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Best place to get new tubes...

P

Pandafist

May 6, 2008
512
8
Portland, OR
#1
...is?
I have to order all new tubes for my SVT CL and I was wondering if you, in your collective wisdom, know of the cheapest place to order them online. Please help. I'm poor from blowing all my money on gear in the first place, so saving a little on this end would really help me out. Thanks guys and gals.
 
#3
Well, I don't have $250 LAYING AROUND per se, but I can could come up with it. I was HOPING for a better deal than THAT. My amp guy will do it for a little over $200, including labor. I know that a great deal already, but I'm thinking if I can find tubes at the price he's paying, I can save the labor costs and just do it myself. Anybody?
 
#4
Pandafist said:
Well, I don't have $250 LAYING AROUND per se, but I can could come up with it. I was HOPING for a better deal than THAT. My amp guy will do it for a little over $200, including labor. I know that a great deal already, but I'm thinking if I can find tubes at the price he's paying, I can save the labor costs and just do it myself. Anybody?
Click to expand...

200 for tubes and service is a steal for that head. Do you know how to bias an amp?
 
#12
Pandafist said:
...is?
I have to order all new tubes for my SVT CL and I was wondering if you, in your collective wisdom, know of the cheapest place to order them online. Please help. I'm poor from blowing all my money on gear in the first place, so saving a little on this end would really help me out. Thanks guys and gals.
Click to expand...

Pandafist,

I've got the guy for you.

His name is Brent Jessee and he will educate you and fit you with the tubes that will work best...and not send you to the poor house.

I retubed the B-3 at church and the Leslie (except the 2 Leslie power tubes) for $118.00 with all vintage stuff.

Try this page www.audiotubes.com

You can also call him... he is such a nice helpful guy.

-Doug
 
#14
that's what I'll most likely do, but I fully capable of swapping tubes out myself. I'm all about saving money these days. If I can find them any cheaper, I'll just do it myself and save whatever I can (which'll go straight into the gas tank :bawl:)

The only reason I would ever take it anywhere for something this simple is a situation like this, where parts and labor cost the same as buying parts and doing it myself. I'm the type of guy who would rather do it myself (if i can). You learn more in life handling your own problems as opposed to paying someone else to handle them for you, no?
 
#15
And to Baird6869... Doing things yourself is NEVER a waste of time IMHO. Especially if the alternative is paying someone else to do something your fully capable of (and would actually enjoy) doing.

I don't know about you guys, but I've definitely got enough time in my schedule to swap some tubes out.

I mean, if we've got time to sit around on talkbass, we've got the time. AM I RIGHT OR AM I RIGHT? :p
 
#18
simple. Cause I blew one. If I had a digital camera, I'd be happy to show you. I also bought the head used, so the tubes were fairly old on top of that. Time for new tubes.
As an aside, I also had the fan go out on me at one point. I caught it before any real heat damage happened, and it was easy enough to fix. Now that we're on the topic, I'm wonderin how much I would have had to pay to have someone else service it?
Too much. ;)
 
#19
Pandafist said:
simple. Cause I blew one. If I had a digital camera, I'd be happy to show you. I also bought the head used, so the tubes were fairly old on top of that. Time for new tubes.
Click to expand...

Tubes don't "blow." I don't know what you think is wrong, but short of a burn mark from an arc or a gassed up envelope, dead tubes don't look ANY different. On top of that, tubes last MUCH longer than you're giving them credit for doing, but since you seem to be the expert, I'll defer to your judgment. :rolleyes:
 
#20
Pandafist, guys here are trying to help you out. They might save you some money in the long run, and even save you the price of a retube.

From what I understand, biasing using only the LEDs on the Classic is less than satisfactory, and there might be another reason for your tube becoming damaged. Sometimes saving a few bucks is a false economy as it will cost you more down the line.

You can at least hear out the very knowledgeable folk here, no one is trying to make you spend more than you need to.
 

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