Tubes Asylum

Crazy times! Long response . . .

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This Post Has Been Edited by the Author

In Reply to: RE: Update No. 1 on my EL34 recommendations post below posted by Luminator on February 21, 2023 at 20:38:06

Yep. My understanding, and it's likely not correct in all the details, is the following:

The original Reflektor company went bankrupt in the early 2000s and the St. Petersburg factory closed as a result. That left New Sensor working with the Saratov factory as the only show in town for Russian made tubes. There was subsequent litigation over New Sensor's use of the "Svetlana" names and trademarks, including "Svetalana" "Svetlana Electronics Division" "SED" and "=C=." I think New Sensor mostly won the law suit, but may not use "SED" or "=C=" in the United States because their U.S. rights were assigned to someone else (but may use "Svetlana" in the U.S. and all associated trade names and trademarks elsewhere).

Hey, lawyers need to pay their mortgages too, LOL!

In any event, as a result of all that, the SED =C= tubes from the St. Petersburg factory haven't been made since the early 2000s and NOS has dwindled to a few here and there, which makes them expensive. (I bought seven 6550s about a year and a half ago for $50 each and am very happy with them. It was a very good deal even then. I use them in a CJ Premier 11A.)

The good news is that New Sensor seems to have improved its QC at the Saratov factory in the last 20 years and their Svetlana labeled tubes are now quite good, as are their EH, GL, Mullard, etc., etc., tubes.

Unfortunately, PooPoo's decision to end the world as we knew it by invading Ukraine has resulted not only in death, destruction and suffering unprecedented in Europe since the 1940s, but also in unpredictable deliveries of Saratov tubes. So even staples like the KT120 and Russian made KT88s, 6550s and some EL34s are far more expensive than they were a year ago. If you can get a KT120, for example, it'll be $120 each (no one by New Sensor makes them). The Gold Lion branded tubes are particularly crazy, while the other brands from the same factory are generally a lot less.

For me, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has made it very difficult to justify sending any money to a company that makes products in Russia. For tubes, that pretty much leaves JJ, China, or NOS.

The good news is that JJ makes some excellent tubes. I don't particularly like their 12AU7s, but I really like these EL34IIs, and I have been reading very good reviews on all of their power tubes, and they make KT90, KT88, 6550, KT77, EL34, 6C7A, KT66 and 6L6GC (and likely more). It seems that electric guitar players have loved JJ for quite some time and perhaps its reputation with audiophiles will go up now. We'll see.

But yes, crazy times and crazy prices. I hope Western Electric finds a way to make some of these tubes.
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