Groove Tubes

[tubesornothing]

My frustration with new tubes (e.g. Tung Sol) leads me to look for a re-branding company that tests the tubes before selling them, like Groove Tubes.

Anybody have any success or horror stories with these guys? Any suggestions for other suppliers who fully test their tubes before selling them (e.g. noise, microphonics, gain, emission).

Unfortunately I need to use new tubes, so I cant use NOS.

thanks

[FYL]

Fender/Groove Tubes small signal tubes are OK but overpriced, large bottles can sometimes be problematic.

[sluckey]

Try Lord Valve.

[rafe]

I have had good results and I trust Bob at;

http://www.eurotubes.com/

He has some good biasing videos too....

Doug here also has some tubes  

[tubesornothing]

thanks guys.

[Fresh_Start]

The best sounding new 12AX7 I've had was a "Penta" brand Chinese tube.  It went in the V1 spot of the Super Reverb build I sold 'coz it just sounded so good... but I want it back!

I've generally had good luck with Tung Sol preamp tubes except for one dud that just sounds shrill and nasty.  Electro Harmonix are reliable, quiet, and a bit lifeless.  Generic Chinese preamp tubes are somewhat hit & miss but cheap.  Not a fan of Sovteks.  No matter what, some tubes just sound better than others and it depends on the circuit and which spot for each tube.  For example, I generally wouldn't try an EH for a first gain stage but they seem to do really well in the phase inverter spot.

Personally, I think a Tweed Champ circuit is the best way to test a preamp tube.  Don't think any vendors use that approach.  I've had good luck overall with Dougstubes.com and KCA NOS Tubes.

Eurotubes sells JJ tubes.  Period.  If you want JJs, fine.  If you want advice on what tubes will sound best in a particular circuit, go somewhere else.  I hated the dark tone of JJ EL-84s in my Blues Jr. but was surprised to find they were perfect in a Crate amp.

Sorry for rambling,

Chip

[tubesornothing]

What I am after is someone who pre-tests them. Like Groove tube or Lord Valve. 

[rafe]

http://www.eurotubes.com/euro-w.htm

Did you see this part?? Bob does more than most !!

[Fresh_Start]

Penta pre-tests tubes AFAIK

Doug of Dougstubes.com pre-tests his tubes and marks gain (?) on boxes

Other likely suspects:  Mesa, Groove Tubes, Ruby Tubes (not a fan of any of those)

http://www.eurotubes.com/euro-w.htm

Did you see this part?? Bob does more than most !!

OK Bob tests his JJ tubes.

Chip

[simonallaway]

don't get me started on JJ tubes.
I can do without them.

What experiences have you had?

[simonallaway]

That's definitely not cool. I use both JJ and GrooveTubes (mostly EL34, ECC83 and 6V6) and haven't had any issues.

Of all the tube suppliers it does seem that JJ gets mixed reviews...love 'em or hate 'em 

[jhadhar65]

I'm not doing as much tube work these days as in the past.  I've got other irons in the fire.  When I do, I'm generally depleting my existing stock.  That said, though, when I was doing a descent volume of work, I tended to rely on GrooveTubes for that very reason.  Well, that and I could generally count on a like-rated tube to sound and perform like the one being replaced.  Since things go funny at the worst moment.  Being able to yank a tube and shove in another with no more additional work than flipping the power switch was very appealing, even if the tube wasn't ultimately at fault.  All this was in the Pittman era.

I've now only got a few odd GT's and the rest are original branding or NOS (sic).  I have no idea how things are at GT now.  I don't even know if Pittman stayed on in some sort of consulting role - that's how out-of-the-loop I am!

Anyway, I've never used Ruby or any of the others.  Regardless which one you choose, though, I'd recommend testing them yourself against similar rated tubes to see how they compare.  I've always felt that many tubes that show up as so much junk under glass can be blamed on shipping as much as anything.  I've had bum GT tubes, too.  I think tube QC will always teeter-totter from here on out anyway.

FWIW...

[rafe]

Quality control and shipping, I agree. 

[tubesornothing]

Well I purchased a bunch from Lord Valve.  He burns in each tube, tests them for spec, noise and microphonics.  That works for me.  About $3-5 more per tube, but that can be recovered by the time I spend testing them and returning.

We'll see how it goes.

[Ritchie200]

Sorry, just noticed this one and could not resist...

I've had very good luck with JJ's in the Marshalls I've worked on - this after a customer demanded I use them in his JCM900s.  I was impressed with their performance considering how crappy this amp is.  I use them in all the 5150s I work on too.  THey sound really good.

GT....where do I begin....  About 15 yrs ago I spent a ton of money, based on what I was told and advised by them, trying to find a decent KT88 for my Major.  At the time their Chinese stuff was crap, their european (eastern) stuff was crap, and ALL the supposedly matched tubes they sent me were WAY off.  The KT90s that I tried were just as bad.  My 30yr old tired GECs with gray getters sounded infinitely better then any of the CRAP they sent me.  While spending hours on the phone arguing about the condition of my amp as opposed to the crappy tubes, I bought some Svetlana (now Winged C).  WOW, what a difference!  Almost approaching GEC performance in tone, volume, and longevity (as I later found out).  THis compared to sometimes literally hours and days for the junk they sent me.  I realize this amp is not the easiest on tubes, but come on.  Ratings were never exceeded, but GT's claims, real or imagined, were total BS.  Bottom line, don't advertise and tell me things that just are not true.  Maybe things are different now.  I will NEVER darken their doorway again.

My .02
Jim

[tubesornothing]

Well I am very pleased with what I have received from Lord Valve.  Right out of the box - no hissy, no microphonic, all tubes working well. His suggestions for various tubes for various positions (preamp, reverb driver, PI, trem) have worked out really well.