mobile homeless Posted November 15, 2002 Share Posted November 15, 2002 I have to say, I can only list less than ten modern tubes that I think are even NEAR NOS. It's unfortunate. The Ei EL-84 is one of the better ones. Some of the JJ tubes are ok. The Sovtek 2A3 is one of the top bargains (about the only Sovtek I like now, sadly enough). The KR tubes are sterile. The AVVT tubes are expensive with reliability problems. Svetlana's US distributorship pulled out but they are still coming in. Their EL-34 was a nice tube but actually has some reliability problems. Basically, there are hardly ANY new tubes that really fully equal the sound of the vintage NOS. Yes, there are some decent tubes out there; but almost across the board, vintage options sound better, bar none. One can hope. kh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Robinson Posted November 15, 2002 Share Posted November 15, 2002 Funny thing ... I spent ten years with Philips ... and worked in the CEO's office for three of them ... I had a portfolio of companies to look after ... one of which was Amperex, which in its earlier days was specializing in tubes ... a spin off of Philips' Dutch expertise in lamps. I spent about a 1000 hours with the guys in Smithville, RI, trying to find a market that could make money for all that "old" vacuum tube mfg'ing equipment. They just missed it by five years. It's all gone now, and the guys that had the recipe didn't pass it on to the newbies. Too bad for sure. Speaking of things to do with your kids ... we make golf clubs here for ourselves ... Working with components, rules, scales, etc., both girls make their own clubs about every two years as they grow ... They decide what characteristics they like in their clubs for the current "game" ... and we flip through the Golfsmith catalog and select their components ... then build them. It's fun, hands-on stuff, and keeps them thinking while they're hitting shots on the golf course. Since I'm new to the sound scene, it may take a while to get them interested. They did, however, remark positively on the TT in the LR (with donut) ... and the growing list of LPs ... They love to help out cleaning those beasts on Sundays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted November 16, 2002 Share Posted November 16, 2002 Great post, chris. I cant believe you waited THIS long to tell about the Philips/Amperex connection! That is really interesting. Too bad you arent there right now in a time capsule... I am sure you would have some free tubes for life! Ironically enough, none of my turntables are probably sounding as good as your ole MMF-7! Send the girls down here for some record cleaning fun! kh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolly Roger Posted November 23, 2002 Share Posted November 23, 2002 Craig, I see you picked up that 299b. Was that for you? How many does that make? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted November 23, 2002 Share Posted November 23, 2002 Yea I was suprised as hell that no one bid on it. I thought for sure it would go up around $350 or more all the amps have been going cheap for the last week or so. I knew I would be at work for the auctions end so I put a sniper bid of $300 I knew his reserve price was$249 because I emailed him the day he put it up and he told me. Just as I thought the Power tubes were all shot the 5AR4 was good and 3 of the 12AX7's were still good. The amp cosmetically is almost perfect. I'm real happy and its almost rebuilt now. I'm going to keep this one so I sold my 299A second version to Deang from this forum. If your wanting a 299A second version I have one here I have to rebuild let me know thru email and we can bargin you up a deal. I also have a LK-72 I'm selling that is already rebuilt if you want something with more Umph !! Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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