21 Jan
2004
21 Jan
'04
10:04 a.m.
On Wed, 2004-01-21 at 15:43, William Donzelli wrote:
Well, I call it as I see it. I have literally dozens of new old stock
valves, in their original cardboard sleeves. Some are useable, some are
absolutely shagged. It's not all just cheap brands, too.
The problem
with NOS is that the glass is slightly porous and the valves
will have gone a bit soft by now.
This is basically false. Just like the old devices, some NOS tubes are awful
(various Chinese
brands). The same holds true for the oldies (Arcturus, Penn, Rad Tel,
etc.). Good stuff is good stuff, crap is crap.
Which is why I only really use Sovtek stuff now. It's real genuine
Mullard parts, just like the handbook for my amp specifies, but with a
different screen-print on the glass...
This is why I really can't stand the tube audio
world - there is too much
junk science, snake oil, prejudice, and false rumors. Anything to make the
rare old stock "sound" better.
I don't know why anyone would use a valve hi-fi amp, that just seems
silly. But they look good...
In guitar amps, it's a very different story of course.
Gordon.