Best place to buy tubes?

[lhrocker]

What is the online place to buy preamp and power tubes? Are any brands better than any others, or just go by price?

[fett]

Yikes There is no easy answer. However, there is a reason why people pay big bucks for vintage tubes when tubes were common. They were made better. Tubes today are boutique items. Ebay is where to go. I do know a little about tubes. Make sure that the tubes are tested by a mutual conductance tester. If I had a pricey tube amp, I would go with "Vintage" tubes.

[ADR]

LORD VALVE , he knows his stuff. Check here, can also email him. . or call.
My friend just re-tubed his "Fender Vibro-King" as was impressed by his knowledge.

http://www.nebsnow.com/LordValve

[Twisteramps]

Lord Valve rocks, plus he's a pretty entertaining guy. Getting tubes from ebay can be a crapshoot though, especially in high gain amps. A lot of older tubes are microphonic... Lord Valve tests his stock really well too.

[jimjones]

i had good luck with dougs tubes.

[NunoSoWylde]

i had good luck with dougs tubes.

I concur, Dougs tubes is a great place, I have never had any issues with him or his tubes. Great guy always willing to help/go the extra mile.

[dannyr]

I've purchased from Doug's Tubes and TubeMan. Both were awesome.

[Bengal65]

Yep, Doug's Tubes. Really cool guy and helpful!

[Spivonious]

The Tube Store for me.

As far as which brands, they all have slightly different sound qualities, so it really depends on what sound you're going for (some are "dark", others "warm", others "bright", etc.). Read lots of reviews and don't be afraid to spend a little more if the tubes are good.

I'd stay away from the super high-end tubes though. They are more for use in high-end stereo amps than guitar amps and while sounding good they would be wasted in a guitar amp.

[Shawn Lutz]

lord valuve, tube store, dougs tubes.

you have to be very careful buying tubes in eBay as most of of em are crap. People replace their dying tubes and then throw em on ebay

[scotty]

Has anybody bought from here before? http://www.thetubestore.com/

[Shawn Lutz]

Has anybody bought from here before? http://www.thetubestore.com/

yes...fast service...no problems with them

[Chad]

I've had good experiences with both Doug's Tubes and Lord Valve. Check this out:

http://www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com/tubesandparts.html

They used to have a big rant on that page about The Tube Store, but must have removed it.

[Spivonious]

Has anybody bought from here before? http://www.thetubestore.com/

Yes. Good selection, good prices.

[toejam]

I've heard great things about Lord Valve, but never bought anything from him.
I've had a great experience with Bob from Eurotubes www.eurotubes.com, as well as The Tube Store and Revolution Guitar http://www.revolutionguitar.com/