BanditGuitarist1 said: I was told buy the amp tech that fixed my blown super lead that EHX Tubes are terrible and actually dangerous for your amp, he said the reason the amp blew was that there was surge of power which blew the fuse and tubes and fried the board, he said if they tubes werent cheap EHX the amp would have been fine.
He also told me EHX used to be good but when they changed production places quality control was lost and that the EHX are now really bad and he wouldn't recommend them to anyone, he told me Grove Tube would be better.
Hopefully you learned your lesson and will always plug your amp into a surge protector from now on.
Well not to discredit your amp tech, I'm sure he knows his stuff, but that's the most bizarre thing I've ever heard about EHX tubes. Something I've found with a lot of guitar and amp techs in general is that if they have one or two bad experiences with a product they totally label that product as bad and as having poor quality control. The honest truth is that when it comes to tubes, even the most expensive ones are sometimes total crap right out of the box due to the occassional mistake in manufacturing, but more often then not due to damage that occurred in shipping as most tubes are never packed well when they're shipped in my opinion, or at least not as well as I would pack them myself.
You should always take more than one qualified person's opinion when it comes to equipment, and when it comes to tubes I've personally found EHX and Sovtek tubes, primarily EHX tubes, to be the most durable and road resistent tubes I've ever used. They are the least microphonic and are the first choice of all the amp techs I've ever met in my area when it comes to replacements.
Just do some research on tubes online and you'll find the majority of sites rank EHX and Sovtek tubes as among their top choices for reliability and consistency (but rarely for tone). So even if your tech had a bad experience, he's definitely in the minority of people I've met concerning EHX tubes.
Groove Tubes are nice but I've always considered them overpriced for what they are. Tung-sol, SED, Sam-Phillips, and JJ Electronics all make much better sounding and more reliable tubes IMO.
