TubeDepotReviews 95

I'm a pretty picky tube user and have had good luck with multiple orders from Tube Depot. One recent tube arrival 'concerned' me, tube depot's customer service had a pre-paid return shipping label in my mailbox immediately - no muss, no fuss, repalcement tubes sent. Excellent customer service!

The items that I purchased were very reasonably priced, exactly as described, of excellent quality, packed, and shipped on time.

I like their review of tubes, showing characteristics, etc. Helps me decide what to order. All the tubes I've purchased from Tube Depot have been superb. Highly recommended!

Wonderful service and product. Fast and answered all my questions. Very reasonable and high quality.

Michelle was amazingly helpful. She answered all my questions, then sent me some useful links. Thanks

I called two times before deciding to buy a new Tube for my Manley Ref C mic. Michelle went above and beyond answering all my questions both days. I went with the Telefunken Diamond Bottom ECC801s (12AT7). I am so excited and can not wait to swap my stock one for the Telefunken. (I will try to post a video of the tube swap and test.)

I did go with FedEx as the shipper for my order. I am not a big fan of the USPS and to be honest you get what you pay for. I have read some of the reviews that talk about the shipping and USPS really is hard to deal with. The customer service was very nice with me and I will be ordering more tubes from Michelle and TubeDepot.

Thank you all and I appreciate your time.

SCP

I've been using Tubedepot for quite a few years now and i always recieve the best service along with great prices on my tube needs! They have always had my items in stock, and my order usually ships the same day! Thanks so much!

I have always been impressed with the shipping speed and correspondence with TubeDepot.com. Always on top of their Order status. There was a mix up on an order and they overnighted the correction and sent me a shipping label to exchange the next morning! Taken care of before 10:00 am. I will always use tubedepot to fuel my projects.

Ordered 2 weeks ago and paid 2 day shipping. Still nothing. Instead of making it right by sending me a new package, they blame the carrier and me. They will not refund my money and are completely rude. Do not use this worthless company. Do not believe the response below. Once they get your money they don't care about you... A little update: another day and still no tubes. They want me to wait and "eventually" my package will get here. Absolutely no timeline. And they don't care. They STILL will not give me my money back. How do they expect me to pay for something that Is lost and never arrived? Use a reputable company. This is not one!

TubeDepot had the best prices for the tubes I was looking for (cheaper than what local shops could offer and shocked that it was cheaper than what they pay to get them directly from the manufacturer) so it was great to grab what I needed without killing my wallet.

Tubes are fragile, and one of mine (out of the 13 I ordered) had an issue. I emailed TD about it and they were extremely helpful with great communication and quickly replaced my tube without any hassle. My amps sound fantastic now and I know I'll be using them from here on out for all of my tube needs.

Highly recommended!

Since I've gotten involved with these guys I've had nothing but success everything from a beautiful vintage 1970 Marshall Major that I still use to this day playing bass through it as I had done since the day I purchased it in 1978... Even my text said these are fantastic quality tubes exactly balanced quad set of kt88s a long with a three little sibling preamp tubes. I was fighting for the correct sound that on my 59 fender basement Tweed which I also used to play bass through to various suggestions as well as even getting a set that did not correctly correspond with what I was looking for they gladly accepted the tubes back and set me up with the correct ones until I found the perfect match thank you especially Michelle the girl knows her stuff!

The tubes themselves arrived in good condition. However, I paid (A LOT EXTRA!) for express shipping and they were not shipped in that manner. I needed them within a week and when they did not arrive I contacted TubeDepot to see what the problem was and to get a tracking number from the courier. Imagine my surprise when all they would do was say they were sent by ground. That was it. No tracking information, nothing. No attempt to explain why I paid over 3x the actual shipping price.

On the website when you checkout there are several "levels" of ground shipping ranging in price from $15USD to $60USD (for my order). I chose the most expensive option because I needed them quickly and they sent them the slowest way because they are dishonest. When I pointed out that the price on the package said shipping cost under $20 and I was charged $60 they sent me a screenshot OF SOMEBODY ELSES PERSONAL INFORMATION INCLUDING ADDRESS! Like that somehow proved I was wrong. When I pointed out the discrepancy again and asked to get in contact with somebody who could refund the overpayment I was told that "as far as you are concerned I am as high up the ladder as it goes".

I know that customer service can be a difficult job so in the future I will do them the courtesy of being a customer somewhere else.

Amazing Customer Service! I ordered and received tubes for by Budda Superdrive. I had a problem with the power tubes & 1 preamp tube. I contacted Tube Depot, and the offered replacement immediately. I was sent a mailing label to return the tubes, and promptly received replacements. The replacements appeared to have an additional charge I contacted them and spoke to Michelle. She was professional & knowledgeable. Michelle assured me there was no charge for the replacement. I have ordered thru Tube Depot in the past for my small collection of tube amps, but I'm far from being an important customer. Michelle treated me as though I had a high volume account, and valued my business. I heartily recommend Tube Depot and praise their commitment to the customer.

Ordered a set of different parts required for building my amplifier.
Paid for two day FedEx shipping and received a receipt including only "subtotal, shipping fee, and total".
Products did not arrive for a week and sent an email asking for status. TubeDepot never replied.
Products did not arrive after three more weeks and sent an email asking for status. TubeDepot replied with one line stating that "one of them items included in my order was backordered".
Products did not arrive after another month and sent an email. TubeDepot never replied.
After more than 50 days, since paying for a premium 2-day shipping, TubeDepot sent shipping receipt.
My order included many items totaling several hundreds of dollars but the entire shipment was delayed due to one item.
The item was not indicated "out of stock". Tube Depot never notified of "backordered" status until I sent second inquiry a month after order date. TubeDepot delayed the entire "2-day shipping" for 2 months due to one small item from the order.
I switched to Antique Electronic Supplies and Parts Express until I finished prototype. Since starting a business, I switched to CE Distribution for manufacturer/reseller discounts.

Advice to tube depot: if your product is going to arrive differently than described, you should put a note of that in the description. If you don't, you should expect that some customers ask questions about it, and when they do you should be helpful and accommodating rather than dismissive.

I ordered almost $400 in tubes. Two of the tubes I ordered, totalling $170, were not as described on the website. The brand i received was a different, generic brand and the country of origin was different than what was sold.

I emailed customer support to let them know and they told me that it was just the boxes that were different/generic. I got the right item and I should give them a try.

Note- it wasnt just the boxes that were a different brand- the tubes themselves were printed with a different brand and country of origin. Also, if I give them a try am I going to get a refund if I dont like them?

We went back and forth about 8 times of them telling me I'm wrong and being condescending. The tubes I was sent are available for $100 for a matched pair from other sellers ($70 less than what tubedepot charged).

They offered a return label, but packing, returning and repurchasing isnt worth the time to me.

Admittedly I'm not a tube expert, but I did have the tubes checked out by my local hifi shop who told me I'd received the wrong item.

The customer service left such a bad taste in my mouth that I wont be ordering from there or reccommending them again.

They refused to send my order because my billing and shipping address were different. When I called them a manager called Joe yelled at me. I was told that I am "A guy from Turkey, with different shipping and billing addresses. All of these are red flags"... They apparently looked me up and "ran a background check" as if that is their job... This is the first time anyone has yelled at me for being Turkish, and it is absurd that someone wouldn't ship me amplifier tubes because of my nationality...
I feel it is important to note that THEY CHARGED MY CARD, sent me an order confirmation but were never planning on shipping my parts. Not only are they the absolute worst people, they also tried to cheat me out of my money...
I've been in the US for 5 years now and this is by far my worst experience.

I ordered a TubeCube7 valve amp from Tube Depot. Shipped quickly. Customer service is excellent. And the little 3.5 watt valve amp is a little gem. It excels at jazz and small ensembles. The dark space between notes of a good Mile's Davis "Kind of Blue" recording will knock you over. And that's just the kind of recording that this valve amp excels at. Allen Toussant's "American Tunes" and "The Bright Mississippi" CD's sound wonderful. Diana Krall "Live in Paris. Snooks Eaglin "New Orleans Street Singer". Grant Green "Idle Moments". It's a Class A valve amp just made for small ensemble jazz, blues, and acoustic instruments. This amp does prefer efficient speakers. Now, when you start listening to larger ensembles, big bands, and orchestras the sound stage becomes a bit compressed sounding. Instruments blend together. Hard to tell violas from violins. A loud NOLA second line band like Bonerama sounds compressed. A bad recording like the Jim Hall/ Ron Carter re-issued CD "Alone Together" sounds compressed, too, even though it's a small ensemble. That's the word I'd used: orchestras sound compressed. Less sparkly. Big band. NOLA second line, too. Anything with a lot of instruments and volume. Or a bad recording. This amp will show you a bad recording. But oh my a well recorded jazz trio/quartet/ quintet will knock you over it sounds so clean so spacious so defined so good. I'm starting to call the TubeCube7 my Jazz Amp. I did roll tubes, per Tube Depot's recommendation, to Tung Sol Russian tubes. And I must say Tube depot's customer service is second to none. You can purchase this product with full confidence they stand behind the products they sell. Well enough time writing - back to listening to Snooks on the TubeCube7 it's like he's right in front of me.

Purchased a fairly expensive tube from them. Price was significantly above pretty much any other offer I got anywhere else. I paid more for peace of mind and expectation to get appropriate customer service. It was not the case. The product I purchased was shipped ignoring instructions which had been formally agreed between myself and their customer service, which resulted in extra unreasonable charges on my delivery from the carrier. When I reported the problem to Tubedepot, not only have I not been offered a refund for the extra costs but I have not even received an apology.