May I ask where you are getting your output transformers? I had an MC240 in my system, but I wasn't willing to invest in a tube tester or tube curve tracer to maintain it. That would be a fun one to run through the Audio Precision, which I did not want to invest in either! (I need to make friends with someone who works there)
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WIRED: The revival of the American vacuum tube at Western Electric in Rossville, Georgia, USA
- Thread starter DavidMcRoy
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wadude
Member
I'll take a dozen 7199s.
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computer-audiophile
Major Contributor
Since I have already built a few amplifiers, I can not easily answer the question and list everything.
My last 300B SET stereo amp built has OPT from Hammond model 1630SEA, a proven classic.
My 211 SET has potted OPT from China, which I know nothing at all about except that they sound good and reproduce clean square waves. I just tried and kept them.
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Those also..
Steve Dallas
Major Contributor
Guitarists absolutely participate in tube rolling. Some buy specialty single-ended amps with a single preamp tube just for that purpose. They think they are doing it for frequency response in the quest for just the right amount of "chime," etc. but they are actually doing it for distortion properties. Guitarists are every bit as much the cork sniffers as audiophiles (some are both.) Gold plated chassis and grain-oriented wires sound better! (Disclosure: I previously owned two boutique guitar amplifier companies and designed circuits for other brands you would recognize.)
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restorer-john
Grand Contributor
A wonderful video. The sheer scale of the operation, across several enormous manufacturing sites was amazing. Also, they were still expanding well into the 1960s. That entire industry would have virtually ceased to exist in less than 10 years after that video was made. Sad.
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No doubt there's a lot of goofiness in the guitar scene. But from a strictly price standpoint, it's nothing like 'high end' audio. I think it's because most players just don't have a lot of money, and if they did, they'd rather buy a new guitar or pedal than an expensive amp.
The link you mention, Alessandro (which I was not familiar with), is not out of line for a hand built product--just on price alone. Their Princeton mod (which I presume includes a 'regular but used' head with the deal) is priced at 2K. A new Princeton is $1400.00. So his upcharge for hands on work is not unreasonable. If you have to supply your own amp, then it's a different story. Whether his 'mod' makes any sense, is another question, though.
Crossbread is $2400.00, which is quite a bit less than, for example, an upper end 'mainstream' Mesa head.
When you get the his AZZ model, it's 'custom order', and then he's asking big money. Probably very few are sold, which is why it's a 'build on demand' product.
Nutball guitar stuff extends farther out from whatever you expect from hi-fi weirdness. I don't know of anything comparable to 'cable risers' or 'magic bricks', or special power plugs in guitar world. Maybe it's there, but I just don't know about it. Instead, you get folks arguing about whether nitro 'breathes' into the tone, whereas a poly finsh 'constricts' tone. Which is pretty funny, when you see 'relic' guitars with the finish almost completely sanded off. I guess those resonate best!
I've mentioned it before, but somewhere Les Paul once quipped that people 'listen with their eyes'. So true.
Waxx
Major Contributor
I also don't know any musician who's gonna put a 2.5K€ tube in their amp, they already started complaining it was too expensive to replace tubes and when I asked 150€ for a power tube (a guitar amp with RCA 7868 power tubes, in a time there was no new production of this model) and the work to replace it and check it at the time i did check and repair guitar amps for local musicians (of which some were quiet famous). And when they brought replacement tubes themselves they were never expensive ones.No doubt there's a lot of goofiness in the guitar scene. But from a strictly price standpoint, it's nothing like 'high end' audio. I think it's because most players just don't have a lot of money, and if they did, they'd rather buy a new guitar or pedal than an expensive amp.
The link you mention, Alessandro (which I was not familiar with), is not out of line for a hand built product--just on price alone. Their Princeton mod (which I presume includes a 'regular but used' head with the deal) is priced at 2K. A new Princeton is $1400.00. So his upcharge for hands on work is not unreasonable. If you have to supply your own amp, then it's a different story. Whether his 'mod' makes any sense, is another question, though.
Crossbread is $2400.00, which is quite a bit less than, for example, an upper end 'mainstream' Mesa head.
When you get the his AZZ model, it's 'custom order', and then he's asking big money. Probably very few are sold, which is why it's a 'build on demand' product.
Nutball guitar stuff extends farther out from whatever you expect from hi-fi weirdness. I don't know of anything comparable to 'cable risers' or 'magic bricks', or special power plugs in guitar world. Maybe it's there, but I just don't know about it. Instead, you get folks arguing about whether nitro 'breathes' into the tone, whereas a poly finsh 'constricts' tone. Which is pretty funny, when you see 'relic' guitars with the finish almost completely sanded off. I guess those resonate best!
I've mentioned it before, but somewhere Les Paul once quipped that people 'listen with their eyes'. So true.
Steve Dallas
Major Contributor
No doubt there's a lot of goofiness in the guitar scene. But from a strictly price standpoint, it's nothing like 'high end' audio. I think it's because most players just don't have a lot of money, and if they did, they'd rather buy a new guitar or pedal than an expensive amp.
The link you mention, Alessandro (which I was not familiar with), is not out of line for a hand built product--just on price alone. Their Princeton mod (which I presume includes a 'regular but used' head with the deal) is priced at 2K. A new Princeton is $1400.00. So his upcharge for hands on work is not unreasonable. If you have to supply your own amp, then it's a different story. Whether his 'mod' makes any sense, is another question, though.
Crossbread is $2400.00, which is quite a bit less than, for example, an upper end 'mainstream' Mesa head.
When you get the his AZZ model, it's 'custom order', and then he's asking big money. Probably very few are sold, which is why it's a 'build on demand' product.
Nutball guitar stuff extends farther out from whatever you expect from hi-fi weirdness. I don't know of anything comparable to 'cable risers' or 'magic bricks', or special power plugs in guitar world. Maybe it's there, but I just don't know about it. Instead, you get folks arguing about whether nitro 'breathes' into the tone, whereas a poly finsh 'constricts' tone. Which is pretty funny, when you see 'relic' guitars with the finish almost completely sanded off. I guess those resonate best!
I've mentioned it before, but somewhere Les Paul once quipped that people 'listen with their eyes'. So true.
Alessandro has calmed down in the past decade. Ten years ago, their product line was smaller and prices much higher. (BTW, that Princeton mod does require you to supply the amp to be modded, and people do pay for it. I should know, as I pioneered the hand-wired retrofit by doing Blues Juniors then the reissues starting around 2004.)
You guys are thinking about mainstream guitarists. There is a whole subculture built around collecting the most esoteric gear imaginable, including exotic tubes, silver wire, gold plated chassis, and all the rest.
The amps made by one of my former companies featured speaker and power cables from Analysis Plus, which is completely pointless in a guitar amp. Absolutely everything was custom, including the transformers and speakers. Tubes were all pedigreed NOS, as were most capacitors and resistors. The elite are happy to pay very high prices for exclusive products. The people buying collectible guitars are also buying very expensive amplifiers. I tried to talk every customer out of the nonsense, but most would not budge. They were sure that NOS bumblebee cap would bring THE TONE and could not be persuaded otherwise.
Most pros are different. They want reliability above most other things. They buy Sovtek 12AX7WA preamp tubes, because they are durable and quiet. They may think an NOS Mullard sounds better, but they don't run them in their road gear.
I have the ability to design and build anything I want for myself. What do I play? A modeler and this little guy. Why? Because I know that "tone" is in the fingers.
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Waxx
Major Contributor
Wel, that guy i was mentioning with it's RCA tubes uses also a very rare Ampeg amp from 1965, and a 1950's telecaster that is worht probally arround 10K, but for tubes, he uses now regular EH 7868's (since those reissued that tube since then) and his cable is just a standard guitar cable. He plays in local rockabillty and psychobilly bands with that gear.
But yeah, you got some collectors (mostly not real active musicians) who want all the rare super expensive stuff, that is true. But those type of collectors you got everywhere, with any type of item. And it's not because they think it's better, but because it's rare that they collect stuff like that ...
But yeah, you got some collectors (mostly not real active musicians) who want all the rare super expensive stuff, that is true. But those type of collectors you got everywhere, with any type of item. And it's not because they think it's better, but because it's rare that they collect stuff like that ...
computer-audiophile
Major Contributor
I would have to get better at playing the guitar before I would worry about the tube brands in my tweed amp. In fact, it doesn't sound that great and it also hums a little. I could change that, but at this point it makes no sense imo.
computer-audiophile
Major Contributor
To return to the WE 300B tube, and what its estimated service life is. This depends not least on the operating points with which it is driven and how the heating is made. With my amps, I always make sure that a soft-start mechanism protects the tube when it is switched on. Some amps are known as tube eaters. 
computer-audiophile
Major Contributor
By chance I saw that Michael Boele also writes something about this tube. An old acquaintance, so to speak, with whom I had many hot technical discussions in the early days. Not always amicable but still instructive and ultimately valuable. I would not like to miss it. Unfortunately, I can not get the magazine in my city without problems. I'll have to see if I can get my hands on the article somehow.