Affordable Valve Company
THE BEST Valve / Tube Amplifiers and Speakers
or MONEY REFUNDED (less shipping charges. equipment returned during 1 month home trial.)
For more information, please click the underlined items
 Home (Main Page) 
  Reviews 
 Products 
 Buying advice, questions & answers 
 Upgrades & Repairs 
 Contact us 
Reliability , Repairs , Replacement valves
and Second Hand Amplifiers
Our valve amplifiers have proven their reliability over 7 years.
we have been using our Superior RELIABLE Chinese valves
for MANY YEARS
and they are MUCH MORE RELIABLE
with Higher Transconductance CONSISTENTLY
giving LOWER DISTORTION
than the Russian valve / Soviet tubes
than I have tried.
We offer 2 years guarantee on the Chinese valves,
(only 1 year for our cheapest GBP £250 and GBP £410 valve / tube amplifier)
when you buy our amplifier.
I challenge you to find a competitor who will give you more than 
a laughable 80 days guarantee for Russian valves / Soviet tubes
EVEN WHEN YOU BUY GBP £3000 valve / tube amplifier
or GBP £20000 valve / tube amplifier 
Our valve amplifiers are reliable,
just as long as customers do NOT tamper with the valves.
It is interesting to note that
we very very very seldom have to repair amplifier
with intact "security seals" on the safety cage,
so the customer could not tamper with the valves !
This are the some examples of what happen when customers tamper with the valves.
Case 1 describing 4 broken "plastic positing pins"
A customer phoned me up,
asking about different brands of valves.
I told him that he must tell us the "hand written" number written on the valves,
and we will sell him similar replacement valves, with similar characteristics.
We also told him that he cannot buy replacement valves from other suppliers,
because we use FIXED BIAS (to get 40 watts out of the EL34 valves)
Needless to say he ignored our advice,
and a few weeks later he sent his amplifier in for repair.
Our Authorised Service Center received the amplifier with :
1. One of two pieces of HUGE packing foam was missing.
       ( It is a miracle that the amplifier was not damaged by the courier )
2. Safety cage missing ( The customer have to remove 4 bolts to remove the safety cage. )
                                  ( The customer swears blind, that he did not tamper with the amplifier ! )
3. One valve was missing ! ! !
                            ( And the customer swears blind, that he did not tamper with the amplifier ! )
Phil of Audiolab (Leeds) remove the bottom of the amplifier,
and he found 4 broken off  "plastic positioning pin".
At the bottom of the valve is a "plastic positioning pin".
This "plastic positioning pin" ensures that you put the valve into the socket,
the correct way around.
This customer managed to break off all 4 "plastic positioning pin" ! ! ! !
I have unplugged and inserted hundreds of valves,
and I have never broken a  "plastic positioning pin",
so I shake my head in despair.
Maybe I have been lucky,
but how can anybody break 4 "plastic positioning pin" out of 4 valves ?
And the customer still swears blind that he has never tampered with the valves !
Needless to say, once you break off 4 of the "plastic positioning pin",
it is very easy to put the valves into the socket WRONGLY,
and damaged the output transformer.

 

Most people will not tamper with a car, because they do not know anything about the car.
Do not listen to some idiot on some Internet Forum, 
encouraging you to "muck about" our amplifier !
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.  DO NOT TAMPER WITH OUR AMPLIFIER.
Leave the upgrading and repairs to the professional. 
But that is not the end of the story,
the customer (who swears blind that he has never tampered with the valves),
tried to blackmail us
by saying that he will write to Hi Fi News , Hi Fi Choice and Hi Fi World ,
unless we pay for the output transformer.
Since the amplifier is two and a half years old (out of guarantee),
and it was his own stupid fault,
we told him what we thought of him,
and we do not like to be blackmailed.
Do you think it would be fair to call him a liar and a blackmailer ?
Case 2 describing 2 broken "plastic positing pins"
Customer brought in an amplifier for repair.
2 of the "plastic positioning pin" was broken off
(see case 1 to find out what a "plastic positing pin" is.)
Some of the pins of the valve was bent 15 degrees out of true !
One output transformer and the mains transformer were damaged.
So we swapped the "beyond economical repair" amplifier
for a almost new (with minor repair) amplifier for £250
AND A NEW 2 YEAR GUARANTEE ON THE AMPLIFIER AND VALVES.
There were quite a number of scratches on the faulty amplifier,
and the £250 replacement amplifier looks like 1 month old
WITH A NEW 2 YEAR GUARANTEE ON THE AMPLIFIER AND VALVES.
I hope that you can agree that
we do try to treat our customers fairly,
(just as long as they do not go out of their way to annoy us.)
Case 3 after telling customer
            that he must buy replacement valves from us.
Customer rang. I told him that he must tell us the "hand written numbers" on the valves
and and we will sell him replacement valves with similar characteristics.
We use "fixed bias" to squeeze 40 watts out of the EL34 valves,
so you cannot buy replacement valves from other suppliers. 
A few weeks later, the customer rang and said that his amplifier has broken down.
I suspect that he was trying valves from other suppliers,
even though I told him that
we use fixed bias & he must buy replacement valves from us.
Case 4 after telling another customer
            that he must buy replacement valves from us.
No, I have not duplicated the story.
This is another customer, whose amplifier broke down,
a few weeks after I told him that he must buy replacement valves from us !
Interesting coincidence !
The almost identical story is :-
Customer rang. I told him that he must tell us the "hand written numbers" on the valves
and and we will sell him replacement valves with similar characteristics.
We use "fixed bias" to squeeze 40 watts out of the EL34 valves,
so you cannot buy replacement valves from other suppliers. 
A few weeks later, the customer rang and said that his amplifier has broken down.
I suspect that he was trying valves from other suppliers,
even though I told him that
we use fixed bias & he must buy replacement valves from us.
Case 5 after telling customer
            that he must buy replacement valves from us.
A customer rang asking if he can put 6550 valves in our EL34 amplifier.
I said  NO, YOU CANNOT PUT 6550 VALVES IN EL34 AMPLIFIERS !
        NO, YOU CANNOT PUT 6550 VALVES IN OUR KT88 AMPLIFIERS.
          6550 valves are "delicate" and will barely cope with the 440 volts in our amplifiers.
By coincidence, this happened around the same time as case 3 and case 4 ! ! !
It is probable that some idiot on some internet forum has suggested that
you should try out different valves in our Affordable Valve Company amplifiers.
It is strange that some people will listen to what some idiot say on some Internet forum,
and totally ignore the advice of the Affordable Valve Company !
After all, what do we know about our own amplifiers !
Olde English saying
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Our amplifiers are affordable, reliable and sound great. DO NOT TAMPER WITH IT.
Just put a CD or record on, sit back and enjoy the music !
You must buy replacement valves from us
You must buy replacement valves from us
You must buy replacement valves from us
You must buy replacement valves from us
You must buy replacement valves from us
If you need new valves,
you must tell us the hand written numbers on the valves,
and buy replacement valves from us.
We use FIXED BIAS,
so you cannot simply buy replacement valves from other suppliers.
It is interesting to note that
we very very very seldom have to repair amplifier
with intact "security seals" on the safety cage,
so the customer could not tamper with the valves !
Repairs to 2nd hand equipment.
We support customer who support us.
If you buy a new or second hand amplifier from us,
you are paying our wages,
we will try our best to support you.
( Just as long as you do not go out of your way to annoy us ! )
If you buy a second hand amplifier (or grey import) from a second hand dealer,
you should get your support from the second hand dealer.
We do NOT support second hand amplifier,
that you bought from somebody else.
Ask that somebody else for support !
Our offer of upgrading EL34 valve amplifiers
to "KT88 Triode Connection" valve amplifiers
is only for customers who buy amplifiers directly from us.
We will only sell PROPERLY MATCHED replacement valves
to customers who buy amplifiers directly from us.
The customer support us,
and we support the customer.

Click here to go back to the  MAIN  PAGE  at  http://www.affordablevalvecompany.com