World-wide vacuum tube shortage

Rane said:
It’s a good time to be owning a modeler, I guess. I didn’t realize there were only two major factories.
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I haven't been following tube production for years but am mildly surprised there are two major factories and not one by now.

I have several tube amps and a couple definitely need tubes...I'm not so sure I'm ever going to re-tube them and will just likely sell them off.
 
How hard is it to make tubes? I'm surprised that there aren't some small outfits making "boutique" tubes. They would be expensive, but the tube snobs like I used to be would still buy them, especially if they were far superior to the overseas ones,
 
Tonedeaf said:
How hard is it to make tubes? I'm surprised that there aren't some small outfits making "boutique" tubes. They would be expensive, but the tube snobs like I used to be would still buy them, especially if they were far superior to the overseas ones,
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It’s not that they’re that hard to make, it’s that they have low demand and the manufacturing process has some bad pollution side effects, though I’m not sure they’re that much worse than semiconductor manufacturing. They’re also fragile compared to solid state.

I think that basically guitar players and recording studios and high-end stereo owners don’t purchase enough tubes to keep the companies alive. Like all things vintage, eventually the prices for tubes will be high enough to encourage some boutique companies to make them, but what they will cost is unknown.

I had three boutique tube amps before I got my FM3 and FX3. One of the reasons I got the Fractals was I know it’s getting harder and harder to get decent tubes and I am not that interested in the escalating prices. My amp tech got a big supply of NOS tubes, so I had him retube my amps, then Cygnus came out and I decided to slowly step away from tubes and sold my biggest amp after pulling the tubes and putting in the originals. I am debating selling my other two amps and turning the money around to buy one last “forever” tube amp, and living with my own personal stock of tubes I’ve acquired over the years as backups, and use my FM3 system as my primary “amp”.

There are (were?) some solid-state tubes being worked on but who knows if they’re capable of replacing regular tubes for guitarist’s needs.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/introducing-the-vacuum-transistor-a-device-made-of-nothing
 
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Tonedeaf said:
How hard is it to make tubes? I'm surprised that there aren't some small outfits making "boutique" tubes. They would be expensive, but the tube snobs like I used to be would still buy them, especially if they were far superior to the overseas ones,
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There's this guy that makes Nixie tubes. This video blew my mind when I first saw it. The process is incredible. I suspect the process for building a tube that functions electronically beyond just numbers glowing is considerably more complex.

 
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Greg Ferguson said:
It’s not that they’re that hard to make, it’s that they have low demand and the manufacturing process has some bad pollution side effects, though I’m not sure they’re that much worse than semiconductor manufacturing. They’re also fragile compared to solid state.

I think that basically guitar players and recording studios and high-end stereo owners don’t purchase enough tubes to keep the companies alive. Like all things vintage, eventually the prices for tubes will be high enough to encourage some boutique companies to make them, but what they will cost is unknown.

I had three boutique tube amps before I got my FM3 and FX3. One of the reasons I got the Fractals was I know it’s getting harder and harder to get decent tubes and I am not that interested in the escalating prices. My amp tech got a big supply of NOS tubes, so I had him retube my amps, then Cygnus came out and I decided to slowly step away from tubes and sold my biggest amp after pulling the tubes and putting in the originals. I am debating selling my other two amps and turning the money around to buy one last “forever” tube amp, and living with my own personal stock of tubes I’ve acquired over the years as backups, and use my FM3 system as my primary “amp”.

There are (were?) some solid-state tubes being worked on but who knows if they’re capable of replacing regular tubes for guitarist’s needs.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/introducing-the-vacuum-transistor-a-device-made-of-nothing
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I'm not talkng mass production, I'm talking someone making tubes that compare to the made in China tubes like a Fender Custom Shop Strat compares to a Squire Strat. Customer base might be small but they could be to the tube amp community what Fractal is to amp modeling,
 
Rane said:
There's this guy that makes Nixie tubes. This video blew my mind when I first saw it. The process is incredible. I suspect the process for building a tube that functions electronically beyond just numbers glowing is considerably more complex.

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And then there's this guy...hand-made vacuum tube...(hmmm vid unavailable..worth clicking to watch on YouTube)

 
It's incredibly antiquated technology. Probably kept alive because there are still some crucial facilities like power stations that use them. Probably of old Soviet era design but it it's possible there are some still in the West as well. Maybe more then we think. I highly doubt they're keeping these factories open for guitar players. We're not that big and important a market, otherwise all those through hole transistors that are going out of production and used in effects pedals would be kept in production. Even the boutique pedal industry is shifting over into SMD components and not because they actually wanted too.

Greg Ferguson said:
It’s not that they’re that hard to make, it’s that they have low demand and the manufacturing process has some bad pollution side effects, though I’m not sure they’re that much worse than semiconductor manufacturing. They’re also fragile compared to solid state.
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I worked at the Philips semiconductor plant here in Nijmegen in the late 90's. It was incredibly polluting. In two years time I lost about 80% of my smell due to the chemicals involved, and the guy in the shift after me said he had no sense of smell anymore whatsoever. I'm glad I got canned (although not at the time of course as the pay was very good) because I learned that those semiconductor plants are cancer clusters.
 
Why hasn't someone tried to cut a deal with Mike Matthews to bring that tube operation to the US anyway? Maybe interested parties have tried? I mean c'mon, Mike has a reputation for being such an easy going guy. ;)
 
tealtonerick said:
Why hasn't someone tried to cut a deal with Mike Matthews to bring that tube operation to the US anyway? Maybe interested parties have tried? I mean c'mon, Mike has a reputation for being such an easy going guy. ;)
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You just don't move such a factory across continents. There are no skilled workers for it in the US, there is no infrastructure to support it, there is no supply chain, higher wage costs, more stringent health and safety regulations. A lot of costs to be had just to bring antiquated technology to the US at a higher cost for little return. There's a reason why most US (or EU for that matter) manufacturing has left for cheaper greener parts in China and Asia, and there's a reason why that factory he bought was in Russia. That's where a large part of tube market outside of guitar amps still is.
 
Muad'zin said:
It's incredibly antiquated technology. Probably kept alive because there are still some crucial facilities like power stations that use them. Probably of old Soviet era design but it it's possible there are some still in the West as well. Maybe more then we think. I highly doubt they're keeping these factories open for guitar players. We're not that big and important a market, otherwise all those through hole transistors that are going out of production and used in effects pedals would be kept in production. Even the boutique pedal industry is shifting over into SMD components and not because they actually wanted too.


I worked at the Philips semiconductor plant here in Nijmegen in the late 90's. It was incredibly polluting. In two years time I lost about 80% of my smell due to the chemicals involved, and the guy in the shift after me said he had no sense of smell anymore whatsoever. I'm glad I got canned (although not at the time of course as the pay was very good) because I learned that those semiconductor plants are cancer clusters.
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I live in Nijmegen too. Never heard about the cancer there. I’ll ask around.
 
Rane said:
Looks like a factory in China had to move and the Russian factory’s lead times have gone up from one month to 6.

It’s a good time to be owning a modeler, I guess. I didn’t realize there were only two major factories.

https://guitar.com/news/gear-news/panic-on-availability-of-vacuum-tubes-mike-matthews-future-valve-amps/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=panic-on-availability-of-vacuum-tubes-mike-matthews-future-valve-amps&amp
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That’s good! We don’t need tubes, and never will lol
 
We were told in the early 90s that tubes might be running out in the future. 30 years later tube amps are still strong. I think we'll be okay. I have an AxeFX if tubes really did go away.
 
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