NIOA VS-880 TIP 900-0002:

Vacuum Tube sources and Tips

Tubes are not all the same even among the same brand. There are always slight differences in their characteristics. The trick is to get your hands on enough tubes that sound good in the particular device that you will be using them in.

Let's just say for arguments sake, if you bought ten of the same brand tubes you might find six of them sound good and one that sounds really good. The rest are just fair. Put those same ten tubes in different gear and you might get different ratio's of great/good/fair.

Also, what sounds good in one tube device might not sound good in another of the same brand and model due to variations in the circuitry of the device itself.

I try to stay away from Russian and Chinese tubes as I find the quality control of these tubes are not up to snuff. Many people are not be aware of this but, there are no longer any american and foreign manufacturers of high quality-high spec tubes. There was a golden age of tube making in the 1960's, and these tubes, though old, are in the most demand. All new tubes manufactured today are either Russian or Chinese. All the tubes that repackagers like Groove Tubes sell are what is called "old-new stock". That is, old tubes that have been tested, and then re-labeled with the repackagers name.

Some good brands are Philips ECG, RCA, some GE, and Tung-sol (there are many others). These are getting harder to get every year. I get my tubes at Antique Electronic Supply, Tempe, Arizona. Their prices are very reasonable and they will custom match tubes. They still have a large supply of American made Philips ECG tubes. 12AX7 etc., etc. I think Groove Tubes charges way too much for their stuff.

Bad or cheap tubes can demonstrate a whole range of problems including microphonics, noise, hissing, poor output, etc. Tubes can short internally. If a tube shorts out in the output section of a power amplifier it can cause severe damage to the amp.

Regardless of what you get, (or think you have), You have to "listen" to each tube you install.

Antique Electronic Supply
Tempe, Arizona
(602) 820-5411
[Toll free FAX 1-800-706-6789]

Nick G.

1998/03


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