Jump to content

Sophia Electric 12AX7 & 12AU7


seti

Recommended Posts

" $59.99 each with 30 days warranty or $75 each with one year warranty."

What does that mean...they expect their tubes to last 30 days, but their average loss for returns after 30 days is approx $25 per transaction?

I thought these folks made amps...are these are probally re-branded?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

LOL tube insurance business.

I find it hard to believe they make their own tubes but they offer so many custom 300Bs. Perhaps they just request customization from the TJ factory and stamp their name on them..

205D-300b-princess-2a3.JPG

Seti TJ makes alot of 300B tubes and the top 5% become Sophia's.

Jay

Link to comment
Share on other sites

LOL tube insurance business.

I find it hard to believe they make their own tubes but they offer so many custom 300Bs. Perhaps they just request customization from the TJ factory and stamp their name on them..

205D-300b-princess-2a3.JPG

Seti TJ makes alot of 300B tubes and the top 5% become Sophia's.

Jay

Interesting. You are so right.

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/Magazine/equipment/0402/tj300bmesh.htm

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use their 300B in my diy SET (JE labs circuit) and they were a great improvement (big difference) over the EH Gold, which mostly told me that every amp design may have its optimum tube. With the EH the amp would have been useless to me (mids too bright for horns) but with the Sophia I am enjoying the amps as the midrange for my tri-amp rig. At the time, it didn't seem like there were all that many good options for 300B other than what they were offering.

C&S

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd like to see a Tube Factory with "Sophia Electric" sign out front... I bet a dime to a dollar the tubes are actually manufactured in the Shugaung factory in China (or similar) under Sophia's guide lines/licence or something along those lines. But that is just a guess.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

TJ Vacuum Tubes

TJ Vacuum Tubes

The

TJ factory in Tianjan province manufactures WE replicas with a few

interesting and creative variations. 300B tubes are available as ST or

Globe style with the Globe offering both solid and mesh-style

(perforated) anode. The factory is a private enterprise (no state

involvement) and the owner, Mr. Liu is a veteran of the tube industry

having worked many years for the Beijing Tube Factory. He graduated

from university in 1955 in the field of vacuum tube technology and

holds a number of QC patents in that field. He has previously produced

CRTs for NEC. The TJ name is quite new to the West but has a well

established following and solid reputation amongst audiophiles in Japan.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think they get those prices because the tubes do generate positive feedback from critical users. I strongly suspect that those AXs and AUs are really good sounding tubes and they can get away with those prices in a market with such questionable "nos" alternatives these days. Not such good prices for manufacturers etc. but users looking for a viable alternative to high priced NOS, they fill a niche. This is what I found with their 300B, the alternative was ridiculously priced NOS WE (out of the question!), new WE (not quite the same as NOS and also mucho expensive) and some other very high priced alts. The guy answering the phone there seems to know his stuff and has very confident opinions about the products. As much as it hurts to spend (yesterday's) NOS money for NEW now, I think it might be a viable alternative. Just my 2 cents at the moment.

C&S

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a guy in sourcing...I can substantiate the claim that they could be buying and relabeling, in fact probably a bad decision to not to from a marketing, and cost point perspective. The interesting thing about it is, they likely have tighter tolerance specs for the tubes...in China they don't worry about statsitical process control and continious improvement. They will sort the good and ship them to the reseller and the rest direct to whomever will buy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a guy in sourcing...I can substantiate the claim that they could be buying and relabeling, in fact probably a bad decision to not to from a marketing, and cost point perspective. The interesting thing about it is, they likely have tighter tolerance specs for the tubes...in China they don't worry about statsitical process control and continious improvement. They will sort the good and ship them to the reseller and the rest direct to whomever will buy.

And then the buyer tests the tubes he receives from china and sends back the tubes that test out of their specifications. When they get back to China they turn around and sell them to a buyer who is not as picky.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Seti,

I'm simply swimming in 12Au7's, mostly old american and Jan production. I also have some National's that, I thnk, spekaerritz set me up with for the phenominal forum price of $5 a piece. The Nationals sound very nice and have but afew hours on them. I'm holding onto my 12Ax7's collection of Mullards, Telefunkens etc. though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well lets see.....we can buy 10 dollar 12ax7's all day long from vaious volume sellers....scrub the labels off then...hand write homeboy's premuim tube on them in gold magic marker...sell them for 59.99 if your ok with 30 days warranty...or 75.00 if you want a 1 year warranty...today however...just for forum members..if you don't need a warranty we can go at 49.99 per tube. For NOS needs we will scrub off the labels on some Nationals that we were running a fire sale on at 4 bucks a piece last year and sell you those for 49.00 or 59.99 or 75.00 depending on the warranty you want.

If each customer would send me in their used tubes (like the printer cart deals at your local office supply store), we can give you 3 bucks credit if they score as NOS (We can resell them as NOS for 100.00 on our NOS web site), and 4 bucks if they score NOS and you have the box.

If there is anything else we can do to make you happy let us know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites



I lost the link but I found a site were you could order large batches of tubes from China. You could pick base color, glass shape, glass color with three options and if you sent your logo they would put it on the tube for you. The bass could also have a logo. You could setup shop selling your own brand tubes on the internet with fantastic claims rather quickly.
Link to comment
Share on other sites



I lost the link but I found a site were you could order large batches of tubes from China. You could pick base color, glass shape, glass color with three options and if you sent your logo they would put it on the tube for you. The bass could also have a logo. You could setup shop selling your own brand tubes on the internet with fantastic claims rather quickly.

I would love that link..."snake oil tubes" sounds like a good trade name.

Link to comment
Share on other sites



You could setup shop selling your own brand tubes on the internet with fantastic claims rather quickly.

Yeah. You and the other 30 guys doing it....



Not I.

I would love that link..."snake oil tubes" sounds like a good trade name.

I'll try to find it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...