Where do we buy tubes now?

Non-tube amp discussion to discuss music, girls, life, etc.

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pompeiisneaks
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Re: Where do we buy tubes now?

Post by pompeiisneaks »

joeboo88 wrote: Wed Jun 05, 2019 11:48 pm Wow you guys are really beating me up.

I’ll never shop here again.......LOL
I'm not specifically targeting your opinion, just stating mine. Everyone has personal experiences. Mine was the kind that left me shaking I was so pissed off after they hung up on me and refused to answer the phone when I called back, and I hadn't insulted them or yelled at all, they just didn't want to help me as a customer, and hung up on me.

I had just spent like 200$ or more on new matched pair of el34's and some 12AX7's for a vox AC100. One of the EL34 tubes, the moment I put it in, smoked resistors, and was shorted from pin 2 to 3 internally, putting B+ on my heater rail nuking all tubes heaters. I asked that they only replace the tubes I'd just bought from them, even though they destroyed two other EL34's and the remaining 12AX7's I had for that amp. They refused and said they'd ONLY replace the EL34 that had the short. They then proceeded to tell me that 400VDC on heaters wouldn't harm the other tubes and I'd made that up and didn't know what I was talking about, and when I tried to explain most tubes have max 50 to 100 VDC allowed, he hung up on me, and wouldn't answer the phone when I called back. Multiple emails to sales produced nothing either so I took it to social media, their FB page, twitter, etc, and they just deleted my posts. Someone finally contacted me saying I needed to stop being a jerk and they'd always promised me all tubes to be replaced and that I needed to stop lying.

This is why I'll never shop there again.

~Phil
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joeboo88
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Re: Where do we buy tubes now?

Post by joeboo88 »

I know you weren't targeting me Phil, I was kidding.

But after your shitty experience, I probably wont buy from there either, in support of our brethren
Last edited by joeboo88 on Thu Jun 06, 2019 9:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Where do we buy tubes now?

Post by TUBEDUDE »

Damn Phil, that's horrifying!

A lesser man might plot revenge, but i would certainly repeat this far, wide and often!
Tube junkie that aspires to become a tri-state bidirectional buss driver.
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Re: Where do we buy tubes now?

Post by pompeiisneaks »

I tried on a few other forums, but one of the forums apparently had the tubedepot people as frequenters, so I got banned from telling my story, or almost banned I can't remember, maybe the gear page or something like that, they say you're not allowed to share stories of your customer experiences there, but the companies were welcome to share how awesome they were... was lame. I gave up after getting censored so much.

~Phil
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Re: Where do we buy tubes now?

Post by MakerDP »

One reason I like AES/Amplified Parts/CEDist is that they are in Arizona and I am in California. Their free shipping is sometimes overnight for me and pretty much always no more than two days. 8)

Once I had a question about selecting the right Jensen speakers for a harp amp build I was doing and the #1 guy at Jensen USA replied and gave me TONS of useful info and even turned me on to buying some B-Stock models that were returned by a "major US manufacturer" - he made it sound a lot like it was Fender - after burn-in and light product testing. Saved me a good chunk of change.
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AtomCap
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Re: Where do we buy tubes now?

Post by AtomCap »

ARS Electronics- great company- some NOS glass, lots of JJ but they weed out the duds and actually match the tubes- Haven't had a bogus testing tube or mismatched power tube yet. Pricing is essentially the same on most tubes, everything comes nicely packed in peanuts and that's piece of mind..
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Leo_Gnardo
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Re: Where do we buy tubes now?

Post by Leo_Gnardo »

I've sent customers to Doug's Tubes on Long Island. No negative reports, all good so far. Rumor has it Doug is contemplating a move to the mid Hudson Valley maybe somewhere around Highland/Kingston.

I've also sent customers to Valve Queen in Ohio. Good biz there too BUT the owner apparently is concentrating on other interests since last fall and has let her tube sales biz lapse. Dang...

I've recommended Jim McShane in Chicago as well. He's not much a fan of JJ, got stung with a shipment of the dreck they were making early in the millenium. Aside from that, Jim will match sets for your hi voltage SVT's and such, a high standard of service. Mostly he caters to the hi fi folks.

I've been buying mostly from CE for some years now. Their game has improved in recent years - apparently there was a bit of a summit conference between Music Electronics Forum guys and CE/Antique a few years ago - after that they stopped shipping microphonic output tubes and refusing to accept them as baddies under warranty. Also, they got better matching gear. I find their prices reasonable, however shipping from Tempe AZ to upstate NY has me making UPS rich. :(

From the early 80's on I had been buying tubes from Magic Parts = Ruby Tubes. They sell "to the trade" only, amp builders/manufacturers and repair shops. No dinky orders please! Although they test, match & sell JJ, Sovtek & EH tubes, their house brand Shuguangs served me well for a long time. Mostly 6L6GC, EL34, 12AX7. And apparently their 5AR4C is the best in the business, a near as dammit copy of Mullard, made on their own assembly line in China, not Shuguang.

There's a new outfit since about 2 years ago, Viva Tubes in Easthampton MA. I haven't bought anything there yet. Waiting on hearing some positive feedback here on TAG or on MEF but so far, radio silence. Of course their Farcebook page has good reviews but as you know businesses can, ahem... "review themselves" so I take that with a shaker full of salt. If they can provide me with good tubes at competitive prices, it will save me a ton of shipping cost. We'll see what the future brings.
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Deric
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Re: Where do we buy tubes now?

Post by Deric »

I buy mostly from CE and have been mostly happy. They ship quick but shipping seems to be getting more and more expensive. Another tech I know has started filling to shopping carts - one from CE and one from Amplified Parts - and comparing the total. CE's wholesale pricing isn't that much better and Amplified Parts often has 10% coupons and always has free shipping for orders over $89.00 Often times that's a better deal than CE.
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MakerDP
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Re: Where do we buy tubes now?

Post by MakerDP »

Yep, here in California we are up over $4 for a gallon of gas again... insane. Free shipping really saves you quite a bit when you are shipping stuff like heavy transformers.
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Winder
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Re: Where do we buy tubes now?

Post by Winder »

NOS/ANOS real deals are pretty much gone, but new production tube prices aren't as low as they were either. I'll pay more for used, NOS, or ANOS pre-amp tubes from what I consider to be reputable suppliers on eBay. I have yet to find a new production pre-amp tube that I felt I could leave in place. They just seem to be to sterile, missing depth, richness, bottom end articulation ... I dunno ... just missing stuff.

NOS power tubes have gone just about out of reach, for the most part. I'd pay a premuim for a deuce or a quad of NOS for one or two special amps. Not Mullard EL34 premium, but maybe GE/SYL 6CA7, Siemens EL34, etc. Similar for Amperex EL84 ANOS ... stuff is high, but reachable.

Still, you can get by with some current production power tubes far better than preamp tubes, IMO. I haven't had much issue with Antique Electronic Supply for new production tubes. KCA NOS and Upscale Audio have been around for quite awhile ... not the cheapest route. Someone here recommended Valve Queen, but I just tried to hit that site and it looks like it may be gone.
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NickC
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Re: Where do we buy tubes now?

Post by NickC »

Sorry to be late posting to this thread, I have been away from the interwebs for quite a while.

I've had good product (JJ tubes) and service from here (for whatever it's worth):

https://www.eurotubes.com/store/pc/home.asp
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