I know there is a lengthy thread on VR tubes, but does anyone have any tips for shopping for them?

I have a set of English Gammatron OB2’s and a set of German factory Telefunken 75C1’s. Both are quite dull compared to the Russian tubes Steve supplied with the amp.

That's been my experience as well. The "boils down to it" reality for me is that everything matters and influences how the system sounds, from power, to isolation, to cabling, room and treatments or lack of same, and yes to tubes. So a tube that sounds great in one system may not in another. for example just today MM mentions that an English made 75C1 tube sounds "dull" where as they sound fantastic to me in my amp, not dull at all.  

Suggestions for tubes can be helpful. . . twenty some years ago how someone described and waxed gleefully about Amperex input tubes helped me to decide to explore those and they have led me to invest in Holland made tubes that almost always prove to be very beneficial to the overall sound of my system. General impressions of how a tube brand or type sounds can lead to fruitful exploration. . . and sometimes dead ends. I also have found the descriptions of Brent Jesse's impressions of tube types and brands to be good interpretations to aid exploration.

https://www.audiotubes.com/

(Although not helpful with voltage regulation tubes).

Thanks, guys. Lon, I’ll give that one a try.

For sure, the details matter, and the individual tubes matter. The 75C1’s that came with my Sarah sound amazing- the Telefunken 75C1 just don’t have the same clarity and presence. So obviously not the tube type, per se, just the individual tube/manufacturer. This has been my experience with NOS tubes in general.

And of course, you get what you pay for. Some of the more reputable tube sellers like Brent are going to be more reliable, but these less expensive VR tubes aren’t always available from them.

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If you are talking about buying tubes that are electrically reliable than yes, you are correct. You're much less likely to get a bad tube from someone like Brent, although it certainly happens.

But electrical reliability and audio quality are not well correlated in my experience. I'm fortunate to have a tube tester, so I don't have to worry about putting a "dangerous" tube into my amps, although in 30+ years of testing a lot of random tubes bought off the internet there were only a very few. Some are just dead, but you'd learn that quick enough in your amp. And some of the best testing tubes I've bought have sounded with the worst.

My Scottish Heritage typically objects to paying top dollar for "heritage" vacuum tubes, so I buy a lot of inexpensive tubes, often used, and am able to experiment with a lot of different types and makers. I've found many bargains, in addition to a lot of tubes to which I'll never listen again. But everyone has a different level of comfort and budget for buying tubes, so you need to figure out what works for you. It is possible to do better than the Decware stock tubes, but you can also spend a lot of money and not necessarily get better sound.