Western Electric 12AX7 tube production possibly this summer(!)

[SRHmusic]

A new article appeared in Wired magazine yesterday. Sounds like they may not be cheap, but it sounds like progress toward US made, high quality tubes for guitar amps. According to the article, they have some 12AX7 specific equipment being installed now in the Georgia facility.

One Man’s Quest to Revive the Great American Vacuum Tube

The prized retro audio components are mostly manufactured in Russia and China. Now, a small Georgia company is rebooting US production.

www.wired.com

Here's a quote fom the article; expand to see their ideas of what to make next. And it's not even April 1, so may be legit!

Price spikes during the recent great tube panic suggest plenty of people still believe in the voodoo. That presents Whitener with an immense opportunity. He says he aims to launch Western Electric’s 12AX7, America’s first new tube in decades, this summer. After that he plans to add a string of additional models, versions of the 6L6, EL34, EL84 12 AT7, and 6V6 tubes—a lineup he calculates makes up almost 80 percent of the relevant music equipment, such as guitar and studio amps. If all goes to plan, the US could once again dominate vacuum tube manufacturing.

There was an older thread on the topic from last fall here:
https://www.tdpri.com/threads/western-electric-is-assessing-plans-to-expand-tube-operations.1096605/

 

[NTC]

I just saw this. We shall see. Hopefully they are less than $20 or they won't sell.

 

[JDB2]

I just saw this. We shall see. Hopefully they are less than $20 or they won't sell.

I don’t think $20 is the ceiling for good sounding, durable, US made 12ax7s.

 

[ReverendRevolver]

The way I read that, seems like they'll be after contracts with Fender and such.

I'm not throwing immediate dough at preamp tubes. 6L6s? I'm curious enough to buy a set hot off the line as long as it's not over $290 for a matched pair. If it is.....


I'll throw one into the Supro and see if it lasts longer than the stock ones.

But. If the 12ax7 is cheap($60?), I do have 2 amps that I could justify popping new ones into.

 

[studio]

Maybe their tubes will come with a subscription?

(don't make me spell it out!)

So anyway... power tubes would be a nice call if there was a demand from amp makers instead of the current trend of class D units.

 

[Travis1972]

I don’t think $20 is the ceiling for good sounding, durable, US made 12ax7s.

I agree I’ve paid WAY more for nos Mullard tubes ,that being said if they’re built here in the us and have the qc and sound I’ll pay more than 20 for them as well ,I try to support Chinese and Russian economies as little as absolutely possible !

 

[dogmeat]

it has come and gone several times in the last decade or so. believe it when I see it

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

Most musicians probably aren't going to pay what these tubes are going to retail for.

 

[notmyusualuserid]

I'll carry on buying cheap foreign valves. US patriotism doesn't matter to me. I wouldn't buy extremely expensive Mullards, if the factory ever reopened in Britain either.

 

[Chester P Squier]

Maybe their tubes will come with a subscription?

I hate that trend in business.

 

[Timbresmith1]

I’ll be ready when they do a 350B.
If it’s anything like the original it will be . Not the blowing up kind, either.

 

[W.L.Weller]

I don’t think $20 is the ceiling for good sounding, durable, US made 12ax7s.

I agree with you that the current market for new production 12AX7s has room over $20, since only JJ & Psvane are currently under $20, and not by much.

But I bolded the 2 huge hurdles between Western Electric and being able to charge $40 or more per 12AX7.

 

[maxvintage]

The company currently makes one tube, a hifi power tube, that sells for $700 a pop.

I'm sure they will be expensive and probably right around what people pay for NOS tubes.

Their financial key is going to be supplying fender/marshall/DR. Z etc. with more consistent tubes. If they can make a tube that has a lower reject rate than JJ or Shuguang, they can make money. Let's say fender rejects 20% of the tubes they get from JJ. I have no idea, it might be lower or higher. But I'd assume fender gets a refund on the tubes it rejects. WE needs to beat that.

It can tack on all sorts of corksniffer surcharges for individual tube snobs, but I assume will only be a viable business if they can be the supplier for the largest amp makers

 

[W.L.Weller]

I’ll be ready when they do a 350B.
If it’s anything like the original it will be . Not the blowing up kind, either.

350B Western Electric, 1952

What a special treasure we have just discovered; a sealed wooden case of NOS (New Old Stock) 1952 Western Electric USN-CW-350B vacuum tubes. All 32 tubes in this sealed case were made to strict military specifications and have the date code of 249 (49th Week of 1952). These specific 350B are USN-CW,

www.tubedepot.com

Only $1195 each! Matched pairs and quads available! Gosh it makes the current production 300B that the current owners of the Western Electric brand produce seem reasonable at $700 each.

 

[Timbresmith1]

350B Western Electric, 1952

What a special treasure we have just discovered; a sealed wooden case of NOS (New Old Stock) 1952 Western Electric USN-CW-350B vacuum tubes. All 32 tubes in this sealed case were made to strict military specifications and have the date code of 249 (49th Week of 1952). These specific 350B are USN-CW,

www.tubedepot.com

Only $1195 each! Matched pairs and quads available! Gosh it makes the current production 300B that the current owners of the Western Electric brand seem reasonable at $700 each.

Nice!

300B is generally used in SE hifi applications. They can sound fantastic in efficient horn-loaded systems.

 

[maxvintage]

The more i think about it the more I think that will have to be their business model. Supply fender and other amp makers with a more reliable 12AX7 that doesn't have so many rejects in a shipment.

Then take the same tube and put a different silkscreen print on it and call it superselect or some such and sell it to corksniffers. It works for Psvane

 

[SRHmusic]

Their financial key is going to be supplying fender/marshall/DR. Z etc. with more consistent tubes. If they can make a tube that has a lower reject rate than JJ or Shuguang, they can make money.

Yeah, they mention supplying to Fender in the article. That's a good goal as it will take both capacity for the volume they'll need, and they will have to have good quality at a reasonable wholesale price.

They also talk about using more modern equipment and processes for some steps, and that Whitener has a background in quality engineering for production. They may the first company to update how tubes are manufactured in quite a while?

 

[northernguitar]

Yes, they will cost more. But what if they last 3-4X as long as NOS tubes do?

 

[Ben Bishop]

I expect they're starting with 12AX7 to get used to mass production. The money market is in power tubes for guitar and hi-fi use. A major problem has been the chemicals used to clean the parts and if they've solved that to US standards and make a consistent product (easier to match sets as well) what would people pay for pairs or quads of 6L6's or EL34's? I can see a win-win here.

 

[fjblair]

I think when they floated this idea the proposed prices were pretty high and that was before the all the "inflation" and "supply chain" issues. Still a good move.