In the following pages I'll try to give some advice about which preamp tubes I prefer and why. Explain a bit about the importance of biasing and matching tubes and go into the world of NOS.

I've been using tube gear since I started playing electric guitar. From a simple London City head it has now grown into a 19" rack setup where my signal passes a minimum of 20 tubes before it hits the speakers. Because tubes are an essential part of my setup for many years now, I've tried many different types and brands of tubes. Not only with my setup, but also in those of friends. And have noticed that you can really fine tune an amp by using the right tubes in the right places.

My tube collection started out from leftovers from my previously used tubes. It has grown quite a bit and features besides tubes useable for guitar amps, tubes for all different sorts of use. Such as high voltage thyratrons for lasers, military transmitting tubes, magic eyes, nixies, etc.

Now and then I stumble across one or more nice tubes that I buy. Some of them are directly for my setup, others just to try out for myself or friends. Which leaves me with tubes that are in some cases just laying around or are availble to change from owner. These tubes can be found at the Tubes For Sale page.

And what's a tube collection when you can't test them. So since a few months I've been gathering tube testers too. I won't keep all of them, so I'll warn you when some are free to change from owner.