Where do you guys buy replacement tubes?

Andy Bowman at Vintage Tube Services. Top notch.

This would be for Kev: Ok you have a one man buisness/and thus have little or no time for customers/ or just the ones of your choosing. Fine!! A merchant with not enough time to care for me /but has plenty of time for the chat room to defend his policies/ gimmme a break. Good buisness choice!!If you were a tube buyer you'd be put off by just such a merchant/I'm sure!! AS a sorta local buyer I partly was looking to check out your store. I have spent nearly 10k since that time.(Remember,I was going to bring my amp in) Snooty/ indifference/ don't got the time??? all the same to me. Hire some help,make life eaiser for yourself. Reminds me of the tv ads;"get on the net and appear 20xs larger than you are". What's the sense of attracting more customers than you can service??

Kev. what ever happened to "the customer is always right?" This is supposed to mean even if you are not in agreement.

Kevin returned my phone call, listened well, and proved to be one of the best retailers I've encountered. On top of it, Kevin really knows what he is talking about. That doesn't happen by magic; it takes time and work. I hope other people recognize the value in that. I think Kevin's approach of handling customers directly is reasonable and commendable given his rare knowledge.

avgeorge, I have no idea what you are talking about...unless you are the guy that a few months ago wanted to bring in his amps, have me install a "few different types" of power tubes, bias them, hook them up to speakers in my sound room so you could compare. I can't do that.

And for you to assume anything about my business is a bit much.....I spend more time with customers than most anyone.

I have a few employees. Some of you have met them or spoken to them on the phone, and they work very hard to keep people happy in a business where customers get a smidge "obsessive". I "get it" of course as I am one of them. An audio nut since I was in the sixth grade.

We are hiring more people even as we speak....and that takes more time. But I would still have a hard time letting go of the one on one with the people that I have so much fun with.

Ask the guy that was here Monday for FOUR HOURS with his brother listening to Avantgardes with a full BAT system, then compared it to a full Cary, and bought nada. Plus it took an hour to set up what he wanted to hear. No pressure...no stress.

Customers is always right? Puhleeze.

Think about that if you are the NEXT customer in line who wants to get his gear runnning again and we have twenty minutes to get it out Fed Ex overnite. We go through that a few times a week.

I would rather take that extra time to turn the lights off in a dark room to look for glowing screens of 6550's in our burn in rig so I don't blow up some guys amp. It takes time to do it right, and I won't compromise. If I lose some biz....so be it.

I don't want all the business. I would rather work with people I enjoy and give the best quality. If it isn't meant to be George...the good news is you found somewhere that did it for you.

So why don't you give that dealer a plug here now? He deserves it and I applaud him.