Valve suppliers?

bobblehat

I am looking for some cheap ECC83's for my VC30.

Hot Rox have some JJ's for £7.45 but never used them.

Any others you could recommend?

 

DartmoorHedgehog

I've bought from Karltone a couple of times recently, good service and not expensive (I think he's on here as well)

I've also bought from Watford in the past with no complaints, although he does seem to wind some people up and you have to watch out for the ex-vat prices on the web.

JJs sound fine to me, are cheap and have a reputation for reliability. Some people aren't keen on the sound though.

lustycourtier

JJs are great. You wont get better for the money.

SidNewton

lustycourtier said:

JJs are great. You wont get better for the money.

JJ's are fine but I've just got in from band rehearsal where I replaced the 3 JJ's in my Marshall JCM 800 with Tungsol's. The difference was clearly noticeable. The Tungsol's have slightly more drive but where they really beat the JJ's  is on clarity, the amp sounded much better as a result and a little less harsh.

PS I purchased them from Karltone. I've used him a number of times and the service is first class.

ICBM

In my opinion both EH and any bog-standard Chinese ECC83 sound much better than JJs and are no less reliable, as well as being similar priced.

I like JJ power valves but I'm really not a fan of their preamps. They sound an odd combination of harsh and muddy at the same time.

SidNewton

ICBM said:

I like JJ power valves but I'm really not a fan of their preamps. They sound an odd combination of harsh and muddy at the same time.

Yes, from my experience this is spot on.

bobblehat

Thank you.

crunchman

I've generally preferred JJ preamp valves to EH in most amps I've used them in.  I think it is a matter of personal taste.

fretmeister

No idea

But I order mine from here. Good service

http://www.karltone.co.uk/

EdGrip

I just bought a quad of Brimar 6V6s and a GE 12AX7 from Watford Valves - feeling flush so I figured a little glass bank account whose value can only go up might be an interesting idea.

Derek has wound me up in the past - I try to buy from other people where I can, but he seems to be the only person in this country supplying *tested* obscure NOS stuff. His range of said old stuff has decreased dramatically compared to the last time I was looking at Watford Valves though - rather sad, and part of the reason I decided to stock up while I can.

If you want NOS rectifiers, Langrex seem to be a far better bet. They mainly deal in bulk to other suppliers and their website is accordingly basic and trade-oriented, but they were happy to sell me a couple of NOS 5U4GBs. (If anyone wants to swap one for a 5V4, I'd be very interested!)