The number of NOS tubes and good used tubes is quite large.
The cost to reproduce the quality of USA and EU tubes that we knew
through say 1980 would be extremely high, especially given the small demand.
About 15 years ago I had a long discussion with a couple of people who
had been intimately involved with making the good stuff way back when.
They commented that there was a fair amount of folklore involved in the
manufacture. Things not easily captured in the docs.
They also said that some of the component materials for some tubes were
also not being made in the same fashion and that the tube performance
would in their opinion, not be as good.
These two had each spent over 4 decades of their lives making VTs.
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This, in general is very different than semicon mfg. Have not yet heard
about the feel of code executed on bit-slice being crisper than
something running on CMOS; but one never knows.
When I was a beginning HAM, a new small-signal tube cost about $3. A
6146B cost about $6.
Cost of education and cars has risen at least 10X since then. I buy NOS
small signal tubes for about $6 and 6146Ws (best version) for $14. Gear
and components are in general, cheaper at present than when in production.
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If you cannot find NOS, believe you will find good, tested, used tubes
as good, maybe better than NOS and also better than Soviet or Asian
tubes of later mfg
Consider getting a decent "tube tester" like a B&K, Hickok, AVO, or
TV-2, TV-7. Tells you what you've really got. It also straightforward to
build a good tube tester, as long as you don't need to test every base
ever made.
Most commercial ones are compromises at best.
GL,
Steve
Zane H. Healy wrote:
On Tue, 16 Feb 2010, David Griffith wrote:
Slightly related is the subject of tubes in
radios. I get a kick out
of using tube radios. One big problem though is that there is no
source of brand-new tubes anymore. It's all new-old-stock. Tube-amp
enthusiasts have a ready supply of newly-manufactured tubes from a
small variety of eastern European makers, but those are almost
entirely unsuitable for making radios. I really wish some of these
makers could be convinced to make new signal tubes. I like my
new-old Philco, but the fact that it uses loktal tubes gives me an
icky feeling when using it. Nobody is selling AA5 loktal lineups on
ebay.
I would think that there would be a definite market for such tubes. I
know
the feeling you're talking about. I use a Stereo from about 1964 for
listening to the radio and 78's. Though I know where there is a 2nd
identical stereo I might be able to canabilize if needed.
Zane