The dealer is as or more important than the tube. Upscale Audio, Ram Labs, Jim McShane, Tube Depot, and a few others sell good tubes. Regarding brands, different ones behave different in different circuits, thus tube "A" may be good or bad depending on the application. Personally, I like SED or Winged C 6550's, Sovtek KT88's, EH KT88's, the GL I find overpriced, and sonically average. Although I did put them in my Quiciksilver and they were marvelous so back to the "got to try em" line. JJ KT88's are great, but lately the reliability has been suspect. The Shuguang can be very good as well. Try all you can...And yes, I have tried all the above in at least 3-4 different amps. Jallen
