Rolling Advice....Tubes, that is....

  Many of you have been buying tube gear from me, and before the transformers have even broken in you're off on a tube quest. Now I have to remind you that most all of the factory tubes are very good to start with. For many of you that's all you will need. Yet like any other hobby, there are some, or lately it seems like most, that want to extract the most out of their units that they can.  And you can clearly yield better results - usually. Sometimes you can botch it, making your unit too mellow or too bright.  So proper matching is important. The only trouble is you won't know until you hear it, meaning buy it, and that can get expensive. 
  So here's my basic advice: 
for many of you I suggest starting out with Tung Sols- they are new production stock, and quite reasonable. They will often outperform the stock factory tube. 
Next up in quality would be the Genelex Gold Lions- they are also new production stock. 
Remember with all new tubes they need to burn in, and will start to settle in after 40 hrs of play time. 
After that, we venture out into the land of NOS, or new old stock. This is where it can become hit or miss, and relatively inexpensive to outrageous. 
There are many online sites for tubes.  For new production I recommend Tube Depot, who often have coupons going. For NOS I recommend Brent Jesse, TubeWorld, Jim, McShane, and Kevin Deal at Upscale Audio.  They can give great knowledge about a particular type of tube, and are very helpful. 

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these are new old stock GE 12AX7s, known as long plates

these are new old stock GE 12AX7's, long plates, from a different batch. Still 1961 vintage, as are the 2 in the first photo. Yet each has a different sound.