Where is the best place to buy tubes?

I've had good luck with Lord Valve.

He's very knowledgeable, good selection and good prices. Tell him what you have and what sound you're looking for and he'll help you out.

LeonD

 

+1 on Lord Valve

 

+2

Slick51

 

I'll put in my vote for Lord Valve too !

 

LV and Doug's Tubes were both super...

 

I have gotten awesome nos and excellent new production tubes from Lorenz Tang @ WI Wi tubes from hong kong he also sells on evil-bay pretty regular too.

 

Triode Electronics and Jim McShane both have good reps as tube dealers.There are links for their sites at the top of the webervst.com boards tube board as well as for other popular dealers like KCA and some informational sites as well.

 

Lord Valve is my 1st choice, but I've also bought a bunch from KCA, though prices have gone up quite a bit...

 

if you have the time look at the salvation army, goodwill, junk shops, etc. for old tube stereos. and organs. i have found tons of really fine old tubes and speakers like this. where do you think the bigboy tube vendors get this stuff.

 

I give mad props to Doug's tubes.

 

If you're looking for NOS guitar amp tubes, I have the largest selection on the planet (that I know of). The other guys have lots of new production stuff however.

 

Yes they have and will continue to do so as time goes on and wholesale prices continue to increase. You'll notice that LVs prices have increased steadily just as everyone elses have.

 

I've had great service from KCA. I've also used Doug's tubes and he's good too. I've also bought from Tube Depot and been happy. I've used the The Tube Store, but their offerings are getting narrower and pricers are generally a bit higher.

I'll even get Ruby 12ax7s from MF if the price is good. These days I'm into GT-12AX7-Ms and KCA usually has a good price.

I've heard great things about Lord Valve, but I like having an inventory online to select from. I know he'll spam you with catalogs, but I like KCA and other's sites.

 

Correct, I wasn't criticizing you & hope you didn't take it that way, Mike.

I meant that the price increases have made me happy I have a bunch of NOS goodies (much of it from you), and that I've been buying more current mfr. stuff where it's suitable.

In any case, you & LV are the "go to" guys.

Cheers,
Jon

 

Not saying anyone is "better" than anyone else, however, all the NOS tubes I've gotten from Mike at KCA have been great. The one exception was a preamp tube with an issue which Mike promptly replaced. He took my word on that one, he wouldn't even take up my offer to mail it back to him.

In a way, with me Mike's been a victim of his own quality. Haven't had an NOS tube go bad since I bought 'em so I haven't needed to buy more for quite a while.

 

Damn, I hate when THAT happens! LOL... (just kidding of course).

Glad they're still crankin' Jon.

 

Likewise, I have what would probably be considered a near lifetime supply for most non professional musicians, much of it from Mike.

The only tubes I've had go bad were non-KCA: a used/tested good RCA EL84 from a person I know, bought on eBay, and surprisingly, a NOS Mullard CV4004 from another (non-KCA, non-LV) reputable source (whistled, may be OK in a diff. position I haven't tried it yet)... so as Mike said, the higher price of good NOS stuff from a known source may be more cost effective than what looks like a bargain elsewhere.

Jon

 

I've bough several tubes from KCA and have never been disappointed.

His website contains a ton of information - as well as a list of tubes in stock.

Lord Valves' site contains no information at all.

In my opinion you can't go wrong with KCA.

John.