Groove Tubes Factory Sale

Nov. 7, 2008 11:29 AM PT

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Is your vintage amp sounding a little stale lately because it’s missing that elusive OA3 vacuum tube?

You might want to join other audiophiles at a factory sale today and Saturday at Groove Tubes, the San Fernando institution known for manufacturing the amplifier tubes. In the company’s 30 years, it has counted Eddie Van Halen, Eric Clapton, Brad Paisley and a slew of other music icons among its customers.

Rare merchandise, and parts of founder Aspen Pittman’s personal collection of tubes and speakers, are on sale for 25% off today and 50% off Saturday. When the warehouse opened its doors for the first day of the sale Thursday, rows of shelves reaching to the ceiling were stuffed with equipment from a bygone age -- $45 Crybaby wawa pedals, $20 Panasonic AM/FM radios and boxes upon boxes of tubes for $4 and up.

The company, which was acquired by Fender Musical Instruments Corp. in June, moved its operations in mid-August to join Fender in Ontario and Scottsdale, Ariz. Tubes are now being manufactured in a factory in Mexico.

Pittman, who is now developing new speaker technology, will be at the sale signing copies of his tome ‘The Tube Amp Book,’ which amp aficionados alternately refer to as ‘The Bible’ or ‘The Holy Grail.’

The factory is at 1543 Truman St., San Fernando. Sale hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call (818) 365-5500 or email office@aspenandassoc.com for more details.

-- Tiffany Hsu

Money & Company

Tiffany Hsu

Tiffany Hsu is a former staff writer for the Los Angeles Times. Previously, she wrote about the California economy, fast food, restaurants, retail and alternative energy for the Business section. A Bay Area native, UC Berkeley graduate and eternal Nor-Cal fan, she once worked for the San Francisco Bay Guardian. She also did a stint at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, where she developed a passion for sweet tea. She still has faith that someday she’ll find two economists who agree.