Good deal on 8th gen foil getter Chinese tubes

[LP Freak]

Does Nesstone send out tracking info when they ship?

 

[RedB4Black]

Does Nesstone send out tracking info when they ship?

Yes. I got tracking very quickly. Shipping was fast.

 

[LP Freak]

Does Nesstone send out tracking info when they ship?

Yes. I got tracking very quickly. Shipping was fast.

Just checked my email and it was there.

 

[SpiderWars]

Can I get a link if you don't mind?

Those sources dried up but I just now remembered they were on Alibaba for a while.

 

[Wizard of Ozz]

They may be cheaper, but when I sell them they are fully tested. I heat them up for 15-20 minutes so they are at proper temperatures and test them each for transconductance as well as gain. This takes time and effort. Hence why I charge around $20 a piece. I have 100’s of them. Just food for thought.

That right there. I’ve probably got around 200 purchased from different sources... and the reject rate on these “military” tubes is around 40%. I have the same tube tester Dave uses... and the tester is very accurate (which few dealers even own or use) and the time required to test the for all the different parameters. High noise floor is a common thing with these tubes... and in a high gin amp, that is a non-starter. Caveat emptor.

 

[Racerxrated]

....and I've bought 40 direct from China, and they all sound stellar. From 6-8 bucks a tube. The only one that failed was a red print 12ax7b, one out of 3. The rest have been great..the military 6N4. Not sure if you can still get them direct now, but stocked up over the past few yrs.

Can I get a link if you don't mind?

.
PMd

 

[psychodave]

They may be cheaper, but when I sell them they are fully tested. I heat them up for 15-20 minutes so they are at proper temperatures and test them each for transconductance as well as gain. This takes time and effort. Hence why I charge around $20 a piece. I have 100’s of them. Just food for thought.

That right there. I’ve probably got around 200 purchased from different sources... and the reject rate on these “military” tubes is around 40%. I have the same tube tester Dave uses... and the tester is very accurate (which few dealers even own or use) and the time required to test the for all the different parameters. High noise floor is a common thing with these tubes... and in a high gin amp, that is a non-starter. Caveat emptor.

40%. Yikes.

No shit...out of the 400+ 6N4J’s that I bought from one source, 3-4 total were rejects. All other tubes tested stronger than new. A few were insanely strong. The tubes were so good, I told Steve K and a few others about them and they all bought 100 tubes each.

As you know it takes time to proper test tubes. I do it so I know exactly what I’m putting in my amps. I can easily replicate tubes so my amp tone doesn’t change every time I put in the some tubes. It’s funny how anal retentive guitar players are with buying $3000-$5000 amps, true bypass pedals, high quality cables and trust a tube dealer, who’s sole purpose is to make money, and they have no idea what they are actually getting. For example, it’s known Mesa Boogie tests their tubes really well. I’ve have many Boogie tubes sets that were off more than 5 mA and quads off more than 10 mA. I have enough stock where I’m able to match pairs and quads within 1-2 mA.

 

[FondledDuck]

Just bought some!

 

[Wizard of Ozz]

They may be cheaper, but when I sell them they are fully tested. I heat them up for 15-20 minutes so they are at proper temperatures and test them each for transconductance as well as gain. This takes time and effort. Hence why I charge around $20 a piece. I have 100’s of them. Just food for thought.

That right there. I’ve probably got around 200 purchased from different sources... and the reject rate on these “military” tubes is around 40%. I have the same tube tester Dave uses... and the tester is very accurate (which few dealers even own or use) and the time required to test the for all the different parameters. High noise floor is a common thing with these tubes... and in a high gin amp, that is a non-starter. Caveat emptor.

40%. Yikes.

No shit...out of the 400+ 6N4J’s that I bought from one source, 3-4 total were rejects. All other tubes tested stronger than new. A few were insanely strong. The tubes were so good, I told Steve K and a few others about them and they all bought 100 tubes each.

As you know it takes time to proper test tubes. I do it so I know exactly what I’m putting in my amps. I can easily replicate tubes so my amp tone doesn’t change every time I put in the some tubes. It’s funny how anal retentive guitar players are with buying $3000-$5000 amps, true bypass pedals, high quality cables and trust a tube dealer, who’s sole purpose is to make money, and they have no idea what they are actually getting. For example, it’s known Mesa Boogie tests their tubes really well. I’ve have many Boogie tubes sets that were off more than 5 mA and quads off more than 10 mA. I have enough stock where I’m able to match pairs and quads within 1-2 mA.

I’m really picky. I want them with really, little background noise... but with a decent amount of gain. Sitting there with the headphones on listening to squealing and feedback gets annoying after awhile. I also found out you can hook the tester up to a pair of powered studio monitors as well to listen. A lot of the ones I reject are still useable... but too noisy with too much feedback for my amps + high output pickups + od pedal... squeeeeeaaaallll city.

Mesa’s tube testing is very hit or miss. I’ve gotten several with 4 ma difference sold together as a matched pair. I usually buy 8 of the same color code, test them and make my own sets.

 

[Racerxrated]

They may be cheaper, but when I sell them they are fully tested. I heat them up for 15-20 minutes so they are at proper temperatures and test them each for transconductance as well as gain. This takes time and effort. Hence why I charge around $20 a piece. I have 100’s of them. Just food for thought.

That right there. I’ve probably got around 200 purchased from different sources... and the reject rate on these “military” tubes is around 40%. I have the same tube tester Dave uses... and the tester is very accurate (which few dealers even own or use) and the time required to test the for all the different parameters. High noise floor is a common thing with these tubes... and in a high gin amp, that is a non-starter. Caveat emptor.

40%. Yikes.

No shit...out of the 400+ 6N4J’s that I bought from one source, 3-4 total were rejects. All other tubes tested stronger than new. A few were insanely strong. The tubes were so good, I told Steve K and a few others about them and they all bought 100 tubes each.

As you know it takes time to proper test tubes. I do it so I know exactly what I’m putting in my amps. I can easily replicate tubes so my amp tone doesn’t change every time I put in the some tubes. It’s funny how anal retentive guitar players are with buying $3000-$5000 amps, true bypass pedals, high quality cables and trust a tube dealer, who’s sole purpose is to make money, and they have no idea what they are actually getting. For example, it’s known Mesa Boogie tests their tubes really well. I’ve have many Boogie tubes sets that were off more than 5 mA and quads off more than 10 mA. I have enough stock where I’m able to match pairs and quads within 1-2 mA.

Wow. 40% is bad. I’ve never had any problems with the 6n4s I’ve bought, but I haven’t bought anywhere near the number Dave has. Probably 30-40. No failures, and I’ve tried them all when they first arrive.
The few failures I’ve had were the red print 12ax7B, 2 out of 6 were bad. But the military 6n4 has been great.

 

[Markedman]

My tubes arrived yesterday and I'm taking them to my tech tomorrow, he's working on the 400.

 

[phil b]

I've bought quite a few tubes from Craig (Nesstone) and every tube so far has tested very strong and the pairs and quads all have matched extremely tight. Been using him for years with zero issues.