NOS (New Old Stock) and current production Vaccum Tube - Valve Seller Recommendations for SH Forums*

Terrible experience with them. I asked aboit whether they had a tube in stock, they guaranteed they did, I placed an order, and got radio silence for a week. Prior to that, replies arrived within minutes.

Got fed up with the lack of updates and started a PayPal dispute after the 3rd week elapsed during which time I uncovered more and more shady dealings people have experienced with them.

They had the gall to ask me to forget about the delay and stated they'd ship the tube. I told them to pound sand and got my money back.

Never again. Life's too short to deal with flaky amateurs.

 

Be careful. Found out a lot of people got burned by this guy in the past. Been a couple of years since I looked into it but it was enough to deter me from handing them my money.

 

Good to know. Bad news - but good to know. Thanks!

I've been purchasing great tubes from Andy at Vintage Tube Services in Michigan for many years. I've never had a bad experience - only great experiences with Andy. Contact Andy – Vintage Tube Services

 

You pay a premium but nobody tests their tubes as thoroughly as he does.

Don't email Andy, whatever you do. Calling is the only way to deal with him.

 

You are correct, Andy goes to extremes testing tubes in every possible way before sending them out. He also knows which brands of tubes sound best in different amps. The guy really knows his stuff.

You are also correct about contacting him. His website is out of date and he doesn't like email. You MUST call him.

 

Sorry to hear that. This was my go-to when I lived in Germany. No issues.

 

+1 on Andy! Great guy, knowledgeable as all get out and I’m pretty sure still uses a rotary dial phone.

 

I bought mullard NOS from Kevin at upscale and he went the extra... asked what amp I am running (rogue sphinx), and apparently they are picky with matching and compliance and Upscale spent the extra time to test and choose a very highly matched pair. Love their store and staff... will absolutely make sure customer is taken care of and no bs

 

think you can hear it still ringing when he picks it up

 

+1

Andy at Vintage is great, and will offer you solutions as opposed to just selling you tubes. He saved me a bundle by talking me out of a couple of pricier options and instead selling me a better suited tube.

I like Brent Jessee as well.

 

I've been buying from these guys for a number of years
KCA NOS Tubes. Audio tubes for guitar amplifiers and audiophile equipment. Guitar amplifier parts, guitar amplifier tubes and guitar amp tubes. 12AX7, 6L6GC, 12ay7, el34, el84, Fender amplifier,5AR4, 5U4GB, cv4004, 6SN7, 8417, 7027, gz34, Mullard, EF86, 6ca7, 6bq5, 7025, 12at7

Never had issues with the tubes I purchased from them/him.

 

I've bought a new quad set of winged "c" EL34's from The Tube Store. Very good communication with fast delivery at the time.
www.thetubestore.com - Your online source for audio vacuum tubes.


Also picked up a new quad of Telfunken EL34-TK right from their site. Very nice sounding tube in my system.
Home - TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik

 

Other than Ham Shows and a handful of small sellers that have stock levels seem to come and go. These two guys are the best for vintage tubes, by far.

I generally stick with Brent Jessee BRENT JESSEE RECORDING HOMEPAGE

And Andy at Vintage Tube Services Vintage Tube Services – Tubes you can trust! Providing vintage audio tubes (new old stock) to audiophiles around the world. Celebrating 28 years of technical knowledge, experience, expertise, and tubes you can trust. For a free phone consultation call 616.454.3467.

For new tubes Jim McShane has always been my go to. Great quality control and prices. Tube & Information Page

Been doing business with them for the last 8 or so years with not one complaint.

Another company that I’ve used a few times and was happy with was Viva Tubes in MA https://www.vivatubes.com/

There also Doug’s Tubes. Vacuum Tubes For Guitar Amps and Hifi Audio | Dougstubes.com Good prices and quality control.

Between those 5 I’ve always been able to get whatever tubes I need with no wait or fuss.

Pretty much wont touch any of the other internet sellers. Too many problems with quality control and not getting the tube they advertised. Which I think is equal parts ignorance on the sellers part or the seller thinking the people buying can’t or won’t test the tubes and don’t know what they are looking at.

 

I used tubedepot.com in the past. No complaints. I no longer have any tube gear though after recently selling my phonostage.

 

Tube Depot Memphis, TN USA. Fantastic customer service. They'll help you out in every way they can, and stand behind what they sell.

 

Can you expand on the shady dealings, Strat? Unfortunately, delays in shipping is more the rule than the exception with JAC. And your experience with answers in minutes before the order is placed, and then silence mirrors mine all to well. And no-one answered when I called on the phone. The first time I bought there, I even wrote one of his suppliers to ask if they knew whether he had gone out of business Finally, he answered the phone, and told me that he has way to much to do for one person. My order then arrived within a couple of days.

I've bought a couple of times from him since then, and my orders have arrived within a not too ridiculous time span. But it's definitely something to be aware of.

As far as I can judge, the tubes he sells are fine. However, he doesn't have the knowledge to advise you, and some of the tubes that he praises, e.g. his large stock of old Tesla tubes, are not really that great IME. I bought a stash of 7N7 from him, and there his praise seems to be wellplaced.

 

I've had good experience with the following tube sellers. Mostly new production tubes, but they do sell some vintage stuff.

Jim McShane does a good job testing his tubes and I've never had a problem with any of the tubes he sent my way.
The Tube Store also does a good job testing their tubes. They have quick delivery and stand behind their product.
Upscale Audio is another good seller

 

Tube Depot in the USA were always good to me about shipping and returns.

However the strength of the dollar in recent times led me to look elsewhere, so the last set I bought was from HotRox (Hot Rox UK - Computer Matched Valves - Guitar effects pedals - Speakers - Amp Parts - Guitar Strings ) in the UK again excellent customer service and value for money, I couldn’t fault them.

 

+1 on Jim McShane.

 

Yes Tube Depot is still doing fine. Been a few years since I purchaced from them, but I still get the emails and e-coupons from time to time. About 6 years ago I needed a pair of 6BM8 and I called and they made me a deal on some used and fully tested Mullards for like 8.99 each. They are still going strong. My point being is to actually call if you don't like what you see onling and ask them.

 

At the risk of stating the obvious, there are the SH.tv classifieds. I've bought my best and least expensive tubes on this forum.

 

I checked out the Brent site - crazy expensive. What am I missing? 98.00 for a single KT88 Gold Lion?

From the site:

KT88 (6550 equivalent) Genalex GOLD LION reissue, new productionMATCHED PAIR

Looks and sounds like the 1960s vintage Genalex Gold Lion KT88, one of the most famous vintage power tubes in the world. Flippin' Sweet!! Wonderful, sweet throated sounding like the legendary Marconi-Osram Valve Co.'s Genalex production line. They even have the Gold Lion in gold ink on the glass. These test perfectly, and are exclusively computer matched by Apex Matching, then double checked by us on our Tektronix 576 curve tracer. In other words, these are not random "off the shelf" tubes you would get from any other dealer, but carefully hand matched. SINGLE TUBES $98.00.

$196.00 per pair

in stock

 

That all spells amateur hour to me.

It doesn't take 3 weeks to ship one tube. If he's that overwhelmed, that's on him to hire more people. Zero communication will sink transactions more often than not. My order had not shipped by the time I requested a full refund, thankfully! Gave my money to a business that was run professionally. I have no regrets.

One transaction I read about involved a buyer who received the wrong tube. He contacted JAC and was told to send it back. He did with a tracking #. Instead of delivering directly to his address, the package went to JAC's local post office. JAC refused to collect the package even with the tracking #. So the customer was out the money and the (wrong) tube. No other updates were shown to this story so I don't know how it ended or if it ended right there but it sure shows me how unprofessional their way of doing business is and your experience certainly does nothing to convince me to ever give them a shot again.

 

Interesting as I have purchased 12AX7's and 6V6GT's from hitest guitar in the past for my Fender Deluxe Reverb and he was always fair with me. Always NOS in original boxes.

Just curious but what issues did the people have in dealing with him?

I also have bought a few tubes from Kevin at Upscale and he provides excellent product and service. He pretests and burns in all tubes I believe so you get good stuff from him.

If you don't mind ANOS pulls this guy on eBay sells good stuff. I bought some nice used 12AX7's from him.

Items for sale by mercedesman6572 | eBay




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Sure hope so. Just ordered a couple of Gold Lion 6922’s from them a couple of days ago.