I just purchased a few "Ruby" tubes for a very good price. Does anyone have an opinion about their quality or sound? I am have been using groove tubes until now.
Thanks...
Hi,
Cheap but often Ruby sells Tube made from China .It is said that the vacuum is not so good (soft vacuum)than Russian tubes or Eastern Europe tube (JJ Tesla or others).They are not so bad but i prefer pay a little more to have quality ,but if your tubes are dead and you haven't got too money for retube it with EH or GT ,it's a good solution.Tubes are very important for the tone too, but it's more important to play with medium quality tube than not playing at all !!!
Not all the tubes from Ruby are Chinese ,i've just seen they sell German or Russian tubes depends of the model.Have a look at Ruby
Bruno
Quote from: pjacksoI just purchased a few "Ruby" tubes for a very good price. Does anyone have an opinion about their quality or sound? I am have been using groove tubes until now.
Thanks...
As far as I know, they're just another "test and resell" company. They have the same models of Chinese and Former Soviet Union tubes that GT and others do.
Are these power or preamp tubes?
They are all 12ax7's
I put them in my '75 twin reverb and I found my low end a bit mushy compared to the Groove Tubes :cry:
What are your reasons for wanting to swap out the 12AX7's?
My understanding is that preamp tubes don't wear out from use like power tubes. They usually only need to be changed if you want to try a different sound or if they become microphonic.
That's how I understand it, anyway. I've seen Mesa/Boogies with 20-year-old 12AX7's that still worked fine.
Anyway, if your GT's don't ring or squeal, leave 'em in there. The Rubys can be emergency spares.
Ruby, like GT, does not make tubes, but tests and re-labels chinese, *yugo*, etc.
If you want to know what kind of tube you are actually buying, get them from:
http://www.nebsnow.com/LordValve
or
http://www.kcanostubes.com/
It is also considered a good idea to NOT use the same type of preamp tube in all slots, as it tends to exaggerate the traits of the tube. Treat yourself to a good NOS tube for the first preamp slot.
Kerry M
Hi,
Yes i'm agree with that!Try to go directly at Ruby website and you're going to see that they sold very differents tube (and qualities too!).I said yesterday that Ruby sell tube from China ,i speak when i was young this company sold the cheapest tubes in the market because it was Chinese's tube.Today ,they sell Russian or German Eastern European Tubes(I see also some Philips tubes)but i'm not sure about the qualiy!
I remmeber too passing hours to tweak amps only in changing the preamp tubes,they are so differents sounding that on the same amps with five 12AX7 only with trying different place, you may have a weak amp or a plain flavour!
Bruno
pjackso, i've used ruby preamp tubes before. they seemed well made and sturdy enough. they sounded fine, though not quite as hot as a groove tube. they took a good beating too. jon