VTL Service ??

And even 2021 VTL has the worst Customer service..Some things never change. I own a IT 85 which I enjoy the sound of had a question and got nothing but agida from the conversation with Bea..She is literally a mental midget. They truly do not understand the power of customer service..VTL could have been a premier leading tube brand...It's their Customer Service that has caused them to languish while brands that are 1/3 the cost like Line Magnetic with their open tube designs and comparable sound have taken the spotlight. 

Way to go Bea and Luke. 

On the opposite side of the scale is Keith Herron at Herron Audio. Best cs in the business. There are plenty of good guys making great tube amps; why buy product made by a company like VTL?

However: If you buy new from a VTL dealer, it is HE should deal with any and all problems. That’s how he earns his 40 points. Brooks Berdan was a VTL dealer, and had a number of very happy VTL-owning clients. In his listening room he had VTL and Jadis power amps, Jadis and Hovland pre's.

For we less affluent, he had Music Reference. ;-)

Luke Manley is a total piece of crap....  rudely dismissed my "lifetime transferable " warranty even after I had sent my info about the purchase to them from the original owner 6 months before I had a problem.   In fact I have never been treated as poorly by any company as I was when talking to Bea.   They have no clue.

At one point in time the David Manley designed VTL amps had this warranty .   Can't even imagine how many first and subsequent owners got screwed out of "warranty service"    im honestly surprised they are still in business.   

I have only recently purchased a VTL product ( TL 5.5 Series 2) preamplifier and upon auditioning was immediately sold just on the sound of the preamp. I had only listened to ARC preamps to compare ( REF 5/6 Se) and liked the VTL best to my ear. Mind you I've had no previous experience with tube amps or preamps and was looking for a replacement to my Bryston BP 17 Cubed preamp and the VTL sounded hugely better when mated to my present SS amplifier Bryston 14B 2. I've been thinking about switching over to tube amps now and was keenly interested in the MB 450 Series 2 or 3 to purchase this year. I have a very good VTL dealer in Toronto who always maintained they will honour the VTL warranty even if they have to fix it themselves. So with some confidence in VTL I tried to reach someone at VTL months ago to answer some basic questions on the above amplifiers and I also wanted a recommendation on upgrading or purchasing new tubes for my VTL preamp. Neither me or my dealer have had any luck getting a response from "customer service". So I have now decided not to pursue purchasing any more VTL products which is kind of sad I think since it seems to be such a good product. I'm a little spoiled by Bryston customer service and 20 year warranty but they don't do tubes at Bryston. Anyway I was a potential high end client with bucks to spend but it all ended badly. I'm happy with my current VTL product but won't be purchasing anything else from them at this time.