Buying from the USA question..

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stevewestern

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I want to buy some valves for my old stereo amplifier and have found some in the States. They were made in the 1960's but are new old stock.
Is there likely to be any import duty or whatever, and if so what sort of percentage, any ideas?
Thanks for any help!
 
I bought an old film era lens from the USA and the import duty took it from being nicely priced to rather expensive but it was a rare lens and I knew I was going to be charged. I've no idea if components are affected but I think I'd factor it in before buying just to avoid any unexpected shock.
 
stevewestern said:
I want to buy some valves for my old stereo amplifier and have found some in the States. They were made in the 1960's but are new old stock.
Is there likely to be any import duty or whatever, and if so what sort of percentage, any ideas?
Thanks for any help!
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It depends on the value, but under £135 there should be no duty to pay on materials you have purchased: https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty

What are the valves, and can you not get them here? I used to use these guys for some of my valve needs when I was still building amps: https://www.watfordvalves.com
 
ancient_mariner said:
It depends on the value, but under £135 there should be no duty to pay on materials you have purchased: https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty

What are the valves, and can you not get them here? I used to use these guys for some of my valve needs when I was still building amps: https://www.watfordvalves.com
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The valves are NOS Mullard EL84's which can be found but not easily, and the price is £280-odd for 2, so over the £135 threshold..
 
stevewestern said:
The valves are NOS Mullard EL84's which can be found but not easily, and the price is £280-odd for 2, so over the £135 threshold..
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It has been a very, very, very long while since I did anything with valves and do remember the Mullard brand.

NB packrat that I am if I looked I might still my softback valve catalogue:lol:

There is an electronics engineer, Phil Moss, in Surbiton Surrey who is IIRC an aficionado of old valve gear. He has done tutorial videos about some old gear here
www.vintageaudioworkshop.com

Vintage Audio Workshop - Tutorial Videos

Tutorial Videos
www.vintageaudioworkshop.com www.vintageaudioworkshop.com

Why do I suggest him, well as he likely still gets asked to repair that gear.... perhaps he would know of uncommon UK sources for hard to find obscure valves :thinking:

PS he has no to none web presence but his phone number can be found on Yell & Thomson pages.
 
stevewestern said:
The valves are NOS Mullard EL84's which can be found but not easily, and the price is £280-odd for 2, so over the £135 threshold..
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I have the vaguest of memories of seeing a magazine article (Practical Electronics or possibly Wireless World) about emulating valves with solid state devices.

The idea was to end up with a package having the same phyical profile and being a direct plug in replacement. I have no idea if this went anywhere but I suspect it would be a great deal cheaper than a real valve (although how close the characteristics would be, I've no idea).
 
stevewestern said:
The valves are NOS Mullard EL84's which can be found but not easily, and the price is £280-odd for 2, so over the £135 threshold..
Click to expand...

OK, if you're after something quite specific then nothing else will do. IIRC I've got some NOS valves laying around, but probably not Mullard EL84s (I used to use 6V6/6L6/5881/KT66 more than anything for power valves, though I do use a small SE 5W amp (1 X EL84) quite a bit these days.

To answer your question then, yes, you're going to have to pay import duty. The precise amount may be discoverable through the pages I linked, though beware 'handling fees' applied by couriers/post office.
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
The idea was to end up with a package having the same phyical profile and being a direct plug in replacement. I have no idea if this went anywhere but I suspect it would be a great deal cheaper than a real valve (although how close the characteristics would be, I've no idea).
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IIRC someone made some valve replacements (available from a German company I used to buy from, Musikding?) especially rectifier valves with diodes in a metal casing, but they weren't very popular. While it was possible to replicate the fundamental electronics, solid state replacements weren't the same in sonic terms. Amplifiers sound very different with different components in, and even different makes of capacitors + how long they'd been used for would make a difference that could be heard in blind listening tests, where recorded signal was fed through the amp, then re-recorded & listened to blind. I tried cryo-treatment of valves myself, because I had a source of liquid nitrogen, and got my wife to swap out valves so I didn't know what was in the amp - the difference between cryo treated and not was quite large and most unexpected.

In these days of MP3 compresssion and bluetooth headphones music is rather homogenised, but when you go back to the source it's very different.
 
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I used to buy from Tubedepot in the USA when I lived there but haven't needed to buy in the UK. I do get quite a bit of stuff sent from the USA and almost always pay import duty when it is over the threshold.

As an aside, I run a pair of 300B valves in my amp.
20190615_155016.jpg
 
My amp is a 1960's Leak stereo 20 which has been totally overhauled and is a perfect match for my (overhauled) 15" Tannoy speakers. Valves are still a big thing in hifi both with old amps like mine and quite a few new amps, and 'tube rolling' is a good way to alter the sound to some extent.
Certain Nos Mullards can be worth a fortune, especially if in matched pairs or even quads and as they become harder to find the price only goes one way......
 
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The 6CA7 is my favourite output valve for single ended guitar amps, offering clarity and sweetness without the harsher tones of the EL34 (good for overdrive though) or the sometimes excessive brightness of the 6L6.
 
ancient_mariner said:
The 6CA7 is my favourite output valve for single ended guitar amps, offering clarity and sweetness without the harsher tones of the EL34 (good for overdrive though) or the sometimes excessive brightness of the 6L6.
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Seems you know a lot more than me about valves - I only recently got my amp and am trying to get a few high quality valves for it. I recently got a few used Mullards from Ukraine at a very good price to keep as spares and the ones I've seen and might buy are hopefully going to offer something more than the ones currently in my amp.
Expensive business though..
 
Have you enquired with Armstrong Audio in Walthamstow? Old style audio repair shop which fixed up a 40 year old Armstrong receiver for us a few months ago...
 
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stevewestern said:
Seems you know a lot more than me about valves - I only recently got my amp and am trying to get a few high quality valves for it. I recently got a few used Mullards from Ukraine at a very good price to keep as spares and the ones I've seen and might buy are hopefully going to offer something more than the ones currently in my amp.
Expensive business though..
Click to expand...

Don't forget, I'm coming from a guitar amp perspective, and the things you need for hi-fi are rather different. For guitar we often restrict frequency response or add artifacts (you wouldn't want chime in a hi-fi) and will do things like under-size output transformers for more compression.
 
valves are still curiously popular especially it seems in headphone amps
I am a big digital music and headphone person and have been tempted but not yet
 
Mr Bump said:
valves are still curiously popular especially it seems in headphone amps
I am a big digital music and headphone person and have been tempted but not yet
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Curiously?
I wonder what makes you say that?
The sound a valve amp makes can be very good (both guitar and hifi) and the fact that there are many amps like mine still in use and commanding high prices along with new models being made and sold shows that there is a healthy market for well made equipment.
I've been through a lot of amps and for me, by a long way, my current amp is the best I've ever had despite being a lot cheaper than some of the others.
All my music is digital btw.
 
simon ess said:
Snap!

I'd love to try it with Tannoys but it's pretty good with a pair of Snell type J with Audionote tweeters.
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You owe it to yourself too try some at some point. Big drivers (I've had some 12" Tannoy's as well and the 15's are another big jump up) just let the music flow with so much ease. The downside is that the cabinets are big. The small ones in the corner are the 12's
 

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stevewestern said:
You owe it to yourself too try some at some point. Big drivers (I've had some 12" Tannoy's as well and the 15's are another big jump up) just let the music flow with so much ease. The downside is that the cabinets are big. The small ones in the corner are the 12's
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I think 12" would realistically be the largest for my small room.

Here's my amp. Industrial is the word that springs to mind.

DSCF0975.jpg
 
This is my other amp, my introduction to valves, even more industrial, a proper 'old man in a shed' build!
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It's a Firebottle Dulci amp, has been owned by many (the guy I got it from has owned it twice) and cost me the princely sum of around £300 and came with a few spare valves. I ought to sell it but it looks so fantastic, it's tiny but packs a heck of a punch musically.
 
stevewestern said:
Curiously?
I wonder what makes you say that?
The sound a valve amp makes can be very good (both guitar and hifi) and the fact that there are many amps like mine still in use and commanding high prices along with new models being made and sold shows that there is a healthy market for well made equipment.
I've been through a lot of amps and for me, by a long way, my current amp is the best I've ever had despite being a lot cheaper than some of the others.
All my music is digital btw.
Click to expand...

you are overthinking my use of the word curiously
 
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