Watford Valves Blog

Harma Ceramic British Series Speakers

By watfordvalves on August 1, 2016 in blog

The Harma ceramic British gem series speakers have been developed to provide a canvass for the modern day guitar player to make their own signature sound. Iconic legends of British music such as Hank Marvin, Brian May, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page & Dave Gilmour have all used a British designed and British made guitar speaker to create their unique sound.

To provide this canvas each Harma ceramic British gem series speaker uses a vintage specified original UK made Kurt Mueller cone. Each cone has been specially selected for its tonal texture after hundreds of hours of listening and recording tests. The result is that each speaker has its own distinctive voice. Special attention has been paid to the speaker suspension, coil assembly and neck and edge treatments of each speaker. These features add up to a unique sounding British voiced guitar speaker.

Changing your speaker will make the biggest single most dramatic improvement in your sound. At Watford valves we stock the drivers that can help you find the tone you are looking for.

To find out about our range of Harma speakers click here

Harma Ceramic British Series Speakers / HARMA-G12-BLUE RUBY-50-8 OHM
The Harma Blue Ruby retains the most sought after characteristics of original vintage British guitar speakers that was used in British rock music from the mid 1960’s through to the late 1970’s.

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Harma Ceramic British Series Speakers / HARMA-G12-BLUE RUBY-50-16 OHM
The Harma G12 Blue Ruby 50M 12 inch guitar speaker combines that classic Marshall stack sound that ignited the British blues boom with a higher power handling and more high end attack for the modern guitarist.

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Harma Ceramic British Series Speakers / HARMA-G12-CLASSIC RUBY-50-8 OHM
The Harma Classic Ruby 50H 12 inch guitar speaker combines the open top end chime and harmonic mids of the Original 1960’s Vox blue with a tight low end and the added bite of a ceramic magnet.

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Harma Ceramic British Series Speakers / HARMA-G12-CLASSIC RUBY-50-16 OHM
The Harma Classic Ruby 50H 12 inch guitar speaker combines the open top end chime and harmonic mids of the Original 1960’s Vox blue with a tight low end and the added bite of a ceramic magnet.

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Harma Ceramic British Series Speakers / HARMA-G12-VINTAGE RUBY-60-16 OHM
The Harma G12 Vintage Ruby V60 12 inch guitar speaker has been designed for the modern lead guitarist. The result is a speaker that tonally sits between a vintage G12H and a Vintage 30. It is both loud and articulate and is the answer for the guitarist who wants a tight thick bass, fat mids and a screaming lead sound that loves to be overdriven.

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Marshall Pre Amp Kits

By watfordvalves on May 31, 2016 in blog

Welcome to our latest blog hope you enjoy the start to summer. We will be focusing this month on our Marshal Kits.

Marshall Amplifiers

Marshall Amplifiers
Marshall is a British company and has been producing amplifiers for the last 50 years. They continue to use valves / vacuum tubes.

Marshall amplifiers are the voice of Rock and Roll past, present and in future. These amplifiers have been used by all the music legends. From Clapton’s fierce bluesbreaker solos with John Mayall, to the powerhouse slam of Jimmy Page in Led Zeppelin to Steve Jones awesome sound with his JCM800.

Why choose our kits?
These are specially chosen pre amp upgrades kits and are designed to deliver the sound that you want from your Marshall amplifier. Our low gain kits provide the cleanest sound in the pre amp stage which many players like. Our medium gain kit simply removes the edge off the sound and provides a later breakup when compared to a regular ECC83 type. The number in the title indicates the amount of gain reduction the kit provides. Our standard gain Classic kit is our most popular as this delivers a sound as close to the classic Mullard 3d midrange tone. With this kit you get a smooth warm crunch which is rich in harmonics and detail. Our High gain kit provides the same tone with earlier break up and maximum over drive. We then select these and supply these in special sets for Marshall Owners.

Marshall Amp with valve kit

These Kits are designed and put together to enable you to get the best out of your particular amplifier.

Our Classic kits are aimed at giving you the closest to the original Mullard/Marshall sound that has rocked the music world.

Below are listed some of the popular kits we sell. If you have any questions about the kits either send us an email / Facebook message.

Marshall Pre Amp Kits / Marshall 3 Valve Harma ECC81 STR Pre Amp Kit Low Gain 40
Low Gain – This 3 Valve set is specially selected for Marshall Amplifiers and covers all Marshall Models that have a 3 valve pre amp section with the phase inverter in the V 3 position. These include Super lead, Superbass models 1959, 1986, 1987,800 series such as 2203, 2204, 4103 & 4104 and 900 series with a 3 valve pre amp section.

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Marshall Pre Amp Kits / Marshall 3 Valve Harma ECC83 Retro Classic Pre Amp Kit Standard Gain
Standard Gain – This valve set is specially selected for Marshall Amplifiers and covers all Marshall Models that have a 3 valve pre amp section with the phase inverter in the V 3 position. These include Super lead, Superbass models 1959, 1986, 1987, 800 series such as 2203, & 2204, 4103 & 4104 and 900 series with a 3 valve pre amp section.

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Marshall Pre Amp Kits / Marshall 3 Valve Harma ECC83 Retro Classic Pre Amp Kit High Gain
High Gain – This 3 valve set is specially selected for Marshall Amplifiers and covers all Marshall Models that have a 3 valve pre amp section with the phase inverter in the V 3 position. These include Super lead, Superbass models 1959, 1986, 1987,800 series such as 2203, & 2204, 4103 & 4104 and 900 series with a 3 valve pre amp section.

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Marshall Pre Amp Kits / Marshall 4 Valve Harma 6072A-12AY7 Retro Pre Amp Low Gain 55
Gain reduction 55% – This 4 valve set is specially selected for Marshall amplifiers and covers all Marshall models that have a 4 valve pre amp section with the phase inverter in the V 4 position. These include Vintage & Modern models 2266c, 2266, 2466, DSL series such as DSL2001, DSL401, DSL50 & DSL100 and TSL series TSL60, TSL601, TSL602, TSL100 and TSL122 with a 4 valve pre amp section.

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Marshall Pre Amp Kits / Marshall 4 Valve Harma 5751 HG-STR Pre Kit Medium Gain 15
Gain reduction 15% – This 4 valve set is specially selected for Marshall amplifiers and covers all Marshall models that have a 4 valve pre amp section with the phase inverter in the V 4 position. These include Vintage & Modern models 2266c, 2266, 2466, DSL series such as DSL2001, DSL401, DSL50 & DSL100 and TSL series TSL60, TSL601, TSL602, TSL100 and TSL122 with a 4 valve pre amp section.

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Marshall Pre Amp Kits / Marshall 4 Valve Harma ECC83 Retro Classic Pre Amp Kit Standard Gain
Standard Gain – This 4 valve set is specially selected for Marshall amplifiers and covers all Marshall models that have a 4 valve pre amp section with the phase inverter in the V 4 position. These include Vintage & Modern models 2266c, 2266, 2466, DSL series such as DSL2001, DSL401, DSL50 & DSL100 and TSL series TSL60, TSL601, TSL602, TSL100 and TSL122 with a 4 valve pre amp section.

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Marshall Pre Amp Kits / Marshall 5 Valve Harma 5751 HG-STR Pre Kit Medium Gain 15
Gain reduction 15% – This 5 valve set is specially selected for Marshall Amplifiers and covers all Marshall models that have a 5 valve pre amp section with the phase inverter in the V 5 position. These include The JVM series, 800 series with reverb such as 2205, 2210, 4210, 4211 & 4212 with a 5 valve pre amp section.

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Marshall Pre Amp Kits / Marshall 5 Valve Harma ECC83 Retro Classic Pre Amp Kit High Gain
High Gain – This 5 valve set is specially selected for Marshall Amplifiers and covers all Marshall models that have a 5 valve pre amp section with the phase inverter in the V 5 position. These include The JVM series, 800 series with reverb such as 2205, 2210, 4210, 4211 & 4212 with a 5 valve pre amp section.

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Marshall Pre Amp Kits / Marshall 7 Valve Harma 5751 HG-STR Pre Kit Medium Gain 15
Gain reduction 15% – This 7 valve set is specially selected for Marshall 30th Anniversary Amplifiers and covers all Marshall 30th Anniversary Models that have a 7 valve pre amp section with the phase inverter in the V 7 position.

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Marshall Pre Amp Kits / Marshall 7 Valve Harma ECC83 Retro Classic Pre Amp Kit Standard Gain
Standard Gain – This 7 valve set is specially selected for Marshall 30th Anniversary amplifiers and uses a set of Harma standard gain Harma ECC83-Retros throughout. It covers all Marshall 30th Anniversary Models that have a 7 valve pre amp section with the phase inverter in the V 7 position.

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Testimonials

Cheers Watford valves I received the new valve package fitted them to my Marshall JVM 410C, what a difference I have had such issues with this amp and its sound now, the maturity to the sound is brill been giving loads of OD during a session yesterday.

Thanks a lot see you again when required.

Robbie C.

Hello there,

Austyn Crow Here, guitarist for The Stone Electric. Last year, I believe I purchased the Harma Retro valves for my 1968 100wt Marshall Plexi and they are just beautiful. I need to re-valve,as I run it hot on ten. Can’t believe they’ve lasted that long! I was wondering if there is a Harma valve that distorts at a higher volume rather than lower? I’d like a bit more headroom. Thanks very much.

Cheers,

Austyn Crow

I just received and tested the kit Harma for Marshall 2061x. It just sounds amazing with these tubes. Thanks a lot for your mail.

Regards,

Daniel Géonet,

Just received the Valves.

Amazing tube set for Marshall JCM800 2205.

Thank you very much.

Luis Santos

Fender Pre Amp kits

By watfordvalves on April 28, 2016 in blog

Welcome to this month’s blog although it is spring it feels more like winter here in the UK. This month we will be focusing on our Fender Pre Amp kits.

What are Pre Amp Kits?

These are designed to get the most out of your amplifier each kit contains specially selected pre amp valves that have been selected for each position in your amplifier. They are chosen for their sound characteristics and function. For certain amplifiers there are 3 kits for low gain to give maximum clean headroom, standard gain to give warm & fat overdrive. And finally Hi gain to give maximum over drive with the lowest noise. Which kit you choose depends on your playing style to best suit you.

Fender Pre Amp Kits
These kits are especially for Fender amplifiers and come in 5 different versions for each Fender amplifier in the following ranges, Hot Rod, Vintage Modified, Vintage Reissued and Custom.

These kits are based on our most requested sets for these particular amplifiers and if your amplifier is not listed then please contact us.

Choosing your Kit

When selecting the appropriate kit for your amplifier look at the number in the title which indicates the gain reduction that you will receive when putting the valve in the V1 position. For instance our low gain 55 kit will give you 55 % less gain by using a 6072A valve in place of the 12AX7 in V1 and so on. This kit will give you the cleanest sound out of your Fender.

These kits are backed by over 25 years of experience in selecting pre amp valves for professional musicians who trust their sound to Watford Valves. We have a full range of Fender Pre Amp valves kits which can be found on our website here.

Below are selections that are currently on special offer whilst stocks last.

Fender Pro Junior Low Gain 55 Harma 6072A-12AY7 Retro
The Fender Pro Junior Harma low gain 55 6072A-12AY7 Gold Pin kit is designed to give you the cleanest sound out of your Fender amplifier.

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Fender Pro Junior Low Gain 40 Harma ECC81- STR Pre Amp Revalve Kit
The Fender Pro Junior Harma low gain 40 ECC81 kit is designed to clean up the sound out of your Fender amplifier. Using an ECC81 in place of a 12AX7 in V1 makes the amplifier quieter and gives you more extended clean headroom before breakup.

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Fender Pro Junior Medium Gain 15 Harma 5751 HG-STR Pre Amp Revalve Kit
The Fender Pro Junior Harma medium gain 15 Harma 5751 HG kit is designed to give you the perfect balance of a slight reduction in gain to provide a little more clarity in your sound without drastically changing your overdriven sound. It will give you more bite to your overdriven sound when compared to an original American 5751.

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Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Low Gain 55 Harma 6072A-12AY7 Retro Pre Amp Revalve Kit
The Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Harma low gain 55 6072A-12AY7 Gold Pin kit is designed to give you the cleanest sound out of your Fender amplifier. The 12AY7 was used by Fender as a low gain first stage signal valve in many of its early designs.

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Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Low Gain 40 Harma ECC81- STR Pre Amp Revalve Kit
The Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Harma low gain 40 ECC81 kit is designed to clean up the sound out of your Fender amplifier. Using an ECC81 in place of a 12AX7 in V1 makes the amplifier quieter and gives you more extended clean headroom before breakup.

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Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Medium Gain 15 Harma 5751 HG-STR Pre Amp Revalve Kit
The Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Harma medium gain 15 Harma 5751 HG kit is designed to give you the perfect balance of a slight reduction in gain to provide a little more clarity in your sound without drastically changing your overdriven sound. It will give you more bite to your overdriven sound when compared to an original American 5751.

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Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Standard Gain Harma ECC83-STR Pre Amp Revalve Kit
The Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Harma Standard Gain ECC83-STR kit is designed to give you the perfect balance of the sparkling clean sounds that most players want from their amplifiers under clean or overdriven conditions. The mid-range is very transparent which is very noticeable when changing pickup selection on guitars as this nice tonal variation is lost in some other valves.

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Fender Hot Rod Deville Low Gain 55 Harma 6072A-12AY7 Retro Pre Amp Revalve Kit
The Fender Hot Rod Deville Harma low gain 55 6072A-12AY7 Gold Pin kit is designed to give you the cleanest sound out of your Fender amplifier. The 12AY7 was used by Fender as a low gain first stage signal valve in many of its early designs.

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Fender Hot Rod Deville Low Gain 40 Harma ECC81- STR Pre Amp Revalve Kit
The Fender Hot Rod Deville Harma low gain 40 ECC81 kit is designed to clean up the sound out of your Fender amplifier. Using an ECC81 in place of a 12AX7 in V1 makes the amplifier quieter and gives you more extended clean headroom before breakup.

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Fender Hot Rod Deville Standard Gain Harma ECC83-STR Pre Amp Revalve Kit
The Fender Hot Rod Deville Harma Standard Gain ECC83-STR kit is designed to give you the perfect balance of the sparkling clean sounds that most players want from their amplifiers under clean or overdriven conditions. The mid-range is very transparent which is very noticeable when changing pickup selection on guitars as this nice tonal variation is lost in some other valves.

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Find out more information on the Guitar Magazine review which was published in 1999 (prices are not applicable)
http://www.watfordvalves.com/pdfs/guitarv10n3p120.pdf

You can find out about Harmonic distortion and what it looks like inside a pre amp valve on the above link.

Cryo Valves

By watfordvalves on March 24, 2016 in blog

Watford Valves was the first company in the world to offer a cryogenically treated valve brand range showing huge commitment to the proven scientific cryogenic process.

What are Cryo valves?
Cryogenic treatment involves putting components into a chamber that is slowly filled with liquid nitrogen, reducing the temperature to a very frosty minus 195 degrees Centigrade over a period of approximately 12 hours. Having reached this temperature, treated items are then held for what’s called the ‘soak phase’, which is about another 12 hours at minus 195C, before being slowly returned to room temperature over yet another 12 hour period.

Why use Cryogenic process?
Cryogenic treatment re-aligns a material’s crystalline structure to a more uniform state, removing the stresses introduced during the manufacturing process.

Watford Valves deep cryogenically treated valve range offers the musician and audiophile valves which are not only specially selected and tested, but are cryogenically treated for the ultimate performance. We also offer a full range of cryogenically treated valves made by the great factories of the past, such as Mullard, Telefunken, Philips as well as modern brands such as Groove Tubes, Tube Amp Doctor, JJ Electronic (formally Tesla), Electro Harmonix and Sovtek. So whatever is your preferred make Watford Valves will have a cryogenically treated version in stock.

What are the benefits of using cryogenically treated Valves?
The cryogenic process offers permanent change to the metals microstructure. The reduction in electronic noise improves the valves noise floor leading to lower microphonics. Until now clear note definition, musical complexity and rich harmonic content was only attainable by using rare and expensive new old stock classics.

Many guitarists have found the dramatic effect cryogenic treatment has on the way the valve performs not only in clean applications but also when overdriven. The cryogenic process removes the harshness from the valves tone and imaging has more focus and bite. It has a warmer sound which is pleasing to listen to, providing a clear and musical distortion. In short, many musicians, engineers and audiophiles have found that by using cryogenically treated valves it is a proven way of obtaining NOS sound quality with a great difference, an affordable price!

Watford Valves offers a full range of cryogenically treated valves – high quality at an affordable price.

ECC83 Harma STR Cryo
The Harma ECC83-STR Cryo has the most neutral and warmest sounding with the Classic vintage tone when compared to all the current production ECC83/12AX7 types. This is our most popular valves as it has provides medium to high gain with a warm balanced vintage tone.

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ECC83 Harma Retro Cryo
The Harma ECC83 Retro CRYO is a true sounding recreation of the famous Mullard ECC83.

Unlike many tube suppliers, we are not interested is a look alike copy we are interested in the sound.

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EL34 Harma Retro Cryo
The Harma EL34-Retro is based on the famous Mullard EL34 and has a number of important features over standard EL34 types. The grids of the tube use a block construction this enables the valve to provide smoother output and eliminating odd order harmonics.

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6L6GC Harma Retro Cryo
The Harma 6L6GC Retro is a re issue of the famous Sylvania STR 387 that was produced for Fender in the early 1970s.This was one of the most famous 6L6GC and sought after for it balanced and clear sound. The valve features thick mica spacers and internal bracing which reduces vibrations and microphonics.

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EL34 Svetlana Winged C Cryo
The Svetlana EL34 has become standard equipment in Marshall Amplifiers for many years now. The design is based on the famous Mullard EL34. The constructions see a laminated alloy used for the plate construction which helps heat transfer under overload conditions.

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6L6GC Svetlana Winged C Cryo
The Svetlana 6L6GC was designed based on the famous Sylvania STR 387 6L6GC and manufactured in the JSC Svetlana factory in St. Petersburg, Russia. These are the Original Svetlana 6L6GC which are also known as Winged C due to the company’s original trade mark logo that is on the valve.

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6L6GC GE Groove Tubes Cryo
These Cryo Groove tube 6L6GC GE reissues offer a considerable improvement over the standard item. This makes this one of the best modern made 6L6GC available today as you simply get more of the good things this valve has to offer. All out put valves are then dual matched by us on current and gain. This will ensure that you get the best selected GT valves available anywhere in the world

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Marshall Original Superlead 1959 100 watt head Classic EL34 Retro Cryo full upgrade kit
The Marshall Original Superlead 1959 Classic Retro full revalve kit is specially selected for Marshall 1959, 1959S, 1959X & 1959 SLP 100 watt Heads. The Classic Marshall kits are designed to give your Marshall as close to the old Mullard tone as possible. This is done by using modern day production valves that are traditionally voiced and then getting the sonic improvement that Cryogenic treatment brings to the valve. The cryo treated valves have a smoother distortion with more detail and clarity. The valve has more bite and better focus and they produce a sound that is only attainable by using very expensive new old stock valves.

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Orange AD30 Classic/Retro Cryo full revalve kit
Orange AD30 Classic Retro Cryo full revalve upgrade kit covers both the AD30 combo and AD30 Head. It is designed to give your AD30 as close to the old Mullard tone as possible.

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BLACK STAR HT CLUB 40 Cryo Classic
This Classic Cryo upgrade kit covers the Black Star HT CLUB 40 combo and is designed to provide the ideal combination for those who demand a tight driving rock sound with plenty of rich sustain. This combination designed to give you the classic British sound with more top end bite.

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Find out more information on the Guitar Buyer review which was published in 2006 (prices are not applicable) – http://www.watfordvalves.com/pdfs/guitarbuyer_Watford_4mt.pdf

The cryo-treated tubes definately sound different; that’s to say somewhat glassier, more edgy and with more punch and definition. – Guitar Buyer

Testimonials

Just wanted to say thanks for the advice on choosing the Harma Retro Cryo revalve kit for my Blackstar HT60 Soloist. It has made a decent sounding amp into a fantastic sounding amp – much clearer, more open and just generally bigger sounding. Best valves I’ve had in the amp by miles.
Thanks

Andrew Johnstone

Thank you Derek. The last matched pair are in a Copland CSA-14 (6922 Harma Cryo Feb ’14). They are used as phase splitters between the preamp and power amp stages. In my opinion they are the best sounding valves I have heard in this amp. The sound is highly detailed and incredibly smooth in the upper frequency’s, breath taking in the vocal range and tight, punchy and very rhythmic in the bass. Thank you for a great product. Kind regards

Martin McCabe

Hi Derek!

Your Harma Cryo valves compare extremely well to Mullard EL34 Xf2’s and GEC KT66.

Having shelled out for sets of Nos valves in the past for comparison i know what i’d buy now.

These were used in a Plexi Superlead clone i built and a JTM45 Bluesbreaker of my own layout & spec with Danbury transformers.

Also put Harma 6L6’s in a Peavy Deuce combo for keys (piano and synth) and they were great.

Best Regards

Andy Mazur, Guitarist & Amp Tech

Welcome to our new blog

By watfordvalves on March 23, 2016 in blog

Watford Valves is a U.K company that was established in the early 1990s’ and has become one of Europe’s leading suppliers of tested, graded and guaranteed valves and components to the professional music and audio industry.

Watford Valves is unique in the fact that it offers advice on how the valve sounds in its particular application and helps the customer get the right valve for your musical style or application. This experience has been gained from over 30 years of playing and using valve equipment in both live and audio applications. Many valve resellers offer a limited choice of stock, and some even offer just one factory brand and try and claim that the make is the best across all valve types.

In order to provide the advice you need to have the correct item in stock. So Watford holds a large and comprehensive inventory of high quality new old stock and current production valves for the professional music and audio industry. All items that we stock must meet our stringent standards for sound quality and reliability. Being musicians and users of valve amplifiers all valves are assessed in real working conditions as to their actual sound. This allows us to advise you of the right valve for your amplifier and your sound. Our in house testing procedure ensures that you get the right quality first time.

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