Western Electric making the 300B tube again in Rossville,Ga

[RickD]

Ran across this article on audioexpress.com. $1500 per matched pair.

 

 

https://audioxpress.com/article/r-d-stories-the-original-western-electric-300b-vacuum-tube-now-shipping-worldwide

[Curious_George]

It will be interesting to see how many they sell at that price. I’m sure they are priced according to what the market will bear.

[RickD]

I'm sure there are people willing to spend the money. I have a DIY amp partially completed, I won't be one of their customers. The amp uses 8 300Bs.

[henry4841]

Compared to what old Western Electric 300B's are selling for they could be a good deal depending on how much they sound like the originals. The last time I priced the original ones they were bringing around $3500 for a NOS pair. I agree with most that they are not for me but there are many that can afford them that will purchase them. At least I hope so since they have went to the trouble of producing them again. I have a SE 300B amplifier and I consider it the best sounding overall to my many other amplifiers. I have Gold Lion's in mine. I've read that many reviewers claim one has never heard a 300B amplifier unless you have the old Western Electric tubes. Might be best that I have never heard them.   

[seti]

Yeah you can't just crank up some equipment even if it is original and claim to be Western Electric. There is more to it than that. I'd rather buy some of the other clones on the market.

 

 

 

[RickD]

13 hours ago, henry4841 said:

Compared to what old Western Electric 300B's are selling for they could be a good deal depending on how much they sound like the originals. The last time I priced the original ones they were bringing around $3500 for a NOS pair. I agree with most that they are not for me but there are many that can afford them that will purchase them. At least I hope so since they have went to the trouble of producing them again. I have a SE 300B amplifier and I consider it the best sounding overall to my many other amplifiers. I have Gold Lion's in mine. I've read that many reviewers claim one has never heard a 300B amplifier unless you have the old Western Electric tubes. Might be best that I have never heard them.   

$3500 a pair for NOS maybe because they are so rare. Putting the WE300Bs back into production will bring that price down if the sound is the same.

[henry4841]

Current prices on Ebay. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1311&_nkw=western+electric+300b&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_odkw=300b+tube&_osacat=0  And here is some recent sold pirces. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=western+electric+300b&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&rt=nc&LH_Sold=1&LH_Complete=1  There are some that went crazy wild bidding desiring those old tubes. One tube sold for $2200 and another for lets round off and say $3500. One tube.  The WE300b has been cherished for their sound for decades. Anything is worth what someone is willing to pay. Purist will love the price of these new reissues. Maybe some member will take the leap and tells us more about the sound of the reissues. There are members here with deep pockets. 

[Curious_George]

On 8/6/2021 at 8:28 AM, henry4841 said:

 I've read that many reviewers claim one has never heard a 300B amplifier unless you have the old Western Electric tubes. Might be best that I have never heard them.   

 

I've never heard them either, but I have heard NOS 2A3's vs newer recent production 2A3's and to my ears, there is a "dimes worth of difference" as the late Bob Crites would say. There is so much hyperbole in audio, it is truly unbelievable. I have a pretty good ear, but a lot of the things people say they can hear, I'm suspicious of. 

 

I have a friend who has "one of those ears" and we constantly banter back and forth between what we can hear and usually in the end, he relents and says he can't hear much difference between A & B, but initially he could hear a "world of difference". 

[OO1]

19 minutes ago, Curious_George said:

, there is a "dimes worth of difference"

 WE   claims  the new   WE300B are actually  better made  given the newer technologies ,  I would love to see a true  A-B test by WE  to see if they at least last as long as the Original WE300B -anyone can make a claim , but backing it is not so easy -

[OO1]

20 hours ago, RickD said:

$3500 a pair for NOS maybe because they are so rare. Putting the WE300Bs back into production will bring that price down if the sound is the same.

 

the New WE300B  is Made in USA 2021 with the same quality as the Originals  ,  it cannot be made cheaper than the Original , given higher labor/ materials costs -

And  so , the price of the WE 300B  will not go down ,  unless the WE300B is shifted to  Asia with  off-shore mass production -

[henry4841]

13 hours ago, Curious_George said:

 

I've never heard them either, but I have heard NOS 2A3's vs newer recent production 2A3's and to my ears, there is a "dimes worth of difference" as the late Bob Crites would say. There is so much hyperbole in audio, it is truly unbelievable. I have a pretty good ear, but a lot of the things people say they can hear, I'm suspicious of. 

 

I have a friend who has "one of those ears" and we constantly banter back and forth between what we can hear and usually in the end, he relents and says he can't hear much difference between A & B, but initially he could hear a "world of difference". 

I agree that when you reach a certain quality point you have to spend a lot more be subtilty better. I have a lot of amplifiers and there are differences between them all but being most are quality ones the differences are subtle between them. All are very listenable. The biggest difference is class of operation and whether single ended or push pull. 

 

But in it's day when tubes ruled Western Electric ones were considered the best. 

[Curious_George]

I bought most of my tubes 25 years ago when prices were still reasonable for most tubes, except specialty ones like RCA red base, 300B, 2A3, etc. USA NOS 300B, 211, 845 and specialty preamp tubes (6SN7, 6SL7, etc. are crazy. The 2A3 seems to have plateaued. I prefer USA NOS to anything else. When I lived in Orlando, I would go to the Hamfest and spend all day meandering through all the tubes. Lots of good stuff.

 

There are tons of USA NOS tubes out there for cheap and if you are creative like Maynard, you can use them with great sonic results. 

 

 

[henry4841]

Do not forget the NOS Russian tubes as well. The prices have gone up but some of them sound really excellent. Russia kept using tubes far longer then the USA for military use. I agree with George in that when you see NOS or for that matter still good USA tubes grab them. 

[RickD]

On 8/7/2021 at 6:38 PM, RandyH said:

 

the New WE300B  is Made in USA 2021 with the same quality as the Originals  ,  it cannot be made cheaper than the Original , given higher labor/ materials costs -

And  so , the price of the WE 300B  will not go down ,  unless the WE300B is shifted to  Asia with  off-shore mass production -

 

I was referring to the NOS. If the new WE tubes sound as good or better than the NOS. Then the old tube prices will go down. I doubt you can even get a matched pair of NOS tubes.

 

audioXpress was very glad to once again feature a tube entirely manufactured in the United States on its May 2021 edition cover, celebrating the reintroduction of the famous Western Electric 300B triode, now out of Rossville, GA. All photos: ©Western Electric

[RickD]

On 8/7/2021 at 5:41 PM, Curious_George said:

 

I've never heard them either, but I have heard NOS 2A3's vs newer recent production 2A3's and to my ears, there is a "dimes worth of difference" as the late Bob Crites would say. There is so much hyperbole in audio, it is truly unbelievable. I have a pretty good ear, but a lot of the things people say they can hear, I'm suspicious of. 

 

I have a friend who has "one of those ears" and we constantly banter back and forth between what we can hear and usually in the end, he relents and says he can't hear much difference between A & B, but initially he could hear a "world of difference". 

When I bought my Klipschorns, the audio dealer lent me a set of $900 speaker cable to try out. I could not hear any difference between the $900 cables and $12 worth of

 Monster cable. I recently saw an advertisement for cables selling for $100,000. My guess these are for the guys that light their cigars with $100 bills. 

[RickD]

History of Western Electric

 

https://www.westernelectric.com/company-history

[OO1]

5 minutes ago, RickD said:

 

I was referring to the NOS. If the new WE tubes sound as good or better than the NOS.

there is no way , that a new WE 300B tube can sound as good or better than the NOS --the new WE300B is  a reproduction made on new tooling  by an outfit that purchased the Brand  -Forget ever matching the NOS --but the good news is that new tubes will be available -

[RickD]

15 minutes ago, RandyH said:

there is no way , that a new WE 300B tube can sound as good or better than the NOS --the new WE300B is  a reproduction made on new tooling  by an outfit that purchased the Brand  -Forget ever matching the NOS --but the good news is that new tubes will be available -

I can't dispute what you are saying, but read the  history link I posted earlier. It's interesting. A company named Westrex bought the name Western Electric from AT&T and the technical docs along with the manufacturing equipment. 

If you visit WE site check out their new 300B amplifier. Sure is pretty.

[OO1]

Just now, RickD said:

 

If you visit WE site check out their new 300B amplifier. Sure is pretty.

you can mortgage your house buying some of their new offerings  -125k$ - some have dreams ,while  others  have to work for a living

[MEH Synergy]

7 minutes ago, RandyH said:

while  others  have to work for a living

Who has to work for a living?   Handouts are plentiful right now. Just need to find a way to get laid off on paper and I should be good for awhile with all of my expenses...