in this case is that the tube is either used or it is new. NOS/NIB tubes that are sold by Tung-Sol are either military surplus purchased at government auctions or have been sourced from reputable tube dealers, so you can be assured of quality when purchasing tubes that are no longer made.

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