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Tubes Asylum Questions about tubes and gear that glows. FAQ |
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Tubes Asylum Questions about tubes and gear that glows. FAQ |
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In Reply to: Buying "non premium" tubes from "premium" tube sellers posted by mdl on June 16, 2007 at 17:03:32:
I don't know how others do it but here's my approach:
1. ALL tubes get tested, the vast majority pass, but duds are discarded.
2. Of the tubes that pass, some relatively small % can be culled out for something unique about their performance. This could mean balanced triode sections, matching, low noise - or on the other side of the coin, a tube might have a bit more noise or a bit less close match than the majority of the tubes. These tubes are not suitable for all applications, but are still quite usable tubes - for instance I have some 12AX7LPS right now that are a hair too noisy for me to recommend them for phono stages, but they will be perfect in a line level application.
3. Tubes like the LPS above are priced less than the "standard price"; tubes with better than "standard" performance ("premium" tubes) command a somewhat higher price simply due to the fact they are more difficult to supply and less common.
So unless you need some special attribute such as matching or low noise, balanced sections, etc., it is unnnecessary to spend the extra money to purchase them. The "standard" tube will give the performance you need. And if you find tubes (again like the LPS I describe above) that are a bit under standard in a way that isn't going to affect performance in your gear then by all means save some bucks and use them!
I hope that all makes some sense and is some help anyway!
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Follow Ups
- RE: Buying "non premium" tubes from "premium" tube sellers - Jim McShane 10:48:43 06/17/07 (0)
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