just42dave always has tubes for sale in the classifieds on here. he knows his stuff.
i've bought from the tubestore among other places, with no problems.
i have a small stash....but not really for sale. i've done a ton of tube rolling the past 3 years....and i always go back to what i thought was best sounding in the beginning of it all! you have to find what you love. i'll try my best and steer you in the right direction though. i'll try to use adjectives that avoid the standard/cliched "creamy, smooth, open, silky, crunchy etc" terms that people use a lot..though some tubes ARE crunchy, iv'e noticed that they usually start getting crunchier when they're getting to the end of their lives.
if you're looking for more defined, clearer than a chinese or tungsol, but still high gain, the jjecc83s will work...as will the jj803s (it has a longer plate). i like the 83s due to the shorter plate and less probability it will be microphonic. these have a bigger bassy sound, and leveled off mids and highs. defined is a good word for them. some people don't notice at all the difference between tubes.
any of the shuguang 12ax7b are good tubes from a reputable seller that tests them first...these tubes CAN be microphonic out of the box to some degree or another, due to quality control issues at the plant they're made (which isn't such a huge deal in a head, but in a combo you'll notice it much more at higher volumes with a tube that might not start squealing in a head..eventually though, it'll start squealing no matter what). people also refer to these as silver dragons. i prefer them in a high gain v1 slot of my amps, among other slots. they ARE in comparison to the others, crunchier, and a tad less defined in the mids..the bass is generally tight, and focused...i'd almost say neutral in these tubes compared to others.
a highly popular preamp tube around these parts is the tungsol 12ax7 reissue. they do the job, but dont use them in a cathode follower position.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=122825 my opinion there.
I've found electroharmonix tubes to be bright, and somewhat thin, depending on the position. i like them for reverb tubes...they have a clear sound in the reverb slot. a lot of guys love them in marshall DSL/jcm/SLP amps.
if you want to go VOS or NOS, i'd highly recommend the older RFT12ax7...they have many labels as to manufacturer, but typically have an odd look to the plate. you can google rft12ax7 to see what i mean.
i LOVE these tubes for high gain. typically, you'll spend about 15-30 for a good one though, but well worth it.
my other favorite tube is the sylvania 12ax7. it has 6 holes in a vertically ribbed plate..odd looking too, but freaking sound great in every amp i've tried them in (5150, THD, egnater tourmaster, which are all wayyyy differently voiced amps. again, between 10$-25 depending who you get em from on ebay..as long as they're tested and guarunteed for low microphonics, they're worth 25 in my opinion.
also well worth it would be a standard mullard NOS or VOS. they are great high gain.
in my 5150 i run the following tubes: v1 silver dragon, v2 sylvania, v3 silver dragon v4 groove tube hi gain, v5 (PI slot) sovtek LPS.
the sovtek 12ax7LPS is a great all around sounding tube, and you can't go wrong running them in all positions in an amp (except the cathode follower if your amp has one)....i highly recommend them though specifically for the PI slot in an amp, and V1 in some cases (some people argue matching the PI tube, i did for the LPS, and have also run a non matched one in the same amp with little discernible difference...a lot of people advise it's more noticeable in a hi-fi stereo type setting)..YMMV with this matching, but, again, im' of the mindset that it's snakeoil as long as the triodes in the tube are close, they dont have to be perfect. the propensity for odd/even order harmonics in an a/b tube amp is an animal all of it's own, and i just dont think matching tubes in a guitar amp is worth the extra money you'd pay.
viewtopic.php?f=26&t=117087&p=1379807&hilit=tube#p1379807 theres some good info there. granted, it's an egnater thread, but, cotton7 really breaks down some NOS tube descriptions.
theres also a thread that i compiled about preamp tube stuff that could literally keep you busy reading for days!!!
viewtopic.php?f=26&t=95579&p=1131789&hilit=grailtone#p1131789
over on the grailtone threads, timbre-wolf is who you'll want to pay most attention to...that guys knowledge of tubes for guitar applications is INSANE.
GOod luck, im sure this is probably wayyy more than you're looking for, but i like to be thorough...
oh, also, again, as tone is subjective...and i've found my opinions of certain tubes have changed over the past few years..lol.
