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Best high quality NEW tubes?

ryaneirich

ryaneirich

New Member
Hello,

My original question was going to be if anyone still makes tubes in the USA, Japan, Britain, Germany, etc. but ultimately what it boils down to is the title I chose... who makes the highest quality new tubes?

These are the brands I see a lot of:

Electro-Harmonix
Genalex - Gold Lion
JJ Electronic
Mullard
Shuguang
Sovtek
Svetlana
Tung-Sol
Western Electric

I have also heard of these..

Groove Tubes
JAN Military
TAD (Tube Amp Doctor)
Northern Electric
Preferred Series on TheTubeStore.com

Please, no blind brand preference responses. I'd really like to hear things on the more factual/unbiased side. Thanks everyone!

-Ryan
 
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JAN Military tubes I do not believe are made any more as he US does not use tubed equipment any longer. NOS and NIB are all that you are likely to find. They ranged from a stock tube made to fulfill a contract and were a stock tube just given a JAN number to a ruggedized version to a shielded version. Not sure when they were deemed obsolete and non essential but by the mid '70s the rfb for them not longer required all to meet the JAN specification. We used to supply Pease AFB and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard with electronic components.
 
The best-quality Chinese made new production tubes are pretty highly thought of in some circles. Brand names for the better ones include, e.g., PSVane and Sofia. I use Sofia 2A3s in my power amplifier -- they look goofy, but they sound very good (even compared to vintage dual-plate 2A3s).

DSC_0124 by mhardy6647, on Flickr

JJ Tubes makes some good and even very good tubes still today, but the brand has suffered from some poor QC episodes in the past (and perhaps still do).
The ElectroHarmonix (Russian made) current production 7868 and 7591A output tubes are perfectly respectable sounding and represent, IMO, much more practical alternatives to NOS for these two (intimately related) tube types.

I am disposed against new production tubes (all, I believe hailing from Russia) carrying the brand names and logos of great tube brands of the past: Tung-Sol, Mullard, etc. I actually think some of them are pretty good tubes, and the parent company owns the right to use the names... but it still galls me.

JAN tubes were made by multiple companies; I am not sure they were even all US-sourced (particularly towards the end of the military vacuum tube era, which really wasn't all that long ago... ca. 1980s).

Oh, as an aside -- it seems like very few folks (at least in my experience) think too highly of any of the modern production HV rectifier tubes. Fortunately, there seem to be vast supplies of NOS and good used stock of most of the classic 5V filament rectifiers -- with the noteworthy exception of the 'designed for hifi' 5AR4/GZ34.

At the moment, I've got an ancient, used ST-envelope 5Y3 running in my old Decware Zen SE-84B... and it works great. I can't say it's any better in any respect than any other 5Y3 (a tube which is common as dirt)... but it definitely looks cooler.
 
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Electro-Harmonix and JJ.

I have used these brands in multiple applications and amps and have never been disappointed... but it really depends on the tube... What particular tube/tubes are you looking for?
 
Just off the cuff.....Some of the brands you listed, like EH or is it Groove Tubes, don't make tubes. They just rebrand (put their name on) Russian, Chinese, etc tubes. There are some web resources that'll correlate markings on those tubes with the actual manufacturer.

For what it's worth....JJ makes tubes and I've never had any problem with them. They've performed wonderfully in a variety of circuits - both signal and power tubes of different types. Newer Sovteks on the other hand (even if rebranded) and some generic Chinese tubes (all signal tubes) have been the only tubes I've seen that have failed miserably in guitar amps - sometimes six at a whack in a Mesa. And it has never been the 'amps problem'...just tube failure.

I stick with the JJs or vintage tubes of many manufacturers. I prefer tubes from old organs and oscilloscopes since many of them were hand selected way back when for certain characteristics.
 
Personal experience here.

JJ 2A3-40 is an amazing tube.

Sovtek 2A3 is good but the JJ is so much better!

TJ 300B/n aka Sophia mesh plate 300B - TJ factory in Tianjin. Solid, well built tube with excellent sonics.

Genalex KT-88, for the money, is an excellent tube. Mine came from Jim McShane. I have sourced from others and met with failures.

Psvane 300B T series (grey bottle) is very good. Pricey. Their small signal tubes are besting many NOS favorites.

Shuguang 300B-98 are very good for the money. Quality seems to be improving.

I have been underwhelmed by the newer rectifier tubes.
 
Highest quality I have found is from Emission Labs out of the Czech Republic.

I use their 300b's, 2a3's and more recently their 5u4g rectifier and have not had single problem.
 
I'm using Penta KT-66's and like them. They are Chinese made but perhaps a rung up on the quality scale. They seem to get good reviews.
 
Thanks -- I looked at their website & found info... but I hadn't gotten a chance to come back to this thread & amend my post (sorry about that).

I am always on the lookout for 2A3 options -- although I've gotta say that the Sofia "meshplate" 2A3 tubes, silly looking as they are, do sound good.

EDIT Those remind me of the old Kron Labs tubes, or maybe the AVVT tubes of yore?
 
My current inventory of equipment is a:

Scott LK-72A (12AX&, 6GH8, 7591, 5AR4/GZ-34)
ST-70 (7199's,GS34/5AR4)
PAS-2 (12AX7 (ECC-83), 12X4)

However I plan to swap the LK-72 for a 299D, and sell the ST70 and build a pair of Tubes4HiFi M125 Monoblocks in the future
 
TubesUSA

TubesUSA is a terrific source of tubes. They are very prompt in processing an order and will provide important advice on tube selection. EML tubes are somewhat touchy when it comes to compatibility issues. TubesUSA will give honest answers about gear that is not suited to these tubes. Afer a purchase, they will often follow up with phone calls just to check if everything is working out.
 
Jeepers, the Emission Labs tubes are expensive. They may be great, but a pair of their 2A3s would cost considerably more than the amplifier in which I'd put them (i.e., not cost-effective for me).
 
onemug said:
Highest quality I have found is from Emission Labs out of the Czech Republic.

I use their 300b's, 2a3's and more recently their 5u4g rectifier and have not had single problem.
Click to expand...

Just curious - Are you using the EML Mesh or solid plate 2A3s?

I've had JJ 2A3-40s and think they're pretty darn good and reasonably priced.
And after seeing a couple hundred MHardy pics of his beautiful glowing Sophia Meshies I couldn't resist and bought a pair of those and they are nice as well. Different flavors, and each would probably sound best depending on the system.

Shuguang 2A3Cs are also good but not as good as the JJs or Sophias, but better than either Old Stock Sylvainia 2A3s or Sovtek 2A3s, at least in my system.

I've also run new JJ EL84s and they are nice tubes, never had a problem (I had an amp that used 8).
 
Just to clarify -- two or three photos, reposted hundreds of times... ;-)

I have been meaning to try the JJ 2A3s sometime -- I've certainly read good things about them.

The Sovtek 2A3 is the bargain champ, I'd opine, of current production 2A3 tubes. Solid performance, but a little dry or soul-less sounding. Then again, for the $, they're more than respectable... and they're reliable, too.

paramours 112413 by mhardy6647, on Flickr
 
sebrof said:
Just curious - Are you using the EML Mesh or solid plate 2A3s?

I've had JJ 2A3-40s and think they're pretty darn good and reasonably priced.
And after seeing a couple hundred MHardy pics of his beautiful glowing Sophia Meshies I couldn't resist and bought a pair of those and they are nice as well. Different flavors, and each would probably sound best depending on the system.

Shuguang 2A3Cs are also good but not as good as the JJs or Sophias, but better than either Old Stock Sylvainia 2A3s or Sovtek 2A3s, at least in my system.

I've also run new JJ EL84s and they are nice tubes, never had a problem (I had an amp that used 8).
Click to expand...

My EML 2a3's are the meshes.

Also have a pair of the Sophia 2a3 and 300b meshes. I really like the sound of their mesh tubes. A very wise conclusion of yours about different tubes in different circuits...I've experienced it.
 
mhardy6647 said:
Jeepers, the Emission Labs tubes are expensive. They may be great, but a pair of their 2A3s would cost considerably more than the amplifier in which I'd put them (i.e., not cost-effective for me).
Click to expand...

Yeah, the price is up there. I have two thoughts about it though...

1. If a tube lasts twice as long then I'd consider it half priced. The math works out right up until you drop the tube :). So far, these are proving to be very durable.

2. If I ever sell my amp, I'll keep the EML's for the next one. Looks like SET's are here to stay in my system.
 
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