Psvane tubes

[Mars Amp Repair]

I seem to recall another post regarding these tubes, but nothing came up in a search.
My experience with these tubes has been all bad. Their preamp tubes, 12AX, AT, AU, has been that the two triodes are generally way unbalanced as well as the life-expectancy test on the Hickok 600A, shows dimishing life even with a brand new tube. I have tested those tubes that have been in amps for a relatively short period of use, & the life expectancy is already getting towards the bad zone.
I recently worked on an Orange AD200B where one of the Psvane 6550 tubes had a dead filament. I resoldered the filament pins & got it back to life. I've seen this issue in way older used tubes, but never in a brand new one.
After taking a chance on these tubes during the shipment crisis a few years ago and JJ's couldn't be had for reasonable prices, I realized that the quality testing of these tubes in their factory just sucks as well as the general quality given the life expectancy testing of new tubes. I haven't purchased any since then.
Anyone else have experience like or even unlike this?
Thanx, glen

[tedmich]

This company makes 4 different tiers of tubes (Classic, Art, Legend and Acme) and seem aimed at the audiophile market. I suspect gold pins and initially low noise are the main design considerations but a table top headphone amp is way different from a grubby combo people expect to run for years tossed in the back of a gig van.

Its also possible they simply shunt their poor tubes to the musician market, but I'll make a note to avoid them unless I'm forced to use them, thanks for your insight.

[Leo_Gnardo]

I tried some PSVane 6V6 once they became the only available brand in the tube downdraft awhile back. Some spectacular failures! The kind we hate - bright glowing sparks and distressing noises after the amp's been back in the hands of its owner a couple days or weeks. Especially at some vital recording session or gig. No worries though, all the other brands continue to provide a never ending parade of disappointments, mostly rattles and clanks that also are not acceptable for most clients. Even the highly vaunted and hideously expensive Tube Amp Doctor has delivered a series of bitter 6V6 failures. If I wasn't at my wit's end before, I'm there now.

[Chuck H]

Need a "don't like" tab to press. I haven't been building in a long while and I surely don't envy my comrades in the repair game. I actually have enough tubes to get by for a few more years maintaining my own circumstances. Hopefully things get better before I run out!!

In the mean time... I'll comment where I can if I think I can help.

[Mars Amp Repair]

Yes, yes, yes!
Fortunately, I never had to order any of their crappy power tubes, so the outlay of $$ was minimal. It was rather early on when those showed up and at that time the dude at CE said he hadn't had any complaints. Well, I do believe that at that point, but you can see they're still selling them. Ya know, you only get one chance to make a first impression...even if Psvane has cleaned up their act, I'll never purchase them again.

[Mars Amp Repair]

As an update:
I have found relatively new Psvane 12AX and AT7 tubes that already have bad 'low life' indications on my Hickok 6000A, that I usually only see on 30+yr old tubes that were used in the PI positions. I guess there's no more doubt viewing the entries abt these tubes that they just plain suck!
I see where Tedmich stated that this company offers different levels of tubes & perhaps reserves all the crappy ones for out market. I have no respect for a company that would let products of this low quality tarnish any reputation it might have.
I certainly would not risk my hard earned dollars and my reputation with customer's to save a few bucks on this garbage.

[Tom Phillips]

...I see where Tedmich stated that this company offers different levels of tubes & perhaps reserves all the crappy ones for our market. I have no respect for a company that would let products of this low quality tarnish any reputation it might have...

I fully agree. I think that we all know that they wouldn't "manufacture" different performance levels of the same tube, with the exception of flash gold pin plating versions. Therefore, double shame on them for selling the ones that they know are so inferior.

[nevetslab]

I was entertaining the thought of purchasing some of these tubes. I had come upon a set of 6L6GC's on one of our rental amps, but now I can't recall whose amp it was. I didn't find any issues that I can recall. When tubes were very scarce during the first year of the war on Ukraine, Psvane tubes were one of the potential options that one could purchase. I never did buy any, not really wanting to have to change from what has been reliable. I instead took to cannibalizing tubes from seldom-rented amps to source the 6L6GC's, EL34's and EL84's, as well as the 6V6's, in addition to the preamp tubes. But thanks for the heads-up on the comments and disastrous reports on these tubes.

I too have often had to de-solder and re-solder heater pins to see if the heater was really open circuit or the solder joints had failed. Most of the time, I've restored the tubes to life from desoldering/resoldering.

[Axtman]

Here is the original post:

https://music-electronics-forum.com/...9-psvane-tubes