Yes but what people say is NOS is usually absolute bull. Most nowadays are really OS pulls-or rejected crap from yesteryear. Or even counterfeit. They sound nice but have no balls. Buyer beware on NOS.[/QU
Maybe so that most vintage is not NOS, but if you get old stock (OS) that passes all tests (gm, life test, shorts, gas) it will sound identical to NOS and have plenty of balls.
Sorry to hear you have gotten some duds, but those tubes probably failed the life or gas tests even though the gm may have tested high. If you have a good tester (I doubt it or you would not have made the above statement) try all these tests on some of your ballless tubes and you will no doubt find them lacking.
Frankly, most new issue tubes from China and Russia that I have tried sound good for a few months (or weeks) and then start to get noisy, sound bland or lose whatever balls they had. Buyer beware on new production!
Are you saying that the tubes sold as NOS by major tube dealers like Kevin Deal at Upscale Audio and Andy at Vintage Tube Services are fake? We are not talking about E-Bay here.
I prefer old stock (OS) small signal tubes (12ax7s,5751s, 12au7s, 6sn7s, etc.) from the best tube manufacturers of the past. Firms like Telefunken, Amperex, Raytheon, Sylvania, etc. These tubes were produced with materials and skilled labour that is very rare (or impossible) to find today. These small signal tubes had lifetimes ranging into the thousands of hours. I pick them up for $10 to $25 a piece. If your wonder how so cheap, read my post in the tube suppliers thread.
Some tubes I like more than others, but I can't honestly ever recall hearing a tube that was "ballless" (had lost its dynamics I assume you mean) because of too many hours of use. These small signal tubes are much more likely to get noisy or microphonic when they are approaching retirement.
Sorry to rant, but I think you are doing tube lovers a great disservice with comments like the above. The day will come when new production will be the only game in town. But until then, we have the opportunity to hear and use quality vintage small signal tubes (whether "NOS" or OS) from the great manufacturers of the past. And believe me, when it comes to small signal tubes, they don't make them like they use too. Not even for $225 a pop.
Disservice? Hardly! The key word that you seem to have missed is *most*. And please, do not put words in my mouth that I did not say! (Oh and Dan Schmalle has talked about the issue with "NOS" tubes for years!)
Yes many but not all original NOS are better than what's made today for a plethora of reasons. Sylvania 12AU7s, 12AX7, EL34, have despite their cheap price, done nothing for me. If someone need those, there's something wrong with the system. And no not just me, but many I know end up with OS tubes. Plus a quick perusal of the net will yield quite a list of fake tubes being foisted on the unsuspecting public. More so not even the public but dealers too who have been burned. The best were the fake Teles ECC83s a while back that looked identical and the only way you could tell the difference other than the sound, was that the logo wouldn't smudge like the originals.
I also find that for whatever the reason, many of these NOS tubes don't last in todays equipment. The most famous example is Art Ferris' Audible Illusions pre but I have found the same thing also say for my cj TEA 1bc phono stage. Most Tele ECC83s die in the TEA within 3-6 months. That of course brings us to the subject of dwindling quiet number of NOS tubes for phono sections period.
But more to the point is the dwindling supply of NOS tubes and that this supply is finite. Personally, and YMMV, I'd rather find a current source of tubes that are good and support them because without these companies, tube gear will go by the way of the dodo.
