If you want to roll the dice with PSvane by purchasing direct from the manufacturer, then that is not the best way to go. Others suggested purchasing from Amazon because of their Return policy. I gave up on PSvane tubes a few years ago because they did not have staying power. I switched over to Ray tubes and find them to be fantastic sounding and battleship build quality with a dealer network so you can return if there is an issue.
Vacuum Tube Snake Oil Salesmen
Just a mini rant to complain about vacuum tube suppliers (not all but most) and their false advertising.
I ordered a set of 4 matched 2A3 Acme tubes direct from PSVane for my Woo Audio WA33 as an upgrade. They cost close to $1k all together.
When I got them I checked on my MaxiMatcher2. The boxes said 65mA but with correct operating voltage and bias set on the tester I could only get 2 of them up to 43mA. One other read 39mA. And the last one was an internal fault short which could have damaged my amp had I not checked them.
I asked to return one "Matched" set for replacement. The PSVane customer service would only offer to send me one tube and not a matched pair. They would not pay return shipping to return one set. Instead they demanded I smash the bad tube and send them a picture. Has anyone ever smashed a large vacuum tube with a hammer and seen where all the pieces of glass fly to? I said no way. I will throw it out or return it but I am not going to risk cutting my hand doing that. So they refused to send a replacement.
While I had the Maximatcher out I decided to go thru some other tubes I had in my spares box to check them (purchased before I had the tube tester). I could not believe the results. Some tubes matched by well known vendors were off by as much as 30% from each other.
It is really a good investment to get a tube tester if you will be a regular user of tube amps.
If you must buy PSVane then get them from Amazon and not direct so you have some safety to return them.
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- 63 posts total
- 63 posts total