Tube Testing

[Bloozcat]

OK, here's the list of tube dealers that I use. All are reputable and stand behind their products:

terry_kilgore2003@yahoo.com
Terry Kilgore is a professional musician who's most notable association was with Dave Lee Roth on his first album and tour after splitting with Van Halen. Terry has an extraordinary ear for tone, and he finds tubes that no one else can. He is often first to find tubes that become the latest "must have", and he is reasonably priced. His tubes are mostly NOS. E-mail Terry with specific requests or to ask general questions about his stock. Be prepared for an entertaining reply...Terry is a real character with an ear of gold.

http://www.kcanostubes.com/content/
Mike Kropopkin is the man at KCA NOS Tubes. He is another very knowlegeable tube guy who carries both NOS and new manufactured tubes. Lots of good stock.

LORD_VALVE@prodigy.net
Lord Valve
230 South Broadway
Denver, CO 80209-1510
1-303-778-1156 Call after 1:30pm Mountain Time
One of the true Guru's of the tube world, Willie Whitacre, a.k.a. Lord Valve not only procures vacuum tubes, but also repairs and builds amps for the likes of Derek Trucks. Lord Valve is famous for his thorough testing of every tube that leaves his hands. Lord Valve carries both new and NOS tubes as well as other electronics like cords, caps, resistors, switches, etc. Best way to reach Lord Valve is by phone.

http://www.tubemonger.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?
Tubemonger has a great selection of NOS tubes. They carry many of the harder to find brands and models.

http://www.dougstubes.com/
Doug carries a mixture of new and NOS tubes with a leaning towards new manufacture. Good prices and good service.

http://www.eurotubes.com
If you're looking for JJ tubes, there's none better than Bob at Eurotubes. Bob is great at matching the right hardness JJ tube for your particular amp application. Fast, personal, service with good prices.

I know of some others, but these IMO are the best.

[duhvoodooman***]

Wow, great list there, BC! I was familiar with the last two, but not those first four. Not sure I'm mentally prepared yet to plop down $50 for a NOS 12AX7, but those are great sources to have!

[Spudman***]

I KNOW that line, Spud! It's some band I grew up listening to. Hmm....

Mr. Big?

Looks like you get a copy of Paradox Hotel. A+ go to the head of the class.

[Bloozcat]

Wow, great list there, BC! I was familiar with the last two, but not those first four. Not sure I'm mentally prepared yet to plop down $50 for a NOS 12AX7, but those are great sources to have!

Terry Kilgore has some really great BEL 12AX7's for $30.00 a piece. Still higher than new, but $20.00 less than some of the others. The BEL tube was made in India by Mullard for NATO military use. It is essentially a Mullard Blackburn at a price that is way lower. They sound absolutely fantastic.

It is hard to justify NOS prices sometimes, but I've bitten the bullet and bought them anyway. I've been as careful as I could about trying to find the best deals on NOS. I stay away from the really high dollar Mullard, RCA, Tungsram, Telefunken, and the like. But there have been relatively good deals on some of the Polam/Telam's, Tesla Roznov's (not JJ), RFT's, BEL, even GE like the 5751's and the 12AX7WA's that were cheap for awhile.

I expect that in the near future the quality of the new tubes will finally start to approach that of the NOS. When that happens, I'll gladly switch over. Don't be suprised if it's the Chinese that are the one's who start this trend. They're getting better all the time.

[duhvoodooman***]

I expect that in the near future the quality of the new tubes will finally start to approach that of the NOS. When that happens, I'll gladly switch over. Don't be suprised if it's the Chinese that are the one's who start this trend. They're getting better all the time.

I've read similar comments a couple of other places. The Chinese are investing in technology like crazy, they've got almost unlimited cash (much of it American consumer dollars!), and they are very, VERY serious about this stuff. I suspect that it will not belong before we not only have Chinese tubes in our amps, but are driving around in Chinese cars.

Maybe I'll try out one of those $30 BEL tubes--they're almost reasonable!

[duhvoodooman***]

I can't read the name Terry Kilgore without thinking of Kilgore Trout and Kilgore Trout without thinking of Warren Trout which brings us back to Warren.

Do you mean Walter Trout, the American blues guitarist popular in Europe?

[Nelskie]

Blooz - Thanks for posting those links.

[Bloozcat]

Kilgore Trout...a re-occurring character in Kurt Vonnegut books. Talk about your characters...Kurt Vonnegut! I've read a few of his books.

[tot_Ou_tard]

Kilgore Trout...a re-occurring character in Kurt Vonnegut books. Talk about your characters...Kurt Vonnegut! I've read a few of his books.

We have a winner. Please see Spud about that free CD.

They sure knew how to make tubes back when Vonnegut was writing!

Added after Tim's post to avoid clogging up this thread.
|
v

I beat you to it. The Kurt Vonnegut thread was started immediately after I posted the above and hours before you posted your note Tim! I'm sorry, but I really and truly was reminded of Kilgore Trout; the travails of whom you can read in the appropriate thread.

[Tim]

What's this got to do with tubes. I am trying to track the thread on tubes. If you'g going to write about authors, start another thread. Remeber this: SOT???

[jpfeifer]

Hi Nelskie,

I used to have a CyberTwin and I used the ECC83 tubes in mine. They worked great.

-- Jim

[duhvoodooman***]

terry_kilgore2003@yahoo.com
Terry Kilgore is a professional musician who's most notable association was with Dave Lee Roth on his first album and tour after splitting with Van Halen. Terry has an extraordinary ear for tone, and he finds tubes that no one else can. He is often first to find tubes that become the latest "must have", and he is reasonably priced. His tubes are mostly NOS. E-mail Terry with specific requests or to ask general questions about his stock. Be prepared for an entertaining reply...Terry is a real character with an ear of gold.

Hey, Blooz! I tried your advice and contacted Terry Kilgore. He replied very quickly. Yeah, I can see he's "one of a kind". I found him very helpful & accomodating.

I have a BEL 12AX7 coming (they're a bit more than $30 if purchased singly; that was the price apiece for three), and a triple-mica Westinghouse label GE 5751 that he recommended very highly as a reduced gain 12AX7-type to try on the gain control of my Delta Blues lead channel. I'm very curious to hear how it sounds vs. the JJ ECC832 I put in there last week. According to what I've read, the two tubes have very similar overall gain factors (~70 vs. 100 nominal for a 12AX7/ECC83).

Don't really need either of these, but the cost of admission was pretty reasonable to be able to actually try out a couple of these highly touted NOS tubes and see if my old ears can discern what all the fuss is about!

[tot_Ou_tard]

I have a BEL 12AX7 coming (they're a bit more than $30 if purchased singly; that was the price apiece for three), and a triple-mica Westinghouse label GE 5751 that he recommended very highly as a reduced gain 12AX7-type to try on the gain control of my Delta Blues lead channel. I'm very curious to hear how it sounds vs. the JJ ECC832 I put in there last week. According to what I've read, the two tubes have very similar overall gain factors (~70 vs. 100 nominal for a 12AX7/ECC83).

Don't really need either of these, but the cost of admission was pretty reasonable to be able to actually try out a couple of these highly touted NOS tubes and see if my old ears can discern what all the fuss is about!

Yeah, I'm thinking of doing the same. So what was the total Voodoo?

What was the original 12xA7 & what kind of difference did the JJ make?

[duhvoodooman***]

Yeah, I'm thinking of doing the same. So what was the total Voodoo?

What was the original 12xA7 & what kind of difference did the JJ make?

The total for these two NOS tubes came to about $65, including shipping. Seemed very reasonable to me, seeing as how you can easily drop $100 on one of the rarer NOS 12AX7 tubes.

The original 12AX7's (the DB uses 3) were Electro Harmonix (Russian; basically a Sovtek tube, from what I've read). The impact of the JJ retubing is documented HERE....

[duhvoodooman***]

The two NOS tubes I ordered from Terry Kilgore came today, and I laughed out loud when I opened the mailbox. Don't get me wrong--the tubes arrived in great shape and work perfectly. But here's what I found:

Attachment 220

More tape there than box! Not pretty, maybe, but he got 'em safely from CA to NY for under a buck! Way to go, Terry!

I've tried them out with the BEL 12AX7 in V1 and the Westinghouse 5751 in V2 in my Delta Blues, and they sound real good. Now I have to do a little A/B recording with the JJ tubes and see what the real differences are....

[Bloozcat]

Oh yeah, that's Terry packing alright. He puts enough of that brown plastic tape on the packages to hold up the Golden Gate bridge!

The contents always arrive safe and sound though...and that's all that matters.