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Where do I Go for Tubes now that Brent Jessee has Closed Shop?

I've been buying tubes from Brent for many years. I am now looking for 12AX7 tubes as back up for the tubes I now have in my 80s preamps (ARC SP-6B and the rare Paragon System "E"). Since I only use the phono section of these, I'll need 3 tubes for the SP-6B and four for the "E".  I'm most interested in the Amperex and Mullard brands. I like a warm, full-bodied sound. I detest any and all sibilance.

I completely missed his closing. So now where do I go?

I've looked at the SND and vacuumtubes.net. These seem to have most reasonable prices. Are they legit? I will not buy from eBay.

What are other well-regarded vendors?

My sincere apologies if this duplicates an existing thread.

kevemaher
kevemaher's avatar
kevemaher OP
409 posts
 

@yogiboy My apologies. I am looking for NOS tubes only and only Mullard or Amperex.

@wharfy Looks interesting. have you had any experiences with this vendor?

Thanks.

 

inna
8,240 posts
 

Tube Depot often charges twice of what Brent did, if they have it at all. But they do have some and give a warranty so take a look. I bought couple of times from them, everything went fine. Were easy to communicate with too.

sls883
1,056 posts
 

I've bought a number of tubes from Tube Depot.  They were good to deal with.  Also bought from Viva Tubes, but not NOS tubes.  They were good to deal with. 

 

I know you said that you won't use ebay, but that's where I purchased most of my vintage tubes.  No issues. I only buy from sellers that regularly deal in tubes and they test the tubes.  All had excellent feedback. 

 

I did buy a bunch of vintage Mullard M8080 from an eBay seller in the UK. I got a noisy tube and he replaced the pair for free.  This was before the tariffs.... 

 

 

wharfy's avatar
wharfy
564 posts
 

@kevemaher -Yes. Purchased 12AX7 and Bugle Boy 6DJ8s from him. Excellent.

nogaps
166 posts
 

I received a notice from Apos that they purchased the tube stock of some electronics business in India..supposed to be a very large inventory. They're in the early stages of rolling out what they have now into their website. The notice I received was asking what tubes are of interest to their "community" so they'd have some focus to approaching what they have.  I've worked with them on a a pair of new stock Ray Select 12AU7's (nice) and other items, they seem to be good people and are responsive to sales as well as service work.  

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