AvguyGeorge: I recently had a somewhat nonproductive query with Kevin at Upscale in regard to driver and output tubes for my Audion Silver Night 300b amp. I wouldn't say that he was snooty, just that he may be receiving more queries than he can handle (he is probably the only one who answers our questions). He did not seem to be familiar with my amp, which is understandable, and had no "solid" recommendations, though I did get the impression that he took the time to search Audio Asylum and the web for info (which I had already done). The only problem (and it was a small one) that I had was that I twice requested the selling price of his Western Electric 300B tubes, and was eventually told to check the website for prices. Well, unless I missed something he does not have any 300B tubes listed at his site, so I just moved on and purchased tubes to try out from ATSI, and ones that I could identify as being "genuine" from the photos on Ebay auctions. He had some old production 6922's that I would have liked to try, but there was something at his website about not wanting to take credit cards and I did not feel like waiting for a snail mail transaction (this was my choice). I live less than an hours drive from his home/shop and may just make an appointment to pick up the tubes in the future, but for right now am not able to make such a long drive. I will not pass judgment from this one encounter and have decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. He may have very well missed my request for pricing on the WE's as my emails are as lengthy as my posts at this site. I am also not interested in purchasing the WE's until I decide if I will stick with this amp and was up front about it. The price would have been nice though because if I decide to keep the amp I will go with Western Electric's for their sound as well as their longevity which some claim can be as high as 40,000 hours. Right now I have a pair of "specially selected" Svetlana 300B's on the way, which if they work out, I will be noting my source for them in the future. The dealer works directly with Svetlana and receives their best production stock. Oh, and I have never come up with Vintage Tube Services before on any of my web searches and will check them out on your reccomendations. In regard to Ebay, I see a lot of stuff that doesn't look right to me in the photos. Like, Amperex tubes that have a red cast to where the pins penetrate the glass and stuff like that. I don't know that much about tubes other than the ones that I have used in the past and these may just be different productions, though they sure look like relabled Tesla's to me.
