6SN7 tube question

Whatever you do don't buy from Matthieuriverin from Quebec. He does not stand behind his tubes when there is an issue. There are more folks than just me that have had issues as well. Buy from Andy or the tubestore.

Cdrc,

I always contact Mark and Nick at Rogue first if I have any questions regarding their product. I did so in this case as well. Rogue always offers one of the best customer service experiences in the industry. Nick informed me they no longer us the EH 6SN7 tubes because they found them to be too unreliable, and use Tung-Sol now. I wouldn't expect them to say much more since they probably use new stock tubes for new products to offer the best value to the consumer. I bought a set of 6SN7s from Rogue a few years ago that looked like NOS, but they also lasted about a year with moderate use so I thought why not try something different this time. Perhaps Lewm's suggestion is worth looking into as well.

Thank you all for your responses; I've learned something, as always on here.

Cdrc, I agree with you only in the sense that there is no reason to expect that tubes purchased from two different reputable sources will exhibit different wear characteristics. As for "euphonics", tubes of one brand do indeed sound different from the same tube type built by a different company, albeit the differences are usually subtle. Thus, one man's "euphonic" is another man's "neutral", and the debate on that can go nowhere. But the reasons for differences in sonics among different 6SN7s are not hard to fathom, if you take a good look at the differences in internal structure and in materials used. Further, how the tubes are used in circuit will also contribute to the apparent sonic character that is attributed to the tube per se.