Tube/Valve prices in the USA... OUCH!

[tonepoet]

This is not a political rant, but since supply chain interruptions caused by COVID and the Ukraine conflict, it seems that some vacuum tube/valve prices have doubled and tripled here in the USA.

I see JJ 12AX7s from Slovania that were $9.95 at $19.95 but some Sovteks and Svetlana 12AX7s that were around $11 are approaching $30 and above. Yee-Ouch!

 

[GGJaguar]

Glad I bought a lifetime's worth of tubes back in the early 1990s.

 

[tonepoet]

Glad I bought a lifetime's worth of tubes back in the early 1990s.

Same here. I had bought a tube caddy maybe 15 years ago off eBay and started buying a few tubes each payday until I filled it up.

 

[Rocky]

Yep. Inherited my f-i-l's tube stash, and did a lot of hamfesting and stopping in old electronics shops in the 90's.

Sadly, I ignored a lot of preamp tubes in my quest, as good 6V6 tubes were extinct at that point, and I expended most of my cash/energies on those. Which is fine as far as it goes, but try and buy old stock 12AX7's these days.....

 

[tonepoet]

as good 6V6 tubes were extinct at that point,

I had found a guy on eBay back in the late 90s / early 2000s that was salvaging 6V6s out of old car radios in junkyards up in northern Michigan. So I was getting 6V6 tubes branded with DELCO and FoMoCo that were made mostly by RCA and Sylvania as I recall.

And it was difficult finding tubes for Ampeg amps back in the 90s that used 7027, 7591, 12DW7, 6U10 and 6K11 tubes. I think JJ offers the 7027, 7591 and 12DW7 now.

 

[Guildedagain]

Sold my Ampeg Reverberocket so I won't have to deal with weird/expensive tubes, sold another tube amp also, too many.

I've got an extensive collection of 12AX7/AT7 tubes I picked up along the way, more that I'd ever need but I'm ok with that.

I've got an Eico tube tester/books I'm not sure works, should prob pass it on, post it on CL.

I bought a crazy stash of various 6V6 when the war broke out, on rumours of shortages/price hikes, a one day hoarding spree.

I've got a single KT88 (other one broke) and a pair of EL34's I don't need.

And a small pile of Russian Tweed amp rectifier tubes I should post as well but never bothered, procrastination may have been a virtue in this case.

 

[Rocky]

Sold my Ampeg Reverberocket so I won't have to deal with weird/expensive tubes, sold another tube amp also, too many.

I've got an extensive collection of 12AX7/AT7 tubes I picked up along the way, more that I'd ever need but I'm ok with that.

I've got an Eico tube tester/books I'm not sure works, should prob pass it on, post it on CL.

I bought a crazy stash of various 6V6 when the war broke out, on rumours of shortages/price hikes, a one day hoarding spree.

I've got a single KT88 (other one broke) and a pair of EL34's I don't need.

And a small pile of Russian Tweed amp rectifier tubes I should post as well but never bothered, procrastination may have been a virtue in this case.

It would be worth checking your B+ voltages when you stick one of those four pin 90's Sovtek "5Y3" tubes in. They don't have the same internal resistance, and plate voltages will be higher, and you may need to re-bias.

 

[Rocky]

I had found a guy on eBay back in the late 90s / early 2000s that was salvaging 6V6s out of old car radios in junkyards up in northern Michigan. So I was getting 6V6 tubes branded with DELCO and FoMoCo that were made mostly by RCA and Sylvania as I recall.

And it was difficult finding tubes for Ampeg amps back in the 90s that used 7027, 7591, 12DW7, 6U10 and 6K11 tubes. I think JJ offers the 7027, 7591 and 12DW7 now.

You used to be able to get those 6V6 pulls for $1/piece at hamfests. Most of them had a lot of life left in them. RCA made most of the private label (Delco, Philco, Silvertone, etc.) 6V6 tubes in the 40's-60's, but there were a lot of manufacturers out there: Sylvania, GE, Ken-Rad, Hytron, Tung-Sol, etc. By the 70's most of the private label was GE. They're all great tubes though, and they were made in the millions. Virtually every car radio and console hi-fi unit used at least one.

Yep, those other 8 and 9 pin tubes have been reissued. I suspect compactrons will never be made again.

 

[tonepoet]

I've got an Eico tube tester

I have a Sencore Mighty Mite V tube tester that has been handy for me. Compact and in a rugged case. Closed up, it's maybe 11" x 11" x 3". Good for troubleshooting and catching dishonest eBayers passing off used tubes as new. Mine came with the chicken head knobs, like this one.

(Photo from the internet)

 

[Rocky]

I've had fancy mutual conductance tube testers, but I dumped them for a simple one like the Sencore above. I just want to test them to see if they're burned out or shorted. If they pass, I'll see how they sound, and if they sound weak, I chuck 'em. Preamp tubes that are a bit microphonic for the V1 position can often be used as a phase inverter or a tremolo tube.

 

[casey2048]

This is not a political rant, but since supply chain interruptions caused by COVID and the Ukraine conflict, it seems that some vacuum tube/valve prices have doubled and tripled here in the USA.

I see JJ 12AX7s from Slovania that were $9.95 at $19.95 but some Sovteks and Svetlana 12AX7s that were around $11 are approaching $30 and above. Yee-Ouch!

Luckily JJ are super solid tubes. A friend of mine made a video rolling tube sets between stock, vintage mullard and JJ … the JJ tubes come out looking great. I feel very grateful that Jan kept that business going throughout recent times. Must have been tough.

 

[tonepoet]

Luckily JJ are super solid tubes.

Agree. A few years back, I was testing all the current in-production EL84 tubes in one of my amps and JJ won me over with both the clean tone and their cranked up distortion tone.

The other cool thing about JJ is that they brought back some tubes that had been out of production like the 7027 and 7591 used in old Ampeg amps.

 

[Rocky]

The other cool thing about JJ is that they brought back some tubes that had been out of production like the 7027 and 7591 used in old Ampeg amps.

The Sovtek/Refllektor "5881" should be rugged enough to handle most 7027 applications, I would think. The 7591 was definitely a good reissue. They say the JJ 6V6 is just their 7591 repinned, which is why it's so rugged.

Which is kind of funny as the late tweed-style chassis Ampegs ('63-'65) using 7591 tubes are simply the old 6V6 versions, with the output sockets rewired, and a different cathode resistor. They're not taxed very heavily, so the 7591's last a really long time.

 

[GGJaguar]

I was testing all the current in-production EL84 tubes in one of my amps and JJ won me over

The JJ EL84 are pretty rugged and sound okay. The ones I miss (besides Mullard and Brimar) are the EI EL84s that were made Yugoslavia. They weren't always reliable, but if they didn't die early on, they lasted a long time and sounded great. I still have some for my Vox type amp. They are brighter and clearer than the JJ tubes.

 

[tonepoet]

The JJ EL84 are pretty rugged and sound okay. The ones I miss (besides Mullard and Brimar) are the EI EL84s that were made Yugoslavia. They weren't always reliable, but if they didn't die early on, they lasted a long time and sounded great. I still have some for my Vox type amp. They are brighter and clearer than the JJ tubes.

GGJaguar, Yeah, I too started thinking about the manufacturers that were disappearing and, at the time, and even now, I wonder how long vacuum tubes/valves will even be made. After all, globally it is a very small niche in the consumer market. The American, English, German, Dutch, corporations etc., all left the market. I think we are left with New Sensor in Russia, JJ in Slovenia and Shuguang in China.

That's when I went on my "Tone Quest" for tubes/valves currently manufactured and started buy a quad of certain tubes/valves once or twice a month at payday to have a stock, in case those manufactures ceased tube/valve production as the others had.

 

[tonepoet]

The Sovtek/Refllektor "5881" should be rugged enough to handle most 7027 applications, I would think. The 7591 was definitely a good reissue. They say the JJ 6V6 is just their 7591 repinned, which is why it's so rugged.

Which is kind of funny as the late tweed-style chassis Ampegs ('63-'65) using 7591 tubes are simply the old 6V6 versions, with the output sockets rewired, and a different cathode resistor. They're not taxed very heavily, so the 7591's last a really long time.

Rocky, This is taking me back 30 years or so, so I'd have to do some digging, but I recall in the mid-1990s, when 7027s were difficult to get, I had an Ampeg VT-40 that I converted to EL34s. I recall back then, that that was the only way I knew of to keep a 7027 amp alive. I recall enjoying doing the conversion and liking the results, but, had I known, I'm sure I would have just popped some 5881s into it.

At the same time, I had an Ampeg GU-12 that I converted from 7591 to 6L6. I liked the results of that conversion too and just couldn't find any 7591 tubes/valves back then. I started with Sovtek but then ended up with Svetlana 6L6GC tubes/valves in it. I also did a conversion of the 12DW7 tube to a 12AX7 in the GU-12, as 12DW7s were hard to find back then. That just took changing two resistors in the circuit, as I recall.

 

[Rocky]

Rocky, This is taking me back 30 years or so, so I'd have to do some digging, but I recall in the mid-1990s, when 7027s were difficult to get, I had an Ampeg VT-40 that I converted to EL34s. I recall back then, that that was the only way I knew of to keep a 7027 amp alive. I recall enjoying doing the conversion and liking the results, but, had I known, I'm sure I would have just popped some 5881s into it.

At the same time, I had an Ampeg GU-12 that I converted from 7591 to 6L6. I liked the results of that conversion too and just couldn't find any 7591 tubes/valves back then. I started with Sovtek but then ended up with Svetlana 6L6GC tubes/valves in it. I also did a conversion of the 12DW7 tube to a 12AX7 in the GU-12, as 12DW7s were hard to find back then. That just took changing two resistors in the circuit, as I recall.

Those Sovtek "5881" tubes are super rugged. I don't think they sound great, but they can take some abuse. Those "Small Bottle" Phillips that were released from military stocks a couple of decades ago

while labeled 6L6WGB, are actually identical to the 7027 inside, and people have used them as substitutes. They used to be really cheap and plentiful (~$20 each) are a little more expensive these days.

 

[GGJaguar]

6L6WGB

I don't know why, but my Vibrolux Reverb sounds best with those and the ones I have are ear-marked for that amp. Of course, they are so rugged I'll never wear them out before I die or sell the amp or both.

 

[tonepoet]

I think we are left with New Sensor in Russia, JJ in Slovenia and Shuguang in China.

I correct myself... JJ is in Slovakia not Slovenia

 

[Guildedagain]

Whatever happened to the new USA GE production?