The Tubes & Testing

My mission statement is, let my equipment detect bad tubes or early failures, not you. I can recommend you the perfect tube based on years of careful listening. I have developed long relationships with quality distributors and sources throughout the world for New and Vintage NOS tubes. I use the entire maxitest range which go through calibrations. Every tube comes with a special logo sticker which stipulates that the tubes pins have been cleaned, the tube is tested, matched and then burned in (24-72 hours) on a custom station in order to reactive the cathodes and promote longevity also for better out of box tone upon purchase. Additionally, every tube has a special formula applied to assist with lubrication, electroconductivity and oxidisation. I sell a tube at a good price and ensure reliability and quality..

Consistency

Consistency, reliability and repeatability is important in science and for people. This is why 90 percent of the time every tube I buy, I buy the entire box which is always same date, same batch, same manufacturer whether it's Vintage or New. I see a lot of year mixing and matching as well as using old boxes with tube of a much later dated (sometimes 5 -15 years) inside to sell. Generally this is ok though however there's sometimes changes in manufacturing techniques/materials over years/decades but recapitulating... consistency and reliability are important factors in a good tube. I do my utmost best to honor this statement and I will Label a tube as such if the tubes don't fit this criteria

STORAGE

Storage is a very important aspect for vintage even modern tubes, you can sometimes find cheap vintage tubes online true however quality sources such as the ones I use store them well and this inadvertently helps preserve the tube over years or decades.

I store all my tubes in airtight sealed boxes and mostly outside the original boxes after testing because of the staples are oxidised and over time can potentially contaminate the tube if stored for long periods.