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primer on buying vintage tubes?

Dear all-

I recently started to tiptoe into tube rolling--replacing the 6922 stock tubes in my headphone amp etc.

I am curious as to why vintage tubes are often preferred to the new ones? Why would older tubes sound better?

And even more pressing, I'm curious about best practices for buying vintage tubes. I recently came across a pair on ebay that were not labeled NOS but the seller did say the had been measured on a tube tester and had 100% emission. If this a safe bet? Is it better to buy NOS? Is it better yet to deal with a vendor like Upscale Audio?

Thanks for any insights! Margot
mcanaday
grimace
624 posts
 
Once you buy your first old tubes, forever with they dominate your soul.
ebm
9,311 posts
 
Get tubes on ebay if you like buying crap try Andy at Vintage Tube Services if you want wonderful tubes.
andrew9405
225 posts
 
I've dealt with Kevin and Andy. Both are knowledgable and sell good products.
The difference, IMO, is Andy talks to you and Kevin talks down to you.
ebm
9,311 posts
 
Wont buy anything from Kevin he thinks he is doing you a favor .
vinylvalet
850 posts
 
Jim McShane, Brent Jesse, Andy Bowman, Brendan Biever and Doug's Tubes are all great tube vendors. I've also had good luck with larger vendors like Tube Depot. I would never recommend Upscale Audio. My experience with them has been terrible. Others have had problems with Upscale as well.

Not only will you get bad tubes from Upscale but it's likely the service will be even worse. With all the good tube vendors mentioned above, there is no reason to consider Upscale.
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