Bottlehead Forum
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Natural Sound on July 20, 2013, 03:47:07 AM
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This is good news!
http://timesfreepress.com/news/2013/jun/23/western-electric-plugs-into-rossville/ (http://timesfreepress.com/news/2013/jun/23/western-electric-plugs-into-rossville/)
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It is good news. I have avoided having a 300b amp for years because I know I'd have to have a set of NOS WE's.
I'd like to see some new production stuff come out at some kind of reasonable cost.
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Tom,
Thanks. Hopefully it will be more than just the 300b -- 350, 310, 421, 417, etc. I can pretty much guess that these will certainly not be cheap though. $100k for a WE97 amp? Guessing these will cost at least as much, and probably more than the current WE new production tubes -- no more economy of scale at work here.
-- Jim
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This company went into production in the 90s. The first "corporate" office was on Peachtree in Atlanta. I was still living there.
At that time I knew one of the technicians there, the plant was never on Peachtree, BTW. There were startup pains but the first tubes went for $1000 a pair. They came, probably do still, in a wooden box.
The tubes are the best copy of the metallurgy and construction techniques that WE used originally.
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Not to be a "Debbie Downer" but... Western Electric/Charles Whitener has been talking about restarting 300B production pretty much since they stopped about 7 or 8 years ago. At this point, it's a "I'll believe it when I see it" proposition.
Don't get me wrong, I would like this to be true as much as anyone. Of course if it does happen, you have to wonder what the price will be. With the original reissue price of around $800 - $1000/pair (17 years ago) and current Japanese Takatsuki 300Bs going for about $1800/pair, the sky's the limit. Maybe this is what's drawing Mr. Whitener back into the market?
Think I'm going a bit overboard here? Take a look at the pricing page on the WE website. They have WE 396As listed as "In Stock" at $300 a pop. If those are NOS, they are only about 10 times market price. If they are new production, which is very unlikely, could they possibly be better than early 1950s vintage?
Remember, I'm just the messenger. :)
Gerry
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You're right Gerry - it is such a niche market. There is no other purpose for them than the so called "audiophile" market. The hopes for affordable newly manufactured complex hand made tubes are next to nil.
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Sorry, I didn't know they had stopped. I guess that is why I hadn't heard much for a while. So take my comments with a grain of salt.
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From the article:
"Since his stock of vacuum tubes is dwindling, he plans eventually to hire skilled workers and start manufacturing tubes on the fourth floor of the Rossville building."
So they must still have inventory left over. Production in Kansas City (or wherever it was) is said to have stopped a good number of years ago - some say 2006, but other dates are floating around. Those tubes at those prices are not moving very fast! I know there was a lot of unhappiness because apparently nothing was shipping for several years in the interim. There have been periodic threads on the Audio Asylum SET board, where Gordon Rankin of Wavelength Audio seems to be the most reliable voice.
I have not heard first-hand anyone in the last several years claim that they have actually received tubes. Several second and third hand reports though. Make of that what you will, it's all speculation so far.
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While working for the phone company, I saw some of the WEIRDEST tubes ever. Wish I had paid more attention.