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Author Topic: One Man’s Quest to Revive the Great American Vacuum Tube  (Read 477 times)

K0RS

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One Man’s Quest to Revive the Great American Vacuum Tube
« on: March 29, 2023, 09:10:57 AM »

Not specifically DX related, but I found this interesting.

https://www.wired.com/story/one-mans-quest-to-revive-the-great-american-vacuum-tube/

Suppose he'll ever get around to 6146s, 811s or 3-500s?
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KD6VXI

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Re: One Man’s Quest to Revive the Great American Vacuum Tube
« Reply #1 on: March 29, 2023, 11:31:51 AM »

Not specifically DX related, but I found this interesting.

https://www.wired.com/story/one-mans-quest-to-revive-the-great-american-vacuum-tube/

Suppose he'll ever get around to 6146s, 811s or 3-500s?

Sure.

While you're perusing the new western electric, take a look at the prices.

It's clear he caters to the idiots that think snake oil is a requirement to listen to music.

--Shane
WP2ASS / ex KD6VXI
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K4HB

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Re: One Man’s Quest to Revive the Great American Vacuum Tube
« Reply #2 on: March 29, 2023, 11:33:18 AM »

Looks like he's focused on guitar amps, and musicians love the sound that tubes produce. Love reading about tube manufacturing being brought back to the USA. Actually, love hearing about any manufacturing being brought back. Hope this guy is successful, and he or someone gets the tooling and starts making tubes for our RF amps. And the next time I'm in Rossvile, I'll have to try some of their succulent fried chicken and sweet tea.
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KA3IGW

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Re: One Man’s Quest to Revive the Great American Vacuum Tube
« Reply #3 on: March 29, 2023, 12:04:59 PM »


[/quote]

Sure.

While you're perusing the new western electric, take a look at the prices.

It's clear he caters to the idiots that think snake oil is a requirement to listen to music.

--Shane
WP2ASS / ex KD6VXI
[/quote]


Having a bad day are you? I hope your day gets better. Let's try to focus on positive things.
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W1RKW

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Re: One Man’s Quest to Revive the Great American Vacuum Tube
« Reply #4 on: March 29, 2023, 12:44:14 PM »

I will say $1500 for a pair of 300B is steep.  there are a few factors for that price not necessarily in this order:  1) Audiophool, 2) Workers aren't being paid minimum wage (overhead), 3) low demand at the moment, 4)Other misc factors.

Would like to think if business picks up, prices will decrease but even if the price drops 50%, that's still steep. 

I doubt the tube market will never be the same as it was 50 or 60 years ago.

Nope, not for me or not in my remaining lifetime.
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KB2FCV

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Re: One Man’s Quest to Revive the Great American Vacuum Tube
« Reply #5 on: March 29, 2023, 12:57:14 PM »


Sure.

While you're perusing the new western electric, take a look at the prices.

It's clear he caters to the idiots that think snake oil is a requirement to listen to music.

--Shane
WP2ASS / ex KD6VXI

The Hi-fi people are willing to pay those sorts of prices to get anything that makes the "electrons flow better". I've seen $1000 power cords (like, the same type of power cord you'd use for a computer with some extra shielding) with ads of giant write-ups of how it makes your hi-fi stuff sound better. Some people drop serious coin on much of the snake oil in that industry. I know a person or two with serious $$ wrapped up in their setup but I can't really tell the difference.

So.. Western Electric. A club member / friend who passed away 15-20 years ago was retired from Bell Labs / The Bell System. His house was full of all sorts of ham, rtty, electronic stuff - packed to the gills. Well, my friend (sk 2 years ago) and a couple others helped the family clean the house out to sell it as the widow was moving to be closer to the grand kids. Well, they stumbled upon a bunch of the Western Electric tubes and many were the desired ones mentioned in the article - and then some. Well, knowing what they had - they put the collection up for sale on ebay. When all was said and done, all of the tubes sold for in excess of 100k. Each of the tubes were going from several hundred to several thousand dollars. His Widow wound up donating the money made off the tubes to charity.
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KD6VXI

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Re: One Man’s Quest to Revive the Great American Vacuum Tube
« Reply #6 on: March 29, 2023, 12:59:21 PM »



Sure.

While you're perusing the new western electric, take a look at the prices.

It's clear he caters to the idiots that think snake oil is a requirement to listen to music.

--Shane
WP2ASS / ex KD6VXI
[/quote]


Having a bad day are you? I hope your day gets better. Let's try to focus on positive things.
[/quote]

Nope.  Not at all.  You normally make assumptions of other peoples days knowing nothing other than a few blurbs of written text?


My comment was based upon the fact they are selling 'audiophile' amplifiers in the 4000 dollar and up range.

It's not a case of not being able to afford them.  I've owned high end audiophile grade equipment.  Still do.

It's more a case of knowing a sub 100 watt amplifier isn't worth one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars (124,000 is list).  Single channel.

Period.

People spend their money on what they want to, that's fine.  But don't be surprised when you just stand on a street corner lighting it on fire and someone comes along and pees on you to put it out.


--Shane
WP2ASS / ex KD6VXI
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WO7R

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Re: One Man’s Quest to Revive the Great American Vacuum Tube
« Reply #7 on: March 29, 2023, 01:52:54 PM »

Quote
It's clear he caters to the idiots that think snake oil is a requirement to listen to music.

There's a remarkable market for overpaying for audio gear that is at least 50 years old that I know about.

Hey, it's their money.  But it is an interesting side-show if you don't participate.  Or, maybe not quite that.

Once upon a time, I blundered into a website just like this one, except it was specifically devoted to this kind of gear.

Prominent in the signup or the terms or some such, they had something fascinating.  It went something like this:

"Posts showing the scientific findings on audio equipment are not welcome.  We are aware of what science says about these things and we don't agree with it.  Posting about it is not constructive and such posts will be deleted."

To me, that's a very sad thing.  It's one thing to spend more money than one "should" because "I just like it".  I don't have a problem with that.

It's another to say openly that they don't want to hear actual facts.  Which was pretty much the way it read.  You couldn't really read it any other way.

The posts were full of folklore masquerading as fact as a result.  Truly tinfoil hat level stuff.  I read for a while in amazement and left.

If that's the market Western Electric is aiming for, they will never turn their attention to us, I suspect.
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WW5F

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Re: One Man’s Quest to Revive the Great American Vacuum Tube
« Reply #8 on: March 29, 2023, 01:59:17 PM »


...
Suppose he'll ever get around to 6146s, 811s or 3-500s?

I doubt it.  Hams are cheap and won't pay enough for anyone to start making those again here in the U.S.  We'd prefer child slave labor exposed to toxic chemicals and planet pollution on the other side of the planet to satisfy our need for PA tubes.

I got curious about what "the deal" is with these people who insist on tube amps for audio back in the 2000's.  I played around with a couple of home brew single ended amps and looked at them on a spectrum analyzer as I swept the audio frequencies and varied the amplitude.  They are *truly* unique compared to flat solid state amps.  (and some tubes sound better than other tubes, even from the same production run...  each tube is as unique as a baby!)

Be careful, Shane, we're not idiots and this is not snake oil.  He's making them while paying his employees a living wage and meeting federal EPA and OSHA standards here on this side of the planet.

(and yes, there are some audio folks who fall prey to some of the hype and folklore...)
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KA3IGW

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Re: One Man’s Quest to Revive the Great American Vacuum Tube
« Reply #9 on: March 29, 2023, 02:48:23 PM »

Still not a reason to call people idiots. Just sayin' Bubba.
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N8NK

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Re: One Man’s Quest to Revive the Great American Vacuum Tube
« Reply #10 on: March 29, 2023, 05:38:30 PM »

Quote: almost all of the above. There are some great exceptions of course.
Proof positive that technicians, engineers, and technically minded people have sever social deficits. I include myself. But knowing this of myself I'm able to be polite, cheerful, constructive and positive. We're not a bunch of mean people: just severely socially challenged!
Our glass isn't half empty, it's half full! Just half full of a strange, thick effluent slurry.
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