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I am not young enough to know everything
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
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You can sometimes get used Mullard on Ebay and would suggest that rather than buying NOS.
Having said that, I bought a Marshall with all EHX valves last year as it sounded like the Marshall sound in my head when I tried it.
There are fakes and worn out valves on Ebay. You can get good ones but it is a bit chancy. 10 or 12 years ago I bought a whole bunch of used Mullard ECC83s on Ebay. None of them were completely non-functional, but some of them were noisy, and didn't sound good. The good ones are genuinely good though.
Karltone are good.
Watford valves are ok. I've bought more valves from there than anywhere else. Most of the gripes are about his website, which is a bit archaic and shows prices without VAT. It's not that hard to add 20% VAT if you have a functioning brain. He can also be a bit prickly on the phone. I'm pretty sure that he is fundamentally honest though. If you want NOS valves where you can be confident that they are what they are meant to be, then he's probably one of the few reliable sources with a good selection - although you will pay!
1. They do sound different, which may mean better to some (including me) but the difference is very subtle. It's like the difference between a basswood body guitar and an alder body guitar, or between maple and rosewood fretboards. If you're not too picky about these types of things then it probably isn't worth the extra money.
2. Yes Karltone are good, I've bought from them in the past.
3. Nothing wrong with Watford, I've bought valves from them too, they have a great selection and nice descriptions of the valve characteristics. They can be a bit more expensive than Karltone once you factor in the VAT though.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
The only EL84 amp that I've got has old Boogie ones in it and those valves have lasted well given how hot they run!
If you are getting EL84's get them from someone who burns them in as those that fail tend to fail early given how hot most amps run EL84's.
Worth looking at HotRoxUK - I've used them a few times and they have always been good!
I had an experience interacting with the Watford guy that put me off ordering from them, but that was to be fair 6 years ago now so I'll just state that I made maybe 6 orders with them before that and they all arrived quickly and were well packaged.
Bandcamp
Spotify, Apple et al
My main pusher are Hotrox, as I now only buy current production valves. With my current rigs, they sound best to my ear, and I don't need to sell a kidney to afford them. Hotrox are generally a little cheaper, but Derek does volume discounts on occasion
Ordering from either website is easy btw