Winged C vs New Psvane

That's a lot of scratch to risk on an AliExpress transaction. The Psvanes seem to be geared towards the audiophiles more than guitarists.

I'll take a quad of EH's for half the price from a reputable dealer. They sound great and have a decent reliability track record.
 
That's a lot of scratch to risk on an AliExpress transaction. The Psvanes seem to be geared towards the audiophiles more than guitarists.

I'll take a quad of EH's for half the price from a reputable dealer. They sound great and have a decent reliability track record.
Yeaaa I’m sure psvane is putting out quality stuff but I wouldn’t trust ones from aliexpress. There is probably a reason they ended up there and not a reputable dealer
 
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Audio hi-fi that "distorts" is very bad where-as guitar amps that distort is good.
A tube can test 100% good and still not have the mojo.
Not a fan of Jina or Slovak tubes. And the original NOS SED =C='s are all but gone and even those were just average.
No telling whats up with New Sensor Russia these days. Last quad Svets i got wouldn't bias properly and the vendor wouldn't let me return or get a refund.
And PP wouldn't give me my money back either and ive had a 20 yr history as 100% feedback. Try splaining tube bias complexities to the PP call center in da
Phillipines. Does not register.
Didn't have to do that twice. I went full NOS. Ive got a good stash and need not buy the junk floating around now.
NOS Mullard UK & Amperex Holland used radio-active isotopes and other chemicals long since banned thats why many 50/60 yrs later still have great complex midrange & test as new.
I'll stick with them.

 
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I've bought from Aliexpress before. Of course, this was back 2018-19 when the Military 6N4(same as 8th/9th gen Chinese 12ax7) sold for 4 bucks a tube. They all showed up and tested perfect. When I ordered 12ax7Bs, same tube but non military version, for every 6 I bought 2 were bad. They were 2 bucks a tube though, so I didn't care.
Took about 3 weeks to get here. Not sure what the stupid ass Tarrif is these days though....
 
3467861-896005e3-2-matched-philips-amperex-bugle-boy-holland-el34-6ca7-tubes-xf4-xf5-tested-strong.jpg


Audio hi-fi that "distorts" is very bad where-as guitar amps that distort is good.
A tube can test 100% good and still not have the mojo.
Not a fan of Jina or Slovak tubes. And the original NOS SED =C='s are all but gone and even those were just average.
No telling whats up with New Sensor Russia these days. Last quad Svets i got wouldn't bias properly and the vendor wouldn't let me return or get a refund.
And PP wouldn't give me my money back either and ive had a 20 yr history as 100% feedback. Try splaining tube bias complexities to the PP call center in da
Phillipines. Does not register.
Didn't have to do that twice. I went full NOS. Ive got a good stash and need not buy the junk floating around now.
NOS Mullard UK & Amperex Holland used radio-active isotopes and other chemicals long since banned thats why many 50/60 yrs later still have great complex midrange & test as new.
I'll stick with them.


The real question is how good they are $$$ over the new regular ones.

If you play and change them to compare will you bother about the sound?
Every amp is good in the room until you place a better one side by side, but if you don't you will be still happy.
 
The real question is how good they are $$$ over the new regular ones.

If you play and change them to compare will you bother about the sound?
Every amp is good in the room until you place a better one side by side, but if you don't you will be still happy.
They really brought my amps to life. I'll never need to buy 6CA7's again.
I do like the Sovtex 6L6WXT+ in certain amps. And Sylvanias.
I think for the average guy the Russian power tubes are the way to go.
 
I love winged c 6l6 and have been very skeptical of psvane. However, the psvane 12ax7 are very good. Musical with a relaxed high end.
 
3467861-896005e3-2-matched-philips-amperex-bugle-boy-holland-el34-6ca7-tubes-xf4-xf5-tested-strong.jpg


Audio hi-fi that "distorts" is very bad where-as guitar amps that distort is good.
A tube can test 100% good and still not have the mojo.
Not a fan of Jina or Slovak tubes. And the original NOS SED =C='s are all but gone and even those were just average.
No telling whats up with New Sensor Russia these days. Last quad Svets i got wouldn't bias properly and the vendor wouldn't let me return or get a refund.
And PP wouldn't give me my money back either and ive had a 20 yr history as 100% feedback. Try splaining tube bias complexities to the PP call center in da
Phillipines. Does not register.
Didn't have to do that twice. I went full NOS. Ive got a good stash and need not buy the junk floating around now.
NOS Mullard UK & Amperex Holland used radio-active isotopes and other chemicals long since banned thats why many 50/60 yrs later still have great complex midrange & test as new.
I'll stick with them.



I had a similar situation just happen.

I bought one quad and one pair of Philips/Mullard XF4. One tube in each set arrived defective. Merchant refused refund/replacement, even though their return policy states they accept returns—defective or not. I filed a dispute with my CC company but surprisingly, they sided with the merchant. I'm still trying to work it out.

What you say is 100% true. Some call-center dumbass in India or the Philippines doesn't know, nor care, about vacuum tubes. They were like... can you prove the tube is defective? I'm like uhhh yeah. Here you go. The guy was like, they don't look broken to me?

The merchant guarantees their tubes to be matched within 2%. Look at the bias probe on the far left. That tube's screen grid is lighting up and drawing 235% more current than the others. It also failed in a tester.

XF4.jpg


Defective Tube from Quad.jpg
 
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I had a similar situation just happen.

I bought one quad and one pair of Philips/Mullard XF4. One tube in each set arrived defective. Merchant refused refund/replacement, even though their return policy states they accept returns—defective or not. I filed a dispute with my CC company but surprisingly, they sided with the merchant. I'm still trying to work it out.

What you say is 100% true. Some call-center dumbass in India or the Philippines doesn't know, nor care, about vacuum tubes. They were like... can you prove the tube is defective? I'm like uhhh yeah. Here you go. The guy was like, they don't look broken to me?

The merchant guarantees their tubes to be matched within 2%. Look at the bias probe on the far left. That tube's screen grid is lighting up and drawing 235% more current than the others. It also failed in a tester.

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View attachment 415297
10-4 the guy i bought NOS from will give you an extra tube with your order in case one does what you describe and one quad i got did have run-away bias.
The extra tube did the trick in my case and i have couple dozen singles & pairs for replacement if needed.
My buddy Obeid Khan always tells me thats the risk you take w/ NOS but any tube can fail at any time doesn't matter the age.
Mr. Khan has a 1987 / 68 Plexi for gigging the loudest 50 watt ive ever heard. It had a pair of Seimens 6CA7's fail after 15 yrs of balls deep
gigging in 110 heat &10- below. We thought those tubes were invincible.
Oddly they died after a generator powered outdoor Marina gig which make me wonder if the line voltage caused that as he uses no power conditioner or voltage regulator.
 
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Buying tubes today is a crapshoot at best. As Mike's situation shows, even sellers with good feedback can't be totally trusted apparently. Over the years I've tried to find/buy used but still strong vintage pre/power tubes. One pre tube finally failed in the Snorkler I had...that was the first one in 10 years. The only power tubes that have failed were in new production amps...the few times I've bought one....most recently in a PRS MT100. TAD red base 6L6GC, 'hand picked' supposedly...one red plated and took out a bias resistor. Previously a JJ went out in an EVH 5153 I had years ago..another new amp.

I did have 2 Siemens 34s start to go bad, in my 69 plexi...but, those are tubes the amp came with so who knows how many hours they had. They still work but the amp started to get noisy...put a different quad of Rivera labelled Siemens in, now its super quiet.
 


This guy is a bogus ebay tube seller. Account goes by his chick [first clue]"Audio tubes are the best" seller : "Laura Ferrer".
bought a "matched quad" NOS from him. One tube tested bad. I contacted him. He assured me they were good.
Like a dumbass i put them in my Friedman JMP and popped a fuse [first ever in 14 yrs]. I was hopping mad.
He kept telling me my tester was wrong i was wrong yada. Stay away from this dude.
 
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