Where to Buy Tubes?

S

SWC

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Hey All, I'm new to this forum and the very excited and lucky new owner of Mike's Zesto PS1 phonostage. Sadly, with the shipping, something must have happened because the 'white noise' I have when it's selected as a source is too noticeable for comfort. Talking with experts (this is my first tube gear) they are pointing to a probable tube failure. Darn. Anyway, I may soon be swimming in the deep end as I have to decide which tube to buy to replace them. Reminds me of Mike's thread on the same subject. I search online and there are several seemingly reputable sources. What say you guys?
 
Welcome Steve! Glad you joined! I would think you can buy the tubes from the folks at Zesto Audio. Failing that, Jeff from AV Solutions here on Audioshark might be able to find you some tubes for it.
 
From what I remember Mike saying, the Zesto was voiced using JJ tubes. As much as I am not a fan of their tubes I would recommend using them. The Tube Depot has been a very reliable source of tubes for me and they ship fast. I've also used The Tube Store with good results.

Tube Depot

The Tube Store
 
Speaking with Jeff about tubes for my snappers recently he directed me to upscale audio.
I haven't bought anything there but they have a good selection .
And for NOS I'd go with audiotubes.com. Rob (ohbythebay)told me about Brent Jesse's audiotubes.com. And they have a great selection and better prices than the others I've looked at. I just bought a matched quad of nos telefunkin 12ax7's for $150.
 
Petro85 said:
Speaking with Jeff about tubes for my snappers recently he directed me to upscale audio.
I haven't bought anything there but they have a good selection .
And for NOS I'd go with audiotubes.com. Rob (ohbythebay)told me about Brent Jesse's audiotubes.com. And they have a great selection and better prices than the others I've looked at. I just bought a matched quad of nos telefunkin 12ax7's for $150.
Click to expand...

+1^

I have also bought some great 6FQ7 RCA Cleartops from Brent and the transaction and product was perect.
 
Just a quick note...before you spend money on tubes...Have you debugged to be sure its a tube ? Have you switched the left and right tubes to see if its a tube? If its in BOTH channels...Its not a tube...Post back and lets talk about this...for example, by white noise, are you hearing GAIN HISS ?
 
ohbythebay said:
Just a quick note...before you spend money on tubes...Have you debugged to be sure its a tube ? Have you switched the left and right tubes to see if its a tube? If its in BOTH channels...Its not a tube...Post back and lets talk about this...for example, by white noise, are you hearing GAIN HISS ?
Click to expand...

Maybe a bad cable or bad ground too. I know that when it left me, it was perfect. So either a tube got damaged in shipping or it's a cable issue or something else.
 
Nice , I used to have a bat vk50se back in the day and there were no replacement tubes available unless you paid a fortune from bat. Glad to see there are some around .
 
This isn't necessarily the topic thread for this question, but we can start a new one if it gets a lot of activity.

What does everyone use on their tube pins and sockets for corrosion/oxidation prevention and treatment? DeOxit Gold or something else? Nothing except friction (pulling the tubes out and then putting them back in?
 
If they are oxidized, you can cut a piece of fine sandpaper the height of the pins and work it back and forth to get them shining again.

Sent from my mobile.
 
All those certainly clean and polish, but I thought the purpose of Deoxit Gold was to prevent the adverse sonic effects of oxidation before it becomes visible? I was rolling tubes this morning and treating the new ones (as I always have) and realized I didn't remember reading anything about this one way or the other.
 
If you are contemplating using sandpaper and other crap on your tube pins, you need new tubes. I wonder how many people used magic goop to treat their tube pins and blew up their gear when they powered it on.
 
It is not a good idea to polish tube pins to a bright finish because you are removing metal and reducing the diameter of the pin.You can scrape corrosion off of tube pins with a fiberglass pencil. you can also soak the pins in vinegar overnight. whatever you do don't put a lot of side load on the pins because you might compromise the seal between the pin and the glass and the tube could lose vacuume.
 
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