Do you Know a Trusted Seller of Chinese Vacuum Tubes?

Apos Audio sells their relabeled Ray tubes with a 1-year warranty. I’m a couple weeks into a quad of their kt-88s, and no complaints so far.

They claim testing for noise and microphonics on their signal tubes. 

https://linlaiglobal.com/

Here's a discussion about Chinese tubes.   

No shortages of Russian tubes and China is not the lessor of two evils. 

Youda Electronics for Shuguang ...yes they stand by their warranty. 

Thank you all for the resources!

@tkrtrb125 , the war has increased prices on reissue Russian made tubes. New old stock are more scarce.  I do not conflate Russia with China or comment on their respective human rights records. 

Some yes and some no: https://www.tubedepot.com/t/tubes/preamp-tubes

Some JJs can sound good. Prefer to support neither and put my tube gear away. 

Vivatubes is a great seller, and their tubes are matched without charging more. They carry Psvane and Linlai stuff.

Why limit yourself to Chinese? Still a great many old stock preamp tubes available from numerous reliable sellers. 

Just bought set from Apos. Very attractive pricing and representations on quality. 

@audition__audio , Yes, that's true, but I've had a few issues with NOS tubes (test strong but microphonic).  I have a sensitive preamp.  What's more, I have heard some of the Linlai and Shuguang higher end offerings and some of the rival NOS if not beat it, IMHO. 

None of my post is meant to binary--one tube over the other, China better than Russia, NOS not available at all.  I just meant it's nice to have options and the Chinese are making great tubes--Linlai and Shuguang have some interesting stuff. 

Good luck and let us know how they work out for you. 

Thank you @tkrtrb125.  

I'm going to compare some Linlai to some NOS short and follow up. 

I had a Shuguang KT-88T Nature series blow and take out a power supply. The tube had just gotten broken in. Sure, I suppose it can happen with any tube. But the Nature series was a top tier tube. I've had tubes blow before but never take out a power supply. I have little or no confidence in Chinese tubes now

Sweetwater, FullCompass are very solid Chinese tube dealers.

Why are JJ tubes a problem? Is the manufacturing process really subpar? Does anyone really know anything about JJ manufacturing

I don't believe JJ tubes are a problem. I know some people think they aren't great. But I also know there are manufacturers who use them and not because of their reasonable price alone. JJ preamp tubes can sound amazing so long as they are quiet!

Some JJ power tubes had serious problems ranging from premature death to pin size issues. This is heresay. 

If you buy NOS tubes in the future you need to get them from a seller that tests for noise and microphonics with a guarantee. The only preamps that I have had problems with that werent phono preamps were offerings from Audible Illusions, Schiit (weird noise problems) and the 12AT7s in one of the Atma-sphere preamps. Oh and also the older CAT preamps in the 6922 section.

Some JJ power tubes had serious problems ranging from premature death to pin size issues. This is heresay.

@audition__audio , no sarcasm intended and not intending to be a grammar nazi, but are you saying that this statement is hearsay, or are you saying that this is heresy?

Grant Fidelity – Premium Vacuum Tubes (https://premiumvacuumtubes.com) is a seller which I trust for Linlai tubes. The Linlai Global Elites are very good vacuum tubes from China. Grant Fidelity provides testing and screening service beyond the testing which the manufacturer provides. Most of the vacuum tubes sold are used in SET circuits like 2A3s, 300Bs, 211, 845, and 274Bs. The variety of input tubes and other output tubes are limited though so Grant Fidelity may not serve everyone's needs. 

It would be nice if there were more retail sales partners based in North America (or Europe) who screen Chinese tubes before selling them. There are some preselected varieties, like from Tube Amp Doctor (TAD) which are likely more consistent in quality than vacuum tubes bought from Amazon.com, or sellers based in China. TAD might still source from Russia and locations other than China, so it is best to do homework on each desired tube type regarding their likely origin.

It would be nice if there were more retail sales partners based in North America (or Europe) who screen Chinese tubes before selling them.

Yes, that’s probably the point of this post. We need more North American resellers who test for noise. There are some great new tubes being made these days.

Sage advice.

immathew thanks. Yes it was meant to be hearsay. 

Problem with extra testing is that these procedures take time and often buyers are not willing to spend the extra money. New production tubes are considered, often, just a commodity. 

The real problem is that out of a lot of 500 tubes, sometimes as many as 200 would test bad and/or be unmatchable and the manufacturer does not take them back.

Check out Ram Tubes they do extensive testing, it was Roger Modjesky of Music Reference's tube company. The EL34s I bought recently were chinese and have worked out well

https://www.ramtubes.com/

@dcdiscs  big thanks for this source. The big issue is getting quiet quality tubes. 

jbhiller

Just saw this thread, so I'm late to post

I've used http://www.jjyaudio.com/ several times for my Chinese tubes. They carry Linlai, Shuguang, PSVane, Fullmusic, JJ Tubes, and a bunch of Russian reproductions.

The owner Helen is easy to deal with, will give a recommendation (that I felt was honest.....she recommended a cheaper tube over a more expensive one), fast shipping, tubes well packed, fast communication.

@vthokie83 , Holy cow! That's a great website resource for all sorts of good stuff. Thank you much!

I highly recommend Victor Kung at VKmusic.ca

I've known and bought from Victor for over twenty years and he is an honest, stand-up guy. Very enthusiastic about music and providing the most cost-effective solutions for audiophiles on a budget. 

He doesn't carry all types of Chinese tubes, focusing mainly on making sure he has quality tubes of the types needed for his customers who purchase Ele-kit and Sunvalley kits through him (Victor is the North American distributor for both brands). He tests everything with his Amplitrex tester. His prices for tubes are some of the best I've seen and his customer service is superb.

If he carries what you need you can buy in complete confidence.