I bought a batch of 8 from a seller here named 'audiomisfit'. They came in what appears to be original boxes. Short answer here is the tubes were fine. I paid $285 for 8 but his prices seem to fluctuate.
Read on for the longer answer…
I decided I wanted them tested and got various responses to that plan. Local dealer who sells amps using those tubes said don't bother testing them. Technician who is repairing an amp that uses that tube said don't bother. But I'm stubborn, new to this, curious, and wanted to control for tube quality so I went ahead with it.
Based on suggestions found in older threads here I looked into Upscale Audio, tubeaudiostore (RAM tubeworks) and TC Tubes. From what I can gather, the 6C33B is somewhat difficult to test so the prices I was quoted were higher than for other tubes.
I ended up testing them with TC Tubes ($10 each).
Upscale Audio said they don't test tubes they don't sell. Fair enough.
Tubeaudiostore (RAM) quoted me $200 to test 10 tubes and $5 each tube thereafter.
Turnaround with TC Tubes was 2 business days after receipt. For any of you who are interested in what kind of data you get out of such a test, I’ve posted all of the results below. Some of this is a bit over my head but I’m thankful for the summary and detail on each tube and I feel like this gave me piece of mind about my purchase and may allow me to place them in the amp more intelligently. Tyler was very responsive to my inquiries and I’d definitely use his services again.
https: //drive.google.com/file/d/0B4HpFMtCMjw7S0NEd0t5UEF2MWs/edit?usp=sharing
Hope the link works!
Read on for the longer answer…
I decided I wanted them tested and got various responses to that plan. Local dealer who sells amps using those tubes said don't bother testing them. Technician who is repairing an amp that uses that tube said don't bother. But I'm stubborn, new to this, curious, and wanted to control for tube quality so I went ahead with it.
Based on suggestions found in older threads here I looked into Upscale Audio, tubeaudiostore (RAM tubeworks) and TC Tubes. From what I can gather, the 6C33B is somewhat difficult to test so the prices I was quoted were higher than for other tubes.
I ended up testing them with TC Tubes ($10 each).
Upscale Audio said they don't test tubes they don't sell. Fair enough.
Tubeaudiostore (RAM) quoted me $200 to test 10 tubes and $5 each tube thereafter.
Turnaround with TC Tubes was 2 business days after receipt. For any of you who are interested in what kind of data you get out of such a test, I’ve posted all of the results below. Some of this is a bit over my head but I’m thankful for the summary and detail on each tube and I feel like this gave me piece of mind about my purchase and may allow me to place them in the amp more intelligently. Tyler was very responsive to my inquiries and I’d definitely use his services again.
https: //drive.google.com/file/d/0B4HpFMtCMjw7S0NEd0t5UEF2MWs/edit?usp=sharing
Hope the link works!