Did anyone stock up on tubes/valves
- Thread starter 67plexi
- Start date
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67plexi
Ambassador of Amps
What about Brimar they claim to have inventory in stock.
SHOP - Brimar Thermionic Products - Official Site
Shop for your Brimar valves, amplifiers and test equipment, The TellyTone guitar amps and MultiValve testers here.
brimaruk.com
mcblink
Ambassador of Riffs & Spliffs
ivan H
Ambassador of Tubes & Grooves
No EL34's, though most everything else seems to be in stock. Being that at present Brimar are re-branding other's tubes, I would prefer that they let us know exactly what each tube actually is. Some of us can identify tubes by their physical attributes, others may not be so well able to. Still, in a pinch, if their tubes get an amplifier up & running it's not going to be so important knowing where the tubes originated.
The audiophile world too, which is bigger than some realise, is also responding to this. These "tube" audiophool types don't mind spending big bucks in their pursuit of sonic nirvana either. It is because of these audiophiles that the really high end valve manufacturing plants exist & make valve types specific to the audiophile world. Manufacturers like the current Western Electric plant in the USA, E.A.T & KR Audio in Prague, Elrog in Germany, Takayuki in Japan etc. Yes, I know, as is often heard said or seen written that these guys charge 6 or 7 hundred bucks for a single 300B triode or 14 hundred bucks for a matched duet, but you have to remember that these aren't the run of the mill tubes that we use in our guitar amps. These are tubes that are rated for a 40,000 hour (or better) service life while operating at their full rated output. Hell, the very best of the old production power tube types that we do use in our guitar amps were rated for 10,000 hours, & by no means were all the old production power tube so rated.
Compare this to the service life expectancy of the current production power tubes commonly used in guitar amps, where 500 hours or 1,000 hours is considered acceptable. Hell, I wouldn't mind paying a few hundred bucks for a set of power tubes that would give 40,000 hours of service in any of my guitar amps. Ok,rant over. Cheers
Amp Mad Scientist
Ambassador of Heresy
Well, what's happening now:
1. Russia shut off from financial western world = no Russian tubes.
2. Russia asks China for economic aid.
If China gives Russia economic aid then: China will be shut off from financial Western world = no tubes from China either.
That's what's happening.
We are waiting to see what China will do.
In fact most vacuum tube import production could end, momentarily. It could happen any minute now...
All trade between US and China could end, momentarily.
Will all Chibsons come to an end? All guitars from China shut off?
That's really what's going on. ALL trade with China - gone. All China products - GONE.
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67plexi
Ambassador of Amps
My order from China was canceled and as of now Russian tubes/valves are not cut off from export read the link.
ivan H
Ambassador of Tubes & Grooves
I saw this announcement yesterday too, so as of April it seems, at least in the short term things are ok regarding Russian tubes.
Even without speculating on China's actions, things are maybe not looking so good for some fields of the music electronics industry, aside from tubes. I'm talking modeling & profiling amps, digital effects etc, along with a good many other digital & electronics fields.
A good many of the types of chips (integrated circuits) used in the music industry are made in Latvia. The Shenzhen region of China is also where a great many types of integrated circuits (along with a great many other types of electronic components) are made.The manufacture of integrated circuits requires the use of neon (used in the lithography process), & in no small amounts. Ukraine supplies about 50% of the world's neon requirements, maybe more (or they did, anyway). Latvia sourced all of its neon from Ukraine & while they had some neon reserves, chip production is already suffering & experiencing stoppages.
At least two of Ukraine's neon production facilities are not producing due to the current situation & the word is that after a couple or few months not producing, it'll be difficult to resume production.
China is another major source of neon, with their plants supplying their chip industry needs, BUT, with the Shenzhen region on sever lockdown as they struggle to contain this latest variant of the flu outbreak, production most everything has ceased. This could have far reaching affects
The Shenzhen lockdown could devastate the supply chain, from cars to iPhones: ‘It’s going to be really bad’
Cheers
