Buy tubes from Audio Research or not

what it seems you're paying extra for is their implied warranty to fix the amp - tube suppliers such as tubedepot (not affliated other than as a customer) offer 90 day warranties on the tubes as well

The advantage to buying ARC tubes include the 90day warranty, the fact that they have been burned in at voltage for 24hrs. so bias drifting is minimized, and are matched to the amp you need them for i.e. the biasing window of adjustment is optimized.

G

I took a chance and just bought 6 new Groove Tube 12AX7s for my sp16 from Guitar Center.

They cost $120 ($20 each) and I was able to walk in and buy them.

The tubes from ARC would have cost $200 + shipping, etc.

It worked out fine. I do not hear any noticeable difference between these and the ARC originals.

Maybe I got lucky. Either way would have worked fine I suppose.

I am referring to output tubes only

G

I had an amp sent to ARC for repair. The work was under warranty but they would not do the work unless they could re-tube it. They made $500 off a $.05 resistor.

I get that they don't want problems that bad tubes could cause but that was not cheap. Can't complain too much because I love the sound and quality, just beware that this can happen.