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Russian Tubes or Old "American" Tubes (built where ever)?

Currently I have Aperex ECC88 tubes in a CJ 17 LS pre-amp and a backup set of Russian electro-harmonix 6922EH tubes for the pre-amp. The Aperex tubes are failing. The amps are solid state Mac 601's

What type of tubes (manufacturers/time period) would you guys recommend? Are the Russian tubes any good? Buying legacy tubes from 50 years ago gets expensive. I'm looking for a great price/performance ratio, but I lean toward performance. Do the Russian Tubes compete with the old tubes or should I "bite the bullet"?

I know folks can get passionate about this - I'm not an idiot; I would like to hear some experienced opinions about the relative merit of various tubes for this particular pre-amp. I'll then go check my budget (in secret - I'm married).

Thanks.
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Showing 1 response by jmcgrogan2

jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
Many NOS tubes are very good, but the can get pretty pricey. At least you are only looking for a pair, which helps a lot. The NOS market can be scary and dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. Pricey, but some shady re-sellers out there.

For new tubes, I have found the Psvane tubes to offer very good quality at reasonable prices. Of course, as always, YMMV.
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