Buying Tubes

[glpg80]

Apparently this guy can still get them from somewhere overseas. He was the owner of a stateside tube distribution company listed on one of these threads recently. I wanted to reach out to one of them to hear their response directly from the horses mouth.

 

[War_in_D]

**Edit for crappy math skills**

I just looked at Viva Tubes today out of curiosity, and of the three sets of tubes I bought last week from them, this is how they stack up pricewise:

1 Quad Sovtek 6L6WXT+: Last week $114 and this week $163
1 Duet Genalex 6V6GT: Last week $74 and this week $102
1 Quad Svetlana EL34: Last week $118 and this week.. Out of Stock

That's a round about 43% and 37% increase since last week on the Sovtek and Genalex respectively , so I could speculate that the EL34's would have been somewhere near $170 if they had them in stock. That's amounts to a ~$130 increase in a weeks time, and it's only going to get worse I fear.

 

[Fret-Shredder]

**Edit for crappy math skills**

I just looked at Viva Tubes today out of curiosity, and of the three sets of tubes I bought last week from them, this is how they stack up pricewise:

1 Quad Sovtek 6L6WXT+: Last week $114 and this week $163
1 Duet Genalex 6V6GT: Last week $74 and this week $102
1 Quad Svetlana EL34: Last week $118 and this week.. Out of Stock

That's a round about 43% and 37% increase since last week on the Sovtek and Genalex respectively , so I could speculate that the EL34's would have been somewhere near $170 if they had them in stock. That's amounts to a ~$130 increase in a weeks time, and it's only going to get worse I fear.

I'll avoid Viva Tubes in the future. They really seem to be taking advantage with their increased prices.

 

[Philo Beddoe]

The Crystal Lattice is getting expensive..

 

[RedB4Black]

Chondro guitars has a good supply and prices aren’t too out of hand.

 

[Racerxrated]

I just got 3 Svetlana 34s in from 1999; all tested strong, have plenty of getter flash left and showed 30, 38 and 40ma in my Marshall. Paid 60 shipped. These are still out there, if you’re patient and know what to look for. For those unfamiliar these are basically Winged Cs before the Svetlana plant lost the rights to the Svetlana name, and were changed to Winged C.

 

[Dino 939]

I don’t doubt it. I’m sure every touring professional that uses real amps is buying every tube they can. Sadly, it’s only going to get worse.

Yeah I want to get as much $ for my tubes also.
However, someone will step up and fill the void so the panic is good for profit on my end, go ahead buy everything including thei employees damn shirt in a frenzy when most don’t even play or open up a tube amplifier for more then ONE hour a week.
Bogarts.?

Once the LED pre & power tubes get sorted, calibrated & matched in numbers (100’s to 1,000’s of them) hence the new massive all in one ultra high voltage transformers on the cutting edge??
-Y’all can keep buying every damn electron tube in existence and HOARD ON MAN!

***PS***. Do not start the toilet paper asshat madness again, we need to take dumps..,
so settle down,
&
-if you f’n take a log.. put a fatty back!!!
(Stinkiest pun I’ve ever smelt!)

 

[ClintN667]

Yeah I want to get as much $ for my tubes also.
However, someone will step up and fill the void so the panic is good for profit on my end, go ahead buy everything including thei employees damn shirt in a frenzy when most don’t even play or open up a tube amplifier for more then ONE hour a week.
Bogarts.?

Once the LED pre & power tubes get sorted, calibrated & matched in numbers (100’s to 1,000’s of them) hence the new massive all in one ultra high voltage transformers on the cutting edge??
-Y’all can keep buying every damn electron tube in existence and HOARD ON MAN!

***PS***. Do not start the toilet paper asshat madness again, we need to take dumps..,
so settle down,
&
-if you f’n take a log.. put a fatty back!!!
(Stinkiest pun I’ve ever smelt!)

I think it's perfectly reasonable to have enough to retube each of your amps. I just spent several thousand on amps last year and it would absolutely suck to have them turned into paper weights over a 20 -40 dollar component. Buying more than you could ever use or buying with the intent of gouging later is another story.

 

[IronHeadSlim]

I have a Blues Jr Mk III & a 205H. Last week I bought one burned in matching pair of EL84s, 2 matching pairs of EL34, 6 12AX7s. All JJ. Had no spares until then. I am probably good for years! ?

 

[Fret-Shredder]

Hey Elon Musk... Invent us some new Tesla tubes for our amps.

 

[thegame]

Maybe it's time to revisit and further the designs of analog solid state amplifiers? Surely something more than half decent can be achieved in this day and age. To hell with digital amps!

 

[blackba]

I have a Blues Jr Mk III & a 205H. Last week I bought one burned in matching pair of EL84s, 2 matching pairs of EL34, 6 12AX7s. All JJ. Had no spares until then. I am probably good for years! ?

Hope you checked the bias on the blues junior as they are known to run hot.

 

[stephen sawall]

Maybe it's time to revisit and further the designs of analog solid state amplifiers? Surely something more than half decent can be achieved in this day and age. To hell with digital amps!

Steve Fryette said he could make a great sounding solid state amp. But there is no market for it.

A digital controlled solid state amp might be useful.

 

[thegame]

Steve Fryette said he could make a great sounding solid state amp. But there is no market for it.

A digital controlled solid state amp might be useful.

I'll take that claim seriously when he makes a good sounding tube amp. Ouch!!!

 

[Smash]

Steve Fryette said he could make a great sounding solid state amp. But there is no market for it.

A digital controlled solid state amp might be useful.

I would love to have a Fryette solid state amp. I think a lot of us have been waiting for someone to make a quality one.

 

[blackba]

I would love to have a Fryette solid state amp. I think a lot of us have been waiting for someone to make a quality one.

I hear good things about the orange super crush, want to try one out when I can.

I also think a fryette SS amp would be cool, but I think what Steve is really saying is that most think of a SS amp as cheap and to make a cool one he would have to price it probably more than most would want to pay.

 

[Dale B]

I'll take that claim seriously when he makes a good sounding tube amp. Ouch!!!

Or any amp... He hasn't made much of shit over the past 10 years, except for the Deliverance 2. His power amp/attenuator stuff just caters to niche crowds.

 

[Rex Rocker]

I hear good things about the orange super crush, want to try one out when I can.

I also think a fryette SS amp would be cool, but I think what Steve is really saying is that most think of a SS amp as cheap and to make a cool one he would have to price it probably more than most would want to pay.

I've not tried the Super Crush, but I've tried the Crush Pro. Meh. Maybe I'm not an Orange kinda guy, but I'd much rather have a Peavey XXL.

 

[Zado]

I thought the factory in Shuguang China had closed and had not been restarted. Is there one operating right now that anyone knows about?

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/there-us-a-worldwide-panic-on-availability-of-vacuum-tubes

Shuguang factory is closed, but the idea was reopening in another place afaik. No idea if we will live long enough to see it

Anyway it's funny, I've seen plenty of players shitting on JJs, and those are proly what 90% of us will use in few years.

Unless we want to go down the Psvane route, not sure where it leads.

 

[SpiderWars]

...go ahead buy everything including thei employees damn shirt in a frenzy when most don’t even play or open up a tube amplifier for more then ONE hour a week.

I've bought lots of 80s amps that still have the original tubes. Sure they could have used new power tubes but they were playable. I think some people over estimate how much spare tubes they need.

But tube amp manufacturers are kind of fucked. The margins got squeezed AND you can't build as many. And as mentioned, touring pros are going to have to make compromises. Probably a lot of AxeFxs being sold right now.