[Doc Sarvis]

The world's vacuum tube supply under fire. Check out the link - hit the launch button under the picture.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13145804/

Of course, this has headphone amp as well as guitar amp implications.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Great story, thanks for the link, Doc.

Surely, this isn't the only tube factory left, is it? I thought there were some in China, the Czech Republic, and didn't Western Electric reopen in the US?

If the factory closes, there might be a temporary shortage. But I think demand is strong enough ($600k/month sales at the Russian factory) that another factory or two will spring up. Even in the worst case, I'd expect them to move their machinery somewhere else.

And since I took an interest in tubes about 10 years ago, it seems that they just keep getting more and more popular. Though this is terrible, I'm not worried about the future of tubes.

 

[Doc Sarvis]

Something like half of the world's new production tubes are made at the EH factory. However, I agree that if this supply dried up (which it won't - nobody's talking about stopping production), manufacturing would shift to somewhere else. Tubes are here to stay, and that doesn't count NOS tubes.