Jeff wrote:I would NEVER use chinese tubes on my equipment. EVER!
depends who you buy em off
most valves branded by US companies these days are Chinese
Groove Tubes Edicron Harma etc made in china or Russia, and branded for US or European suppliers
Both Russian factories appear to be run by gangsters these days you can't depend on them anymore
shguang valves are 40% owned by Phllips electronics
3 factories in Russia/Europe and 2 in china make valves that are generally for sale in the US and Europe..
doesn't matter whats on the box if it is new production one of them made it
Sovtek supposed to be good
Svetlana used to be good Russian military stock with the C label not SED branded I have run their 6550A and diodes in my amp pretty good
JJ tesla very good ecc83 etc in my pre amp
Shuguang KT 88 EL34 6550A all pretty good I've used the KT88-98 for 6 years matched quad from Uk supplier built to same spec as GEC Gold Lion KT88
and some other Chinese lot not had anything from them
in an ideal world you would run Mullard or GEC but GEC power tubes are 200 quid each NOS. or some NOS German or Dutch valve, Telefunken valvo Siemens etc
but way too expensive
NOS is good stuff but hard to get at sensible prices and how do you know if its been tested and matched
Dave