Buying Tubes

gtrwun said:
Perfect opportunity for a USA manufacturing facility to tool up and take advantage of the situation. I understand the environmental BS that’s involved, but I feel a profit can be squeezed out if done correctly. I would pay the price for a good, high quality tube that’s being built here and creating jobs.

They better start firing up oil production too. Not to get political, but it’s kind of a no brainer.
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Now you’re talking. I agree totally.
 
gtrwun said:
Perfect opportunity for a USA manufacturing facility to tool up and take advantage of the situation. I understand the environmental BS that’s involved, but I feel a profit can be squeezed out if done correctly. I would pay the price for a good, high quality tube that’s being built here and creating jobs.

They better start firing up oil production too. Not to get political, but it’s kind of a no brainer.
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That’s basically JJ’s market. The problem is that they aren’t making USA made versions of overseas models and instead are doing their own thing.

I wish there was a domestic high quality manufacturing option for international tubes.
 
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Fret-Shredder said:
Pretty much wherever you can find what you are looking for. And expect to pay double what you paid a week ago. Just the reality right now. Good luck on your hunt.
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One thing about eBay; I always seem to find some good deals on used 34s that still have a lot of life left in them. A few turn out to be duds but the overwhelming majority bias up fine in my amps. This is how I built up my supply over time..I don’t pay big prices for ‘NOS’ stuff that may/may not be new. All Winged C/Svetlana (older), Siemens, vintage Mullard, Sylvania 6CA7, GT LS. They’re out there.
 
Thankfully I am set, not rushing out and buying anything, prices will either come back down or they won’t. Got a lot of tubes that have to go down before I won’t be able to play an amp, but maybe I will keep my valvestate a little longer :)
 
gtr31 said:
depends on the Tube they are all just relabeled , the el34s are the EH from Russia so those are probably out
The 6l6s. are JJ I think
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They have a few different 6L6's. Russia, China, and Slovakia, they have at least one model from each factory.
 
I stocked up on the best of the Russian stuff before the prices went too crazy. Emailed back and forth with one of the guys from Eurotubes who said there is no need to panic buy any JJ stuff as they are made in a NATO country and are still fairly reasonably priced and he said there is no end in sight to them producing tubes.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if Russian tubes mysteriously find there way into the US despite sanctions. If I recall correctly, a lot of tubes from back in the day were rebranded with a different country of origin to circumvent trade restrictions.
 
I've been told that Fender has bought up most of the production of JJ's for this year. The person who told me that works for an amp company but I'm not 100% that's true.

I talked to another friend who said they are covered for the year and if I need any just reach out. I got a Quad of 6l6's, a pair or el34 and a few 12ax7's.


Honestly if I had about a dozen of each tube type I would probably be good for a long time. I don't know if Russian tubes will recover. I don't know if they have enough business in Russia and Belarus(maybe China) to keep running
 
I spoke to the owner of a tube distributor. There was a tube shortage before the war due to the pandemic and he said it will come down to buying JJ long term state side. He said that because people are rightfully panick buying, sources aren’t going to last long and there’s no telling when the next shipment of tubes from Russia will come. He did state he was confident China tubes will still come in as normal, but if you like Russian tubes, he didn’t condone the panick buying for them. Not to get too political, but Russia did just announce trade embargoes or refusals for trade of certain items - what they are will be soon known.
 
glpg80 said:
I spoke to the owner of a tube distributor. There was a tube shortage before the war due to the pandemic and he said it will come down to buying JJ long term state side. He said that because people are rightfully panick buying, sources aren’t going to last long and there’s no telling when the next shipment of tubes from Russia will come. He did state he was confident China tubes will still come in as normal, but if you like Russian tubes, he didn’t condone the panick buying for them. Not to get too political, but Russia did just announce trade embargoes or refusals for trade of certain items - what they are will be soon known.
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I thought the factory in Shuguang China had closed and had not been restarted. Is there one operating right now that anyone knows about?

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/there-us-a-worldwide-panic-on-availability-of-vacuum-tubes
 
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