Public Service Announcement: Beware 'bay seller BRHines2012 for tubes

ALL212

Bought a quad of matched 6SN7's. Seemed to good to be true in that all 4 were PERFECTLY matched and over 100% but...

Packaging from this gentleman is just amazing. I've never seen such work before. However, not 1 of the 4 tubes came out of the ? status on my tester. Put them in the amp and they are all noisy. His return policy is fine - no questions asked and through the 'bay. I've not gotten refund yet but I did want to share his packing ....just amazing!!

I suspect he doesn't really test any tubes. All the pins were polished perfectly and the glass was spotless but...

pitdogg2

I've bought from him many times over the years. I however have not bought from him since he started the new packaging. Mine were just white tube boxes. I've also taken the test results for many with a large grain of salt. Out of all the 6sn7 tubes I've bought only one pair were so noisy(not from him) I had to ship back, they too happened to be RAYTHEON .... what are the odds?

Emlyn

Are those tube boxes actually printed copies of what may or may not have been the original packaging for a single tube? Seems odd to do that other than to make it easier to identify them in stock.

Kex

A lot of his "marketing" seems to involve printing out replica box jackets and the identification/tested stickers on an inkjet printer before affixing them to bare boxes.

Very thorough, but not much use if the tubes aren't good, and he's not even testing them before printing all that bogus information on those labels. 🤦🏻‍♂️

pitdogg2

All testers are different. We both could have the same tube tester but get different results. Depending on how often it's calibrated and what type of tester it is all numbers could be all over the place. I'd trust @ALL212 his stuff is good to go. If his testers was questionable or leaning towards bad I would say those tubes are no good.

ALL212

I've made mistakes with my tester but I just tested about 16 6SN7's a day or two ago. The proof in the pudding was the noise level these made.

He appears to be a good seller and return policy is good. Not saying you can't get good tubes from him but be careful (I guess that's true with ANY 'bay seller!)

ALL212

Emlyn wrote: »

Are those tube boxes actually printed copies of what may or may not have been the original packaging for a single tube? Seems odd to do that other than to make it easier to identify them in stock.

Not sure - but very well done. I'd say the odds of coming up with 4 physically identical tubes that every triode matches to that level are just about impossible unless you've tested 100's of tubes first.

pitdogg2

ALL212 wrote: »

Emlyn wrote: »

Are those tube boxes actually printed copies of what may or may not have been the original packaging for a single tube? Seems odd to do that other than to make it easier to identify them in stock.

Not sure - but very well done. I'd say the odds of coming up with 4 physically identical tubes that every triode matches to that level are just about impossible unless you've tested 100's of tubes first.

To be honest I'd find it darn near impossible to get two triodes to match exactly... Probably better odds at winning a maga millions.
Now 4 exactly....forgetabout it never happens.

Most never came that way from the factory.

invalid

Most tube sellers on ebay don't use a curve tracer to match tubes, that's what is needed to accurately match tubes

ALL212

On the other hand "turtlebowl"'s quad of slightly older Raytheon's were spot on. Of course they were not all exactly matched but all were over the 2600 target into 2700's and 2800's on my Hickok 6000a. Packaging wasn't as pretty but the tubes were as advertised. Quiet also!!

6SN7's have two basic plate structures. One flat - like the 12au7's and others of that type (just bigger). The other plate structure is triangular. Ya...odd that! But I think the flat plates are more microphonic.

I test by tapping on them gently. Of course during normal playback I'm not banging on them but it does help in picking out the better ones. So far this new set is a bit microphonic but no issues during playback. The one set of triangular plates were dead quite even with the tapping - those are short GE's.

pitdogg2

I use a chopstick or skewer to tap as well.
GE's are my love/hate tube. Most of the GE tubes are very tizzy bright for my ears. I do really like the bridged filament GE tubes those to my ears are very smooth.
To my ears the Sylvania 6sn7's are by far the best, Personally I think they may be Sylvania's best effort. I've given up on the sylvania 12xx7 series I've just not been able to find any with good bass and no ear bleeding highs. They have mid-range in spades, but to top and bottom are terrible in my experience.

invalid

pitdogg2 wrote: »

I use a chopstick or skewer to tap as well.
GE's are my love/hate tube. Most of the GE tubes are very tizzy bright for my ears. I do really like the bridged filament GE tubes those to my ears are very smooth.
To my ears the Sylvania 6sn7's are by far the best, Personally I think they may be Sylvania's best effort. I've given up on the sylvania 12xx7 series I've just not been able to find any with good bass and no ear bleeding highs. They have mid-range in spades, but to top and bottom are terrible in my experience.

Have you ever tried the kenrad 6sn7's with the carbonized glass, those have the best bass.

pitdogg2

I've used and have about 75pairs of 6sn7 tubes, yes I've used black glass Ken Rads and clear glass VT231's.
My bass comment was to 12ax, 12au and 12at7 Sylvania's.

marvda1

i have never purchased a quad of anything, come to think of it even a pair where all the numbers were identical.

ALL212

What's your favorite non-million dollar 6SN7's? I'm in the $25/tube category...maybe a bit higher.

pitdogg2

Hard to go wrong with anything from Sylvania. Some RCA's are pretty solid as well. I really like the parallel T-plates of early before the triangle plates. CBS, RCA, Sylvania and Tung-sol are all solid. Be careful as latter CBS is actually GE

decal

If the seller gave you a full and prompt refund and his packing was outstanding, why feel the need to drag him through the mud with "Public Service Announcement: Beware 'bay seller BRHines2012 for tubes" title?

ALL212

Maybe you missed it.

The add was misrepresented by stating the tubes were tested to the level stated.

Not one tube was good.

Regardless of packing or refund it was very disparaging to have to go through that and realize that if I didn’t have a tube tester I would have been scammed.