Best online tube retailer?

[Laura]

My experience with my valvequeen order is that no one would answer the phone on multiple days of trying to reach them. No shipping info either.

Sorry to hear that. I return all phone messages but often I don't answer the phone when I am packing orders, testing tubes... Tracking information is generated when orders are shipped but I find that they often go to spam for whatever reason. Sorry for any miscommunication or lack thereof.

 

[RJF]

My experience with my valvequeen order is that no one would answer the phone on multiple days of trying to reach them. No shipping info either.

Sorry to hear that. I return all phone messages but often I don't answer the phone when I am packing orders, testing tubes... Tracking information is generated when orders are shipped but I find that they often go to spam for whatever reason. Sorry for any miscommunication or lack thereof.

I was calling because I didn't receive shipping or tracking info at all, and wondered why since the website said I would.

I'll give it another shot on my next round of tubes.

 

[bwgintegra]

Defiantly Valvequeen

I'd personally will never get matched quads of power tubes from Tube Depot again. I got a few bunk sets of tubes over a few years And feel there QC and tube testing isn't up to par.

 

[mightymike]

Terry Kilgore Aka Tube Tramp on the forums

 

[hellaboogie]

Antique Electronic Supply http://www.tubesandmore.com/

 

[Enjolras56]

Terry Kilgore Aka Tube Tramp on the forums

My former guitar teacher!

 

[Mudder]

No love for Eurotubes? I've made multiple purchases with them, with great result.

Eurotubes is JJ exclusively though right? If you like and want JJ tubes the Eurotubes is fine. If you want another brand you have to go somewhere else.

 

[Laura]

Doug's Tubes
Valve Queen
Tube Store
Tube Depot
TC Tubes

They're all the same really. I think TC Tubes and Tube Depot have the best shipping/communication though.

The differences are in the burn in, testing and matching processes for the most part as well as customer service. Doug and I go way back and he was always cool to me when I was his customer. I had some issues with one retailer and was appalled at how poorly they handled an issue with a quad that shorted out instantly after I had them installed in an amp.

 

[FourT6and2]

Doug's Tubes
Valve Queen
Tube Store
Tube Depot
TC Tubes

They're all the same really. I think TC Tubes and Tube Depot have the best shipping/communication though.

The differences are in the burn in, testing and matching processes for the most part as well as customer service. Doug and I go way back and he was always cool to me when I was his customer. I had some issues with one retailer and was appalled at how poorly they handled an issue with a quad that shorted out instantly after I had them installed in an amp.

I've never had a real "customer service issue" with any of them. I order the tubes. They arrive in a box. That's basically how it's always gone for me. But I've found that the two places I mentioned have the fastest and cheapest shipping. That's really the only discernible difference from my experience. But that might just depend on where I'm located compared to them. That and how well the tubes are matched.

Speaking of matching... I don't know why more tube amps don't have individual bias per tube. The Chupacabra I used to have was the only amp I've seen with that feature and it let me use whatever tubes I wanted, regardless of how well they were matched. Because I could always bias them up the exact same. It's like maybe $5 more in parts. I wish more builders did this.

 

[d1469d]

I would rather buy tubes from a smaller dealer like Valve Queen. They are a smaller company who cares about music and the product they sell. I have emailed Valve Queen several times and have had a quick response every time.

 

[RJF]

Speaking of matching... I don't know why more tube amps don't have individual bias per tube. The Chupacabra I used to have was the only amp I've seen with that feature and it let me use whatever tubes I wanted, regardless of how well they were matched. Because I could always bias them up the exact same. It's like maybe $5 more in parts. I wish more builders did this.

I believe my Cobra is set up that way.

 

[FourT6and2]

Speaking of matching... I don't know why more tube amps don't have individual bias per tube. The Chupacabra I used to have was the only amp I've seen with that feature and it let me use whatever tubes I wanted, regardless of how well they were matched. Because I could always bias them up the exact same. It's like maybe $5 more in parts. I wish more builders did this.

I believe my Cobra is set up that way.

Sweet, didn't know Framus did that too. So there's a separate bias pot for each tube?

 

[xXDaveyJonesXx]

Speaking of matching... I don't know why more tube amps don't have individual bias per tube. The Chupacabra I used to have was the only amp I've seen with that feature and it let me use whatever tubes I wanted, regardless of how well they were matched. Because I could always bias them up the exact same. It's like maybe $5 more in parts. I wish more builders did this.

I believe my Cobra is set up that way.

Sweet, didn't know Framus did that too. So there's a separate bias pot for each tube?

There's a bias point for each tube on the Cobra to take a reading, but it sounds like you're talking about a bias control pot to set voltage to taste in each tube individually. If that's what you mean, then no, Framus is standard affair with one bias control.

 

[FourT6and2]

Speaking of matching... I don't know why more tube amps don't have individual bias per tube. The Chupacabra I used to have was the only amp I've seen with that feature and it let me use whatever tubes I wanted, regardless of how well they were matched. Because I could always bias them up the exact same. It's like maybe $5 more in parts. I wish more builders did this.

I believe my Cobra is set up that way.

Sweet, didn't know Framus did that too. So there's a separate bias pot for each tube?

There's a bias point for each tube on the Cobra to take a reading, but it sounds like you're talking about a bias control pot to set voltage to taste in each tube individually. If that's what you mean, then no, Framus is standard affair with one bias control.

Ah. Thanks for the clarification. Yeah, I'm talking about a separate bias pot for each tube. Not merely bias points for taking a reading. The Chupacabra had individual pots per power tube. So even if the tubes were mismatched, you could get them biased the exact same. But because I had this control, I discovered that many tubes actually sounded better when they were mismatched slightly. Gave a more "musical" sound that was a bit raunchier.

Plus back in the day before tube venders, nobody bought matched tubes anyway as far as I can tell.

 

[Laura]

Separate bias controls and external bias controls are so nice to have.

 

[xXDaveyJonesXx]

Separate bias controls and external bias controls are so nice to have.

Yeah, tell us about your Fortinfier!

 

[Les Zombie]

my last 2 times i had to retube i bought from valvequeen, she will get my business from now on.
shes been a friend on the forums over the years and i like to support her business.

in the past i also bought from dougs and eurotubes and never had a problem, they are good guys but i wanna continue to support laura and her business since shes always been cool with me and a forum member, and she knows what shes talking about.

 

[headlessdeadguy]

Valvequeen = End of thread....

 

[Mailman1971]

I got a set of Preamp tubes from Laura. They were shipped very fast and everytime I have had tube questions She was more then glad to help me out with my Noob questions.
Damn near an all day question and answer session that she was very helpful with explaining things.
For me that was GREATLY APPRECIATED!!
She gets my vote!

 

[WizardSouth-JP]

another vote for ValveQueen - she knows what tubes to suggest for whatever you're trying to achieve