As you begin to hear about and meet these vendors it helps to know that some of these folks focus on selling current production tubes, while others specialize exclusively in what are called NOS tubes.
NOS is a much misused term - it stands for New Old Stock. But depending on the user it might mean an old tube that may or may not be brand new. Tubes that have been in equipment and used for an indeterminate amount of time are called "pulls" - because they were pulled out...
I suppose the grail is NOS NIB - meaning new old stock, new in the original mfgrs box. Of course how it can be new and tested is one of those zen problems I will leave to wiser heads
Four really broad strokes to divide the field (this goes beyond 6DJ8s). US made which includes GE, RCA, TungSol, National, KenRad and some Amperex. British made which includes Mullard, Valvo and Genelex. German made which includes Siemens and Telefunken. And of course Russia with the Svetlana and Sovtek - but also licensed reissues of old NOS designs from Mullard, TungSol and so forth. There were also a lot of tubes made in Holland. And yes there are tubes made in France and Japan. And modern tubes made in China.
Further complicating this is that a tube might have been labelled by one company but made under contract by another.
This is where the higher priced NOS specialist dealers really earn their keep. Based on personal experience I can highly recommend
Brent Jesse:
http://www.audiotubes.com
Brendan Biever:
http://www.tubeworld.com
Both these guys maintain very large inventories, are happy to make suggestions either to the max or bang for buck and maintain pretty amazing sites. They are very responsive. And they stand behind their products.
I also recommend
Dennis Boyle:
http://www.chimeralabs.com/
Dennis is a lot lower key but knows his stuff and is not opposed to saving you some money LOL
In the new tube space doing business with all three of the recommendations you have received is a good experience.
There is an enormous amount to be learned online. Just Google up any number of topics and go to town. Here's a couple:
http://www.worldtubeaudio.com/
http://www.oneillselectronicmuseum.com
Let me give you the benefit of my experience. You will end up with more tubes then you can possibly use. Do not be afraid to purchase a used tube or a pull if it is sufficiently discounted.
Many of these tubes were designed for 10,000 hours plus of service. Many were made to go in rockets, radars and other military gear and are not easy to damage. Others were made to go in televisions and radios. They are designed to burn and burn and burn.
If you get a tube from ebay or used, you love it, and it blows so what. Get another one.
Enjoy the hunt - it's a lot of fun
NOS is a much misused term - it stands for New Old Stock. But depending on the user it might mean an old tube that may or may not be brand new. Tubes that have been in equipment and used for an indeterminate amount of time are called "pulls" - because they were pulled out...
I suppose the grail is NOS NIB - meaning new old stock, new in the original mfgrs box. Of course how it can be new and tested is one of those zen problems I will leave to wiser heads
Four really broad strokes to divide the field (this goes beyond 6DJ8s). US made which includes GE, RCA, TungSol, National, KenRad and some Amperex. British made which includes Mullard, Valvo and Genelex. German made which includes Siemens and Telefunken. And of course Russia with the Svetlana and Sovtek - but also licensed reissues of old NOS designs from Mullard, TungSol and so forth. There were also a lot of tubes made in Holland. And yes there are tubes made in France and Japan. And modern tubes made in China.
Further complicating this is that a tube might have been labelled by one company but made under contract by another.
This is where the higher priced NOS specialist dealers really earn their keep. Based on personal experience I can highly recommend
Brent Jesse:
http://www.audiotubes.com
Brendan Biever:
http://www.tubeworld.com
Both these guys maintain very large inventories, are happy to make suggestions either to the max or bang for buck and maintain pretty amazing sites. They are very responsive. And they stand behind their products.
I also recommend
Dennis Boyle:
http://www.chimeralabs.com/
Dennis is a lot lower key but knows his stuff and is not opposed to saving you some money LOL
In the new tube space doing business with all three of the recommendations you have received is a good experience.
There is an enormous amount to be learned online. Just Google up any number of topics and go to town. Here's a couple:
http://www.worldtubeaudio.com/
http://www.oneillselectronicmuseum.com
Let me give you the benefit of my experience. You will end up with more tubes then you can possibly use. Do not be afraid to purchase a used tube or a pull if it is sufficiently discounted.
Many of these tubes were designed for 10,000 hours plus of service. Many were made to go in rockets, radars and other military gear and are not easy to damage. Others were made to go in televisions and radios. They are designed to burn and burn and burn.
If you get a tube from ebay or used, you love it, and it blows so what. Get another one.
Enjoy the hunt - it's a lot of fun