These are dedicated to everybody who works from their home and literally open the doors to members of the general public in order to chase a dream…Caveat Lector.
Circa 2007, I reached a milestone I wanted for several years which included becoming “dealer” for one of my favorite brands of vacuum tube resellers at the time. You know: “It’s Time To Change The Tubes”. You only get one of those after you’ve made the BIGTIME. Laughable, I know…
So, I ponied up the $3,300 +/- and received my (beautiful) neon clock on the left. See pic below.
I had spoken with the Owner several times throughout the late 1980’s and early 1990’s and had several friendly conversations with him. I would usually pick his brain to discuss which set of tubes I should be considering for my designs or to simply pontificate on his (highly influential) book which I’ve always admired. He was always very helpful and surprisingly receptive with me. I really enjoyed my interactions with the Owner. Rest his soul.
It should be stated that whenever I previously bought their vacuum tubes from George’s Music in Spring City, PA throughout the 80’s and early 90’s, the products along with George’s Music’s service were always EXCEPTIONAL. I feel like I need to mention this because it’s where most of us locals became familiar with the brand in the first place. The Guys at George’s Music then and now are still top notch. Even in 2026. That’s incredible!
Fast forward to 2007, it came time to go big or go home. I had (2) orders for Golden Ratios at this point and was relying on having several sets of 6V6’s, 12AX7’s, and GZ-34’s on-hand to fulfill the builds plus several repair jobs. I also had repair work beginning to stack up and I needed quality product ASAP.
Needless to say, upon taking delivery of the first and only order I ever placed with them, I had to contact them immediately shortly after taking delivery. Out of the box, of which several dozen vacuum tubes arrived, over half of them were noisy, loaded with filament hum, rattled substantially, and weren’t electrically stable (arced when tapped on). No bueno.
Enter Tube Salesman #1 & Tube Salesman #2
I phoned SoCal to discuss sending the defective products back in exchange for new product. I patiently explained the situation in good detail and asked for an exchange. (TS1) placed me on speaker mode with (TS2). I don’t precisely recall who it was, but I suspect it was TS1 who openly scoffed and arrogantly denied my claim. TS1 insisted that their product was fine and began to openly question my credibility.
At this point, I had enough and demanded that they either exchange the defective product or I’ll demand a full return and rescind my dealer status. Both snidely cackled amongst themselves something along the lines of “probably not legit anyway” on speakerphone. TS1 proceeded to say something to the effect that a full return would be against their “policy”.
I pointed out that on page 173 of the Owner’s influential book that the is a photograph showing a fellow facing the rear of a guitar amplifier on his bench with a pair of muffs on listening to and tapping on tubes in a hot amplifier.
TS1’s response was:
“You must be deaf, Jason! We don’t have time to test each tube anymore!” Tube Sales 1
He continued that they would not be exchanging any product for me, mentioned that I was unreasonable, and hung up the phone.
A couple of days go by and I received a phone call from the Owner. He politely asks if I have a minute and that he would like to personally apologize for the actions of the Salesmen. He mentioned that he had just finished reading the JCA Circuits Builder’s Profile in Vintage Guitar Magazine which Ward Meeker recently conducted. He also congratulated me for the previous review on the GR1.6 amp. He agreed to exchange all defective product and then asked me the following:
“Is it ok to put Sales on the phone with us? They would like to apologize now.” Owner
Tube Salesmen #1 and #2 were placed on speakerphone and proceeded to tuck their tails between their legs and said something to the effect that they would “make things right”.
As it turned out, they wound up exchanging the first batch of defective tubes for more of but slightly less defective product in the exchange. I ended up salvaging about 85% of the total product in the end and wound up throwing out about a dozen pieces which I could never use or sell. I refuse to pay another dime for their products. An unfortunate ending for a formerly wonderful product line. I remain unsure whether the current product measures up to the original. I couldn’t say.
The rest is history.
JCA
