Prices on everything seem to be going up. We are all suffering the effects of inflation.
I thought I would make a comparison of trusted valve ( tube) suppliers here in the UK on one of the most common valves, the popular JJ ECC83S. I looked at prices on the morning of 17th September, 2023. I went through the exercise of buying one piece. In each case, I picked the cheapest option to get a price. The options from various suppliers are factory test, premium test.
All comparisons were done on the basis of buying just one unit using the various company websites
Amp Valves: Has an attractive online presence. Their price is £29.53 – and the site mentions that the standard delivery takes 7 days and this costs £6.95 The total delivered cost is therefore from £36.48
Hot Rox UK: A nice musical instrument retailer website which also includes valves in their product line. Price £19,95 and economy delivery is £3.50 which will probably take a few days. Total delivered cost is from £23.45
Watford Valves:. A long established UK supplier of valves. They quote their prices excluding VAT, which makes them look cheaper. The total cost, including delivery and VAT, is from £25.20
StewMAC: a good USA supplier. The product comes form the USA and they do offer standard post for free. The downside to this is that it can take weeks to arrive. At the time of writing, we are heading towards the Xmas season, where deliveries get even slower. They offer international email and from our experience takes 7-10 days from the USA to UK. You will probably pay no VAT or customs clearance on one little valve. With orders over £100, customs will look at the shipment and levy 20% VAT. You are likely to receive an invoice from Royal Mail with a customs clearance charge of approximately £10 and a VAT invoice. With Royal Mail, they send out the invoice by letter and then you access their website to pay. You can then receive the goods. Their website quotes £12.65, which is a great price, but you need to add £15.71 for international airmail, making a total delivered price including airmail is £28.36.
And now us……
ValveTubeGuitarAmps.com: Our single unit (factory tested) price is £16.99 and delivery is £5 so our total delivered price is £21.99 for one.
We offer bulk packs with prices starting from £13+VAT each. Check here!
I don’t think we can be the cheapest on every product we sell. However, the ECC83 ( 12AX7) is the valve that every amp uses and so it makes good sense to me to offer this valve at a price which is as reasonable as possible. We have lowered our shipping cost to £5 for Royal Mail 1st Class delivery in the UK. We hope not to increase this cost when Royal Mail increases their postage prices on 2nd October 2023.
