Buy tubes from Audio Research or not

Funny, I've bought from him a few times and have had nothing but great service.

The first time I called, I wasn't clear on what I wanted. Kevin was short because they were too busy at the time for the questions I had. Some may take that as rude, I didn't. He said he'd give me a call later in the day when, and if, things slowed down.

At 7:30pm that night, my phone rang - it was Kevin. We had a great conversation , he gave me great advice on tubes, 2 days later the 60's Mullard CV378 rectifiers showed up professionally boxed against damage and worked fabulously ever since.

How does he stay in business?

Simple, there are a lot of us who have had great service from Upscale and know they stand behind their products. If they say a tube is from a particular decade and manufacturer, you don't have to worry about getting a fake or fluke. And for some of us, that means a lot.

If Upscale is not to your liking, try The Tube Man, I've gotten pretty good service from him, too. And he sells 6550C's

Check out Andy at Vintage Tube Services.He is very knowledgeable and a gentleman.His phone number is 616-454-3467.

Quote from Link below:
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Here's your answer - Kevin Deal 11:44:46 05/16/08 (0)

In Reply to: RE: Upscale Audio no longer retubing ARC VT 100??? posted by cruzmsl on May 15, 2008 at 20:31:36

Bambi & Cruz.....the "Don't ask for an explanation" was not something I wrote..an employee did and I had it taken down as soon as I saw it...but then again I don't have time to answer daily phone calls and e-mails on the subject. So those words are really not my intention.... I apologize for being rude and surly :-)

Selling tubes the RIGHT way with real test gear is something we do to support our customers that bought their gear here. Given our pricing compared to the pricing at ARC turned us into a bit of a "magnet" for ARC amp owners. The problem was that many guys did not have biasing instructions, and that amp is not as easy to bias as some (this is only my opinion). In this day everything should be done so the customer doesn't have to work hard to re-tube.

I am not speaking of Audio Research, but of the industry in general in this sentence: There is way too much gear on the market that is "no muss, no fuss" to be worrying about gear that is difficult.

Matching standards that are designed to have the customer buy tubes from the vendor at very high prices is not the way I would run my business. Hence the products we have a hand in distributing don't even require matching or adjustments.

There are other amps from other companies we turn down tube sales on because they run the tubes at the ragged edge of their dissipation. In these situations selling tubes becomes a liability... I am still in this biz because it's fun! When selling product becomes a liability I don't have fun...

I want my customers to come home to Mayberry and have Aunt Bee bring them a piece of apple pie. And I need that myself. Take a break, man. You deserve it.

I believe I have spent more money on my test gear than anyone, and we even show them off. I have paid the best Electrical Engineers mucho dinero to that end because I want folks to have the least amount of headache when it comes to their tubes.

Audio Research is a fine company with great guys. Chris and Leonard are super. But... I took that one model and said "no more." One of the series of VT-100 amps requires great skill to just change the front end tubes. That was ARC's design decision....but I don't have an hour to teach a guy this stuff because I sold him some tubes....guys....I wish I did. That's why some tube dealers just let you order....they don't make their phone number too easy to find.
http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/t.mpl?f=tubes&m=207865

"In Reply to: RE: Upscale Audio no longer retubing ARC VT 100??? posted by cruzmsl on May 15, 2008 at 20:31:36"

Note the date! Then why such a bad attitude towards Taters a year later? Mr. Deal sure doesn't come across like this on the phone. My personal expierence with Mr.D is that he is very rude on the phone. Mr.Deal should send Taters an apology as well. Tater please let us know if you recieve an apology.