Western Electric considering guitar amp tube production

[NegativeEase]

Right, I get that. But the article mentions they would sell guitar based tubes at a reasonable price. Now, “reasonable” varies from consumer to consumer, of course. And nobody is going to pay $1300.
But for $25-30 each for an American EL34…I feel that’s more than reasonable. We will just have to wait and see what kind of prices they slap on their products, I suppose.

Im pretty familiar with WE, if they USA build tubes -I'm guessing that they will be double the cost of Russians just based on their scale, workforce and their focus as a business -which is prestige/esoteric audio goods

So 200 for a USA quad will be my guess.

[JMP/HBE]

Im pretty familiar with WE, if they USA build tubes -I'm guessing that they will be double the cost of Russians just based on their scale, workforce and their focus as a business -which is prestige/esoteric audio goods

So 200 for a USA quad will be my guess.

Well if it were right now Russian are going for $300 a quad so by your logic WE would be $600 a quad.
But would they even sound good or last is a different thing all together.
For $600 id rather have a quad of proven RFT Siemens.

[Gtrjunior]

Um yeah who wouldn't. Maybe in 1967 but never in 2022.
Russian EL-34 quads were $98 3 weeks ago. Now $300+ if you can even find them.
Lots of vendors have them just sitting on them.
Vacuum tubes are the new Crack.

You’re the one that said $100 a quad. I’m just using your numbers.
Where are you seeing Russian tubes at $300.
Here is a screenshot of tube depot. The EH 6CA7 are $28 each. If we round up to 30 that is $120/quad.

[NegativeEase]

You’re the one that said $100 a quad. I’m just using your numbers.
Where are you seeing Russian tubes at $300.
Here is a screenshot of tube depot. The EH 6CA7 are $28 each. If we round up to 30 that is $120/quad.

Agree, my sweetwater guy called me this week, Russian tube prices have risen 3-5 dollars a piece. And a lot of stuff if flowing in and backorder times are decreasing.

My local store hasnt raised their JJ prices and they have the in stock.

People are buying from turds apparently.

[chadd]

Right, I get that. But the article mentions they would sell guitar based tubes at a reasonable price. Now, “reasonable” varies from consumer to consumer, of course. And nobody is going to pay $1300.
But for $25-30 each for an American EL34…I feel that’s more than reasonable. We will just have to wait and see what kind of prices they slap on their products, I suppose.

"Reasonable" means different things to different people. Expect them to be 3-4x that price and if it turns out to be less, it's a bonus.

[misterwhizzy]

I spend $100 or more on NOS Amperex ECC-83 / 12AX7's all the time. I don't use current production tubes except maybe as a loop driver.

If you do it all the time, I don't think your money is that well-spent. The only problem I've had with 12AX7s is not liking the sound of JJs and Tung-Sols failing in the cathode follower position. Those are easy for me to work around.

Speaking of "making up numbers" thats exactly what Western Electric is going to do.
You think an American Company is going to make a quad of new EL-34's for less than $100 buck, not a chance.

I specifically said 12AX7. I never mentioned power tubes at all. And like GtrJunior said, I'd HAPPILY pay $100 for a quad of American-made EL34s.

I'm hopeful and cautiously optimistic they'll get this done, and we can all start watching NOS v. WE YouTube videos when it'd be much more productive to change speakers or amplifiers.