Best place to get Shuguang 300B tubes

[lowtherdream]

There are many versions of Shuguang 300B tubes available and it is difficult to find them all from 1 vendor.
Where is the best place to find the Shuguang 300B tubes and who has the best pricing ?
Options are:
300BS-B or C
300B-98B or C
300BA
300BC
300BAW
300B-Z

Are they still all available ? There Grant Fidelity hasthe 300B-98 and the Treasure series.

 

[macm75]

And if you do not mind adding to the list... SG-50's.
Chinesetubes_com (ebay) had them for $103 maybe 6 months ago and now they are at $143. Shipping = $25.
Still a bargain but kills me to pay $40 more in such a short time.

 

[rknize]

I bit the bullet and picked up a pair of 300B-98s from chinesetubes.com. Seemed painless and they arrived well-packed and in good shape.

 

[Evenharmonics]

Does it have to be Shuguang / Valve Art?

Is there a reason why you are looking for this particular brand? Sure they are cheaper but I would caution you against that brand after having problem with 2 out of 3 300B I bought.

 

[thevoice]

You could also try Mable Audio in China. Nice prices but I can't vouch for them, I've never used them myself.

http://www.mableaudio.com/www-web/index.asp

 

[lowtherdream]

Re: Does it have to be Shuguang / Valve Art?

And if you do not mind adding to the list... SG-50's.
Chinesetubes_com (ebay) had them for $103 maybe 6 months ago and now they are at $143. Shipping = $25.
Still a bargain but kills me to pay $40 more in such a short time.

I found chinesetubes but I found the price high and prefer to buy from the US or Canada.

I bit the bullet and picked up a pair of 300B-98s from chinesetubes.com. Seemed painless and they arrived well-packed and in good shape.

At this price, there are other options also: Electro Harmonix 300B at 139.00 par matched set or EH300B Gold for 159.00/pair (partsconnexions). Also getting close to the JJs at 205.00/pair

Is there a reason why you are looking for this particular brand? Sure they are cheaper but I would caution you against that brand after having problem with 2 out of 3 300B I bought.

Thanks for the information. There is also complaints about the JJs. It is difficult to know if it is a problem from the past or if the issue still exists. I have heard a lot of positive feedback about the Shauguang. 50-50 on the JJs, and almost no feedback about the EH. TJ, KR and WE are too expensive to put in the first amp I build. I would prefer a low cost/best value 300B.

 

[lowtherdream]

You could also try Mable Audio in China. Nice prices but I can't vouch for them, I've never used them myself.

http://www.mableaudio.com/www-web/index.asp

Good lead ! The prices look very good. I will ask for a quote when I am ready to buy (about 30 days). No use wasting their time if not 100% ready. I am waiting for the amp to be 75% built before ordering because I would like to benefit from the 6 months warranty

 

[IDSKoT]

This may be a silly post, but have you tried looking on www.froogle.com ?
If you don't know about it, it's Google's product search engine. You can find a lot of stuff on there.

 

[macm75]

Re: Re: Does it have to be Shuguang / Valve Art?

I have heard a lot of positive feedback about the Shauguang.

My only experience is with the 50's. Honestly, I find and have heard form others that the internal construction is not good. Both within my pair have internal structures that are angled to a side. These are globes so maybe they were hit during shipping but I'm thinking QC just accepts them that way. The filaments are also very sloppy loose. But... even with all this they sound damn good. Not as good as 30's RCA's but at that cost it's hard to complain.

 

[rknize]

I'd say I've put maybe 50 hours on the 300B-98s so far. No issues yet and they sound great. I think they have a bit more detail than the "BS" meshplates, but I dunno. This is in a Tubelab SE. I still think the 45s sound the best in there, but I have not done more than one A-B test between the 45s and 300Bs. Anyway...

The construction of the two 300B-98s look consistent and there is nothing about the internal structure that strikes me as concerning. Hopefully they make it past the 100 hour threshold that people have been seeing issues at. I went for them due to price, but maybe I should have sprung for the JJs...we shall see.

 

[Evenharmonics]

Hopefully they make it past the 100 hour threshold that people have been seeing issues at.

One of mine died after about 200 hours of use. The other one started to crackle & pop after about 300 hours. Based on that, I'm not sure if 100 hours is much of an indication.

 

[rknize]

Any idea what the failure mechanism is? Going gassy? Filament sagging into the grid?

 

[oldmanStrat]

Parts Express has Electro-Harmonix for $94 each...

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=072-810

 

[Evenharmonics]

Any idea what the failure mechanism is? Going gassy? Filament sagging into the grid?

I'm not sure about the exact cause but here is the symptom I posted. The second one does crackle and pop intermittently.

Besides Hammond PT, I'm adding Shuguang / Valve Art 300B to my "do not buy" list.

 

[PMeade]

EH 300B

Partsconnexion has the EH's for $139/Pr. US. Tough to beat that price. I have never used them but I don't recall hearing anything bad about them.

Paul

 

[rknize]

Other than audiophile-y type complaints (not WE this-or-that), I have not heard anything bad about them either.