Vintage Tube Services

[onehandfretting]

Anyone have any experience with Vintage Tube Services?

http://www.vintagetubeservices.com/

Thanks,

Bobby

[FrankiePRS]

No experience with them, but what a cool site! Thnx for the link.

[onehandfretting]

has anyone used these guys?

[Guitarman_1]

Andy at VTS is probably the most knowledgeable tube person in the country. His tubes are top notch, although not cheap. The high end audio community uses his services a lot. I have dealt with him in the past. No problems at all. He knows his tubes.

[onehandfretting]

Thanks for the input, Guitarman!


now to buy some tubes :dude:

[Guitarman_1]

What are you looking for tube wise. I have sold a bunch of tubes over the years to the gear page friends. I have some mullards Gz34, Telefunken smoothplate 12ax7's, phillips/ amperex 12ax7's, mullard el 34's, GE 6ca7's. Sylvania 6l6gc.
A couple of pairs of phillips, mullard, amperx el84's.Alll the above are tested and teste like new. Thay are pulls from lab gear. If anothing pics your interst let me know.
Thanks.
Orlando

[onehandfretting]

Well, I guess I'm a bit of an oddball. My favorite power tubes are black plate Tung Sol 6550s. I've got a couple of pairs and they sound really good in my BiValve, but i don't have a way of testing them, so i don't know how well matched they are and I'm also paranoid that they'll just up and die on me, since I don't know how much life they have left in them.

I know, I know, matching isn't an issue in the BV. And if they play ok in the amp, don't worry about it, right? Especially with an extra pair on hand. But I'm soon going to have an amp built which is centered around this particular kind of 6550, so I wanted to find a matched pair that tests strong to build the amp around.

As far s other tubes... I've got a few Bugleboy 12AX7s and really like them. And, while I'm not big on EL34s, I've been curious about the Mullards, so I may hit you up for some in the future, if you've still got some. Thanks.

[Guitarman_1]

The tung sols are killer. But ill give you a tube to try. If you have never tried a real GEC kt 88 do so. Your life will not be the same again. The best traits of the 6550 with a lot more of everything the 6550 can do. One of thebest tubes ever made.

Thanks.
O

[patchesprescott]

Orlando, i sent you an email in refernce to the EL84's


if anyone else out there is reading this, is there is a consensus on the best sounding EL84's for guitar amps?

i've had Bugle Boys, which i really liked (i dropped one of them and it shattered - DOH!) - i do NOT like JJ's - and i had a pair of Telefunkens that i though were only OK - maybe they were fakes, i 'm not sure...(they did have the <> on the bottom though)

thanks fellas

[Guitarman_1]

KH

I sent you an e mail.
Later.
O

[Macaroni]

if anyone else out there is reading this, is there is a consensus on the best sounding EL84's for guitar amps?I also had some Amperex EL84s (I'm selling them) and they were much better than JJs. Then I tried NOS Polams and Telams (supposedly the same - Polish made), and they were significantly better for my tastes. I found out about them from the PlexiPalace and got a quad from Terry Kilgore - amazing - rich, full, strong, detailed. I got another quad from KCA NOS Tubes. Higly recommended.

[Crunchyriff]

Orlando, i sent you an email in refernce to the EL84's


if anyone else out there is reading this, is there is a consensus on the best sounding EL84's for guitar amps?

i've had Bugle Boys, which i really liked (i dropped one of them and it shattered - DOH!) - i do NOT like JJ's - and i had a pair of Telefunkens that i though were only OK - maybe they were fakes, i 'm not sure...(they did have the <> on the bottom though)

thanks fellasPatches, how long has it been since you tried the EL84 JJ's? The JJ plant is always upgrading their production quality. I recently bought a quad of their EL84's to replace some OEM GT EL84's that were pure rubbish brand-new. I was pleasantly surprised with the JJ's. (I'm not a big fan of their 12AX7's).

Anyway, I bought a quad of NOS Tungsrams from Terry Kilgore, as he lost his source of Polams (the supplier passed away); but I've yet to try them in my combo as of yet.

Anybody else stock the Polams? Last I checked, KCA was out of them, too.

[patchesprescott]

i have tried a bunch of different EL84 JJ's, but never purchased them myself...they all seemed to come in the amps i bought - did not like the sound of any of them - too sterile for me...just didn't seem to have any of that magic warmth


anyways about the Polams and Telams

are the Telam or Polam labeled PL84's and UL84's the same as EL84's?

thanks for the replies!

[Crunchyriff]

i have tried a bunch of different EL84 JJ's, but never purchased them myself...they all seemed to come in the amps i bought - did not like the sound of any of them - too sterile for me...just didn't seem to have any of that magic warmth


anyways about the Polams and Telams

are the Telam or Polam labeled PL84's and UL84's the same as EL84's?

thanks for the replies!patches- I haven't had the Eastern-bloc EL84's in my grubby mitts myself to answer your last question. But I AM curious as to how long it's been since you tried the JJ's. Reason being is that IIRC, in the last 6-12 mos of JJ production (most of the line in different ways) have been improved- some types significantly so; and reportedly sound much better than the JJ's of say, just 2 or 3 years ago.