Tube Thread 2025..........

  • Thread starter Thread starter The~Kid
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The~Kid said:
Great well...........


I don't know who Matt is.....



All I know is Groove Tubes are the shit....... if you cant afford them get whatever other BS :dunno:
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Groove Tubes is snake oil at its finest. They just relabel and test, and they fail too. Fuck them. Last ones I bought was out of desperation ar GC, and they didn't last long.
 
napalmdeath said:
Groove Tubes is snake oil at its finest. They just relabel and test, and they fail too. Fuck them. Last ones I bought was out of desperation ar GC, and they didn't last long.
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Ikr we have beaten this dead horse to napalm death lol ..
 
napalmdeath said:
Groove Tubes is snake oil at its finest. They just relabel and test, and they fail too. Fuck them. Last ones I bought was out of desperation ar GC, and they didn't last long.
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Yeah........ Um not any less snake oil than Mesa Tubes that are rebranded JJs..... and cost the same as Groove Tube rebranded JJs...... nvm a lot of places that match JJs don't cost that much less after shipping or if anything what 20 bucks less.......


I guess fuck everyone else that rebrands or grades tubes too :dunno:


I'd still argue Groove Tube or Mesa rebrands are better than OEM JJs...... but at the end of the day it doesn't matter because you still have JJs....



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Presumably a lot of the 12AX7 that come OEM from the factory on an amp are tested to some degree too no...... maybe not graded but tested at some level......


Yet a regular 12AX7B while great ImO just is missing the mojo the Groove Tubes 12AX7-C version brings..... don't know if it's the way they grade them, if they send Groove Tubes only the stuff that really cuts it and everyone else whatever doesn't make it......

All I know is IME they surprisingly sounded better than their OEM counterparts...... yeah they are rebrands..... whatever it is..... they just sound that much better IME.


YMMV and if you don't like the prices there are other places that rebrand or grade like Mesa Tubes, Dougs Tubes or The Tubes Store or Viva Tubes that sell great tubes at the same or lower cost and they are also reputable places...... me I just got these two of these from a local mom and pop for 16 bucks and change and was surprised how damn good they were and I'm just sticking to them.......:dunno:


They were supposed to be Russian but yeah..... I think they sold them separately and had these "cheaper" Chinese tubes instead :LOL:


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The~Kid said:
Yeah........ Um not any less snake oil than Mesa Tubes that are rebranded JJs..... and cost the same as Groove Tube rebranded JJs...... nvm a lot of places that match JJs don't cost that much less after shipping or if anything what 20 bucks less.......


I guess fuck everyone else that rebrands or grades tubes too :dunno:


I'd still argue Groove Tube or Mesa rebrands are better than OEM JJs...... but at the end of the day it doesn't matter because you still have JJs....



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Mesa rebrands Chinese, Russian, and Slovakian. They're not all JJ.

I've never had issues with any non-relabeled tubes as long as they're bought from a reputable dealer that tests and grades above and beyond the norm.
 
napalmdeath said:
Mesa rebrands Chinese, Russian, and Slovakian. They're not all JJ.

I've never had issues with any non-relabeled tubes as long as they're bought from a reputable dealer that tests and grades above and beyond the norm.
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Yeah they arent all rebrands but Mesa EL84 pretty much are rebranded JJs....... in case you didn't know now you know and they cost the same as Groove Tube JJ rebrands too..... other places charge about the same for their grading if not slightly less short of Wallmart places like SweetWater now.......


I mean it's nothing new and it's not exclusive to Groove Tubes.
 
Also took me forever to realize the difference but here for example you can see pretty much all the OEM 12AX7Bs are a couple millimeters shorter.

Comparing a Groove Tube 12AX7-C with what is supposed to be the same thing and 3 seperate 12AX7B...... but as you can see the Groove Tube versions are taller @napalmdeath ....... Thicker glass too...... and the inside and build looks a little bit cleaner and more uniform on the Groove Tube versions too vs the standard OEM version. Scuffs and some blemishes with some stuff not as nicely put together on the inside of the 12AX7Bs and the Groove Tubes look clean as a whistle by comparison.



So I mean as said you can check out other rebrands like Mesa or Ruby Tubes and I imagine they get the same level of quality tubes and the OEM stuff gets sent for amps as tubes from the factory or whatever everyone else gets that think they are all simply just rebrands....... this or you can get further graded OEM factory tubes that are like these shorter versions with less glass just graded......



At the end of the day right who cares...... simply get graded OEMs or rebrands from whoever...... no one is forcing anyone to buy rebrands or graded tubes or OEM ungraded tubes....... there are options and if you dont think its worth it just buy other rebrands, graded tubes or OEM :dunno:

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The~Kid said:
Yeah they arent all rebrands but Mesa EL84 pretty much are rebranded JJs....... in case you didn't know now you know and they cost the same as Groove Tube JJ rebrands too..... other places charge about the same for their grading if not slightly less short of Wallmart places like SweetWater now.......


I mean it's nothing new and it's not exclusive to Groove Tubes.
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Mesa EL84's could be Sovtek as well, but I'm not going to argue with somebody who's not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I buy several brands, and typically use a mix in every amp. I buy from respected dealers and skip the "GT" upcharge that's pure snake oil, as is with Mesa. Their testing and grading is no more extensive than any respected dealers are, you're paying for a name, and pure B.S.
 
napalmdeath said:
Mesa EL84's could be Sovtek as well, but I'm not going to argue with somebody who's not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I buy several brands, and typically use a mix in every amp. I buy from respected dealers and skip the "GT" upcharge that's pure snake oil, as is with Mesa. Their testing and grading is no more extensive than any respected dealers are, you're paying for a name, and pure B.S.
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You could tell by the construction of current production Mesa EL84..... and put it side by side with a JJ and they are pretty much JJ rebrands..... the grid, getter, spacer...... it's all the same materials and construction my guy.....



And again probably better than the OEM regarding quality but I mean who cares at that point, it's still a JJ :dunno:


So how much are you saving with OEM graded tubes.... 10 or 20 bucks if that..... okay dude you save those bucks and don't buy snake oil..... I just showed with the Groove Tubes next to the OEM counterparts they aren't simply rebrands even though they are. They are built with thicker glass, taller and yeah the construction is a lot more tight and uniform on average....... the stuff that doesn't make it to rebrand it seems...... is destined to be B stock for tubes in amps from the factory or for further grading..... and the tubes your going to buy.......


You Pay for that grading on that B stock, pay less, save money and be happy and think it's the same thing ^_^
 
The~Kid said:
You could tell by the construction of current production Mesa EL84..... and put it side by side with a JJ and they are pretty much JJ rebrands.....


And again probably better than the OEM regarded stuff but I mean who cares at that point, it's still a JJ :dunno:
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What makes it BETTER? is a Mesa JJ EL84 better than Eurotubes bought EL84? If so, how?
 
napalmdeath said:
What makes it BETTER? is a Mesa JJ EL84 better than Eurotubes bought EL84? If so, how?
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I don't know....... maybe it is..... maybe it aint.....

But from trying Groove Tube rebrands 9th Gen compared to OEM 9th Gen..... wouldn't be surprised.

I mean save 10-20 bucks or whatever. Be happy and just get graded tubes vs rebrands. In some cases the only option are OEM graded tubes such as with TungSols or Mullard RI and I will buy those from places that grade them but otherwise with the 9th Gen I'm more than happy with the Groove Tube Rebrands.....

Also have had graded OEM JJ before....... same deal the Groove Tube versions were better. Don't know how or why or what explains it but yeah there are differences and the 12AX7B OEM and 12AX7-C Groove Tube show them as well not just in performance but slight differences in quality standards of build and quality of materials used from what it looks like. Not necessarily different materials or builds just different quality standards.


My guess is that the rebrands such as Groove Tube, Ruby Tube or Mesa are simply screened and filtered to slightly higher standards and everyone else just gets what doesn't cut the test for their standards.
 
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And as we can see MSRP on Groove Tube 12AX7-C is normally 30 bucks...... Fender owns Groove Tube and the Groove Tube website is basically the Fender website.


But these aren't just regular 12AX7-C...... they are further graded for HG at 40 bucks or HG+ variants for 50 bucks on top of the screening and filtering to the standards of Groove Tubes...... So yeah it cost a bit more vs the MSRP price but I imagine all the stock non graded versions have already been sold and yeah long out of stock... .


So I mean given everyone else has them out of stock and you can't get them anywhere else...... they aren't just regular Groove Tubes they are Gold Label/Premiums that are the best they offer...... and further screened and sold at a fair market value with the additional grading at HG or HG+..... Honestly they should be charging more but they aren't at Ruby Tubes and these are only at limited quantities.


If you don't think these at fair market price are worth it....... there are other rebrands or graded OEM 9th Gen.



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Probably the only other ones to the same level of standard given rebrand are Tube Amp Doctor versions and the Ruby Tube 9th Gens at Ruby Tube and Dougs Tubes...... This probably explains the price differences too aside from the rebranding and overall quality and difference of what cuts it to be a rebrand and then the stuff that gets sent to everyone else to get graded....

IMO just given the difference in performance and overall higher quality standards the Groove Tube versions are built to, thicker glass, slightly bigger grid, neater and cleaner build etc etc.....


These tubes really should cost more given the scarcity but they are being offered at market value at the moment. Nevermind the Premium versions are the highest standard Groove Tubes offer and these are further screened/graded by Ruby Tubes to HG or HG+.......... If you can't get the graded rebrands or just regular rebrands check out the graded OEMs and IMO still worth it and you save some bucks too.


Limited supplies on these things pretty much and yeah you can't find the 12AX7-C anywhere else or a lot of these 9th Gens in general.
 
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I received my Groove tubes 12ax7HG+ tubes today and I am very happy with the result. I put one in position 1,3 & 4. I put a Genelex, made in Germany 12at7 in position 2 and a Groove tubes 12ax7c in #5. I lost no gain with the at7 and the amp is so much clearer across the spectrum.
Lots of thanks to "the Kid"!

Boogie Mark 2 manual by John Bazzano, on Flickr
 
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