Updated 8 SEP 05
The world's tube factories - yesterday and today
|
CURRENT GLASS ELECTRON TUBE MANUFACTURERS
Updated 8/5/05
We currently estimate that the demand for audio tubes is growing 10% to 20% per year. Audio tubes are over a $200+ million
dollar industry in the USA and possibly $500+ million dollars worldwide.
Note: this list shows all the small glass audio tubes believed in production at this time.(not counting exotic devices, such as
photomultipliers and microwave devices)
RUSSIA
Reflector Corp, Saratov
Makes most of the tubes marketed by New Sensor Co. of New York under the "Sovtek" brand name. Some of these are old
Russian types, others are made especially for export. Types in production: 2A3, 300B, 12AX7 (3 variations known), EL34 (3
versions), 6CA7 fat, 5AR4, 5881, 6922, 6EU7, 6L6GB, 6V6GT, 6072A, 6973, 7199, 7591, 7868, EL84 (2 versions), KT66, KT88, KT90,
6P15P. "Sovtek" also markets 5U4G, 5Y3GT, 6SN7, 6SL7, three 12AX7s and a few other types made at other factories. Note:
there is no "Sovtek" factory. "Sovtek" is only an American brand name owned by New Sensor. New Sensor now owns the
Svetlana brand name and is using on tubes manufactured by Reflector. The Electro Harmonix tube are also made by this
plant. In 2005 New Sensor bought the names of Mullard and Tung-Sol and are placing these names on tubes of their New
Sensor banner.
Ryazan Plant of Electronics, Ryazan
Makes power triodes for RF and audio applications. Some are sold outside Russia by Svetlana Electron Devices. Ryazan has
also made large thyratrons and pulse tubes. Types in production: 811A (popular and sold all over the world), 812A, SV811-3,
SV811-10, SV572-3, SV572-10, SV572-30, SV572-160, GM-100, others. SV types and 812A are made especially for Svetlana
Electron Devices.
SED Winged C, St. Petersburg
A major Russian power-tube manufacturer. Formerly a part of the huge Svetlana collective factory, now independent. SED
tubes are now distributed in North America and Europe by PM Components. Types in production: EL34, SV6L6GC, SV6550C,
300B, EL509, EF86, 6BM8, 6AS7, 3CX300A1, 6D22S, GP-5, and a long list of large power types for amateur radio, broadcast and
industrial uses. KT88 and 12AX7 are have been recently introduced.
Ulyanov, Ulyanovsk
Large state-owned factory specializes in military equipment. Also makes tubes for use in military aircraft electronics. Types in
production: GU-50, GU-13/813, 6S33S-V, 6S19P, 6S41P, others. 6S33 is becoming popular in high-end amplifiers in America and
Japan.
Voskhod, Kaluga
Large collective factory, makes many ICs and other semiconductors as well as receiving tubes. Types in production: 6N1P-EV,
6AX7, 12AX7WA and WB, 6SN7, 6SL7 and a few other types sold by various firms outside Russia, such as New Sensor/"Sovtek"
and Svetlana Electron Devices.
CHINA
Shuguang Electrical Factory No. 1
Owned by Korean firm Samsung. Shuguang makes most of the popular audio and guitar types, which are frequently rebranded
by importers and OEMs. Types believed in production: 6L6GC, EL34 (3 types), 6550, KT100, 5AR4, 2A3, 807. Possibly 211,
845--unconfirmed. Shuguang's low-cost tubes are often seen in guitar amps. (Thanks to Chris Beeching for info.)
Liuzhou
Makes many types which are marketed abroad. PM Components, a British firm, has "Golden Dragon" types made by Liuzhou.
(Thanks to Chris Beeching for info.)
O&J Enterprises/Valve Art
Makes the following: 6L6GC, EL34, 6550A, KT88, KT100, 300B, 300B-C60 (graphite plate 60w), 5300B (graphite plate 80w
150mA), and 6300B (graphite plate 80w 180mA), plus possibly other types, at a factory in Changsha, Hunan. (Thanks to Wilfred
ter Borg for type list.)
"Sino" factory in Beijing recently stopped making 12AX7, 12AT7, 12AU7, 6GH8, 6AN8 and other small tubes, due to a poor
market and tough competition from Sovtek/New Sensor. It is said that Sino made the popular, low-cost 211s and 845s often
seen in SE amplifiers; this cannot be confirmed. Sino is apparently no longer making any tubes. There are other tube factories
in China. Most keep a very low profile. Some of these lesser-known factories specialize in transmitting tubes such as the 811A,
812A, 813, 3-500Z,4-400, 100TH, 833 and others. Such transmitting types are often branded with old American/European brands
and sold without notification that they are Chinese-made, as are the audio types.
SLOVAKIA, CZECH REPUBLICS
JJ Electronic, Cadca, Slovakia
A spinoff from now-defunct state factory Tesla factory. Outside of Slovakia, JJ tubes are often sold under the Teslovak or Tesla
brandname. Groove tubes is a major distributor. Types in production: GZ34, KT88S, EL34, E34L, ECC803S, ECC83/12AX7, EL84,
2A3, 6L6GC, 6V6GTS, 300B, 7027A, 7591S. Some of the power pentode types are available in red or blue glass.
AVVT, Prague, Czech Republic
Run by former Vaic Valve Co. founder Alesa Vaic. Manufatures audio power triodes for high-end hi-fi amplifiers. Types in
production: AV300B SL, AV32B SL, AV62B SL, and others.
KR Enterprise, Prague, Czech Republic
Formerly Vaic Valve Co, now operated by Riccardo and Eunice Kron. Manufactures power triodes for high-end audio
amplifiers. Types in production: VV30B, VV300B, VV52B, KR1, a single-plate 2A3 and other types..
YUGOSLAVIA
EI Electronic Industries, Nis, Serbia
Former state-owned factory, makes all types of electrical products, still making tubes using some old Philips production
tooling and equipment. Marketed outside of Serbia by Edicron Electronic Components Ltd, UK. Types in production: 6CA7,
6CG7, 12AT7, 12AX7, 12BH7, 12DW7, EL34, EL519, PL519, KT90, KT99, EL84, EL86, possibly a few others. Latest reports indicate
that the EI factory was not destroyed in the 1999 Kosovo conflict by NATO missles.
UKRAINE
Poljaron, Lvov
Makes 833A and some Russian power types, plus related products such as vacuum capacitors.
USA
Richardson Electronics, LaFox, IL
Makes a 300B, 845 and 50 sold under the Cetron brand for high-end audio, as well as a KT88 sold under the National brand.
Richardson has large quantities of tooling obtained from old American tube factories when they shut down. Also makes some
larger transmitting and high-voltage types. Richardson markets many tubes, obtained from other factories worldwide, under
their own brandnames; such as Cetron, National and Amperex.
Westrex Corporation, Kansas City, MO
Makes the reissued Western Electric 300B for high-end audio. Claims to be developing a KT88, WE308, WE274A and other old
WE types for future manufacture. Corporate and sales offices are located in Atlanta and Chattanooga. Also has sales office
in UK. Tube manufacturing facility was relocated from Kansas City to Huntsville, AL. This firm is independent of AT&T
Corporation and has licensed the brandnames from AT&T.
MU, Oceanside, CA
Small contract factory, makes occasional runs of unusual glass and metal-ceramic tubes for military use. Still makes some of
the old "Bendix Red Bank" tubes, such as the 6094 and 6384, in occasional lots.
Triton Services ETD, Gaithersburg, MD
Makes some Eimac and Litton glass power types, using equipment from the original manufacturers. Recently discontinued
some glass types, such as 4-65A, 4-125A, 250TH, 304TH/TL, etc. (these types are now only available from China).
Great Tube Makers of the past - This information is from Vintage Tube Services. They have a
great website at www.vintagetubeservices.com
AMPEREX
Located at 79 Washington Street in Brooklyn, New York, Amperex was a long established manufacturer of transmitting tubes
when they were acquired by the giant Dutch firm, Phillips in 1955 or so. Phillips continued to improve and enlarge the
transmitting plant in New York, but also used the Amperex name to distribute their fine new line of Dutch made minis, (12AX7,
12AU7, 12AT7) to feed the booming U.S. Hi-Fi market. These sweet & airy, but still full and solid sounding tubes have been the
favorite of music lovers for 45 years! Classic Hi-fi brands such as Marantz, Fisher, Scott, etc... owe a large part of their great
sound to these tubes. In the line up of the three sisters, the three European sisters that is, the Amperex is like the fair-haired
Dutch blond. The Telefunken is the tall, well built, sandy haired blond in the family, and the Mullard is the ravishing black haired,
British brunette. These are of course just slight "hues" in the perspective that these tubes present, as they are really all
extremely transparent units. And of course we can't forget the 6DJ8, 6922 & 7308 frame grid tubes. Developed by Amperex in
1958 when transistors were already starting to take over the electronics industry & originally developed for video & radar use,
the 6DJ8 has come into heavy use in audio over the last 15 years. And Amperex definitely made some great ones like the
Original "Bugle Boy" series with it's seemingly, magical ability to filter out noise like the Mullards do, and the later, map versions
with their full, balanced sound, black background, and great sound staging.
TELEFUNKEN
Telefunken of West Germany, founded in 1903 is the standard bearer of tonal neutrality in the 12AX7, 12AU7, 12AT7 series of
tubes. These tubes are (along with the other European four) THE "Start of The Art" in miniature tubes, long prized, and now rare
and expensive, dropping a couple of these under the hood of your pre-amp or power-amp can show just how bad today's 9
pin minis really are! They also made a good 6DJ8, 6922 & 7308 though the real ones are quite rare. Note; This does not apply
to East German E88CC & other 6 volt mini's that were made behind the Iron curtain during the cold war years and many are
sold by others, as the real thing, at top dollar. These tubes sound dark and hard, and are very sub-standard. They have been
flooding the market ever since the Berlin wall came down. V.T.S. I has identified these tubes and you will never have to worry
about ending up with these. There is more on these makers with photos and old artwork at www.vintagetubeservices.com
which is where this vintage tube information came from.
MULLARD
Mullard was founded by Captain S.R. Mullard in 1920 and was from the beginning one of the finest tube manufacturers in the
world. Mullard tubes have a rich, warm, presentation that still supplies all of the detail and information that any "state of the
art" tube does but with a suave European flavor that is perfect for many of today's more forward systems. The EL34, EL37, &
Mini tubes 6DJ8, 12AX7, 12AU7, etc are some of the longest - lasting, toughest, finest sounding tubes ever made! Mullard is
one of the few tubes that have the almost magical ability to separate the noise from the music, and the ability to present the
two in different places on the soundstage. This is something that transistors never do! Mullard did go into a gradual slide,
correlating to general "efficiency & modernizing" starting on the late 60s and got pretty bad by the late 70s. It was all over by
1981. There also seems to be a good number of tubes coming to the surface that seem to be made by someone else, but on
the same machinery that are completely sub-standard. They seem to be from the early 80s. The "other guys" sell these as the
real stuff and YOU suffer.
M & O
Marconi - Osram later known as M&O Valve was founded in 1919 by the joining of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co., and The
Edison General Electric Co. (Osram). This formed, what was at the time one of the largest pools of electron tube making
experience in Great Britain. They continued making fine radio tubes, mostly for use in Europe until the Post WW-2 Hi-Fi boom
hit in the 1950s and audio began to be big business. Big beam-power & pentode business like the 6L6 by R.C.A. and Tung-Sol's
6550 in the U.S. and the EL-34 in Europe. Well M&O was not one to be left behind, so they sat down and carefully designed
three, direct drop-in competitors for all three of the new high-power audio outputs. These were of course the KT-66 for the
R.C.A. 6L6, the KT-77 for the EL-34, and the KT-88 to compete with Tung-Sols 6550. These tubes are some of the most suave,
rich, classy pentodes ever made period. They have the real-thing greatness that is so rare these days. It has offended me for
14 years that the Chinese, Russians and their American distributors have had the audacity to put the designation KT-66, 77, &
88 on any and all of the JUNK that came down the pike! And, by how many members of the U.S. audiophile press were and still
are to this day, standing in line to glorify the emperor's new clothes. For the entire first half of this century, the very finest minds
in the world were applied to making these tubes, starting with Thomas Edison. To give you an example of what goes onto the
making of these tubes let me relate an event that happened a couple of years ago. I had a visitor from Germany who is a
super sharp chemist and hangs out with the aristocrat types in Europe. He is a member of the Royal Academy of Science but
doesn't know, or care much, about tubes or audio. So, he is sitting in my living room having coffee and he looks down at some
tubes lying around and launches off about how one of his elderly friends at the Royal Academy used to be one of the chief
chemists at M & O. They used to talk about corporate culture, trade secrets and how closely guarded many of the chemical
& metallurgical processes were, as they had been worked out over the proceeding half-century. He mentioned that the old
guard, Edison & Marconi, (and the next generation after) set the example of guarding important formulas & processes
because of the patent wars they had fought all their lives. Even at that, he said with all of the equipment in front of you and
everything running well, that the ticklish nature of making the finest tubes (inconsistencies in raw materials etc.) is more like
cooking than anything else and they knew that someone without their experience could never make tubes quite the same.
Well all I can say is that these guys had it because it is now 1999 and damn near of all of the hundreds of real KT-88s, 77s & 66s I
have distributed over the last 6 years are still making sweet music for their purchasers! This includes 20 KT-88s that run in a pair
of Jadis JA-200s that were tubed up in 1995. Not only have they not missed a single beat but they still all measure and look
almost NEW! I have had my own personal set of 4 for 16 years and they are still perfect. M & O made these tubes from 1957
until 1976 or so and then re-introduced them in 1982. Unfortunately these later ones were, of course, not up to the previous
production quality, and it was all over for good in 1988.
SIEMENS
Siemens & Halske was a quality German tube manufacturer from way back. They made an excellent 12 volt series of tubes
(12AX7, etc.) but nothing that special. However those of us that go back 20 or 30 years with the 6DJ8 know that when it
comes to frame grid tubes (6DJ8, 6922, 7308), Siemens really shines and has always been one of the very best. This is not
surprising, as that part of the world (Germany & Holland) produces some of the world's finest machinists. And that is what you
need because the 6DJ8 tube uses a very tightly strung tungsten grid wire that is 0.00029 inches in diameter! This is the smallest
tungsten wire that can be drawn consistently and is not even visible to the eye without a close look! But this was not new to
Siemens as they had been experimenting and producing a tube, which was a predecessor to the frame grid back in 1926, it
was the OCK tube, developed for undersea cable amplifiers. Well, what does all this experience and intrinsic skill give your
music? A very quiet, smooth and neutral tube that has as much or more mid and high end detail as anything else ever made.
The Siemens are particularly good at being free from noise & mic. and staying that way for a good long time. (I am talking
about early production, not the mid- and late- 70s stuff) The only problem I have ever heard voiced about a Siemens 6-volt
tubes would be in a system that was already too far on the light side and really needed a richer tube.
R.C.A.
Centered in Harrison New Jersey on the sight of Thomas Edison's original lamp works and not too far from Menlo Park where his
"invention factory" started it all, R.C.A was the backbone of the receiving tube industry in the U.S. R.C.A. was a very well run
corporation from the beginning, and was in many ways the cornerstone for tube manufacturing worldwide. I say this because
they developed and (if by no other means than sheer volume), standardized most of the basing system worldwide.
Consistency is an R.C.A. herald and this consistency showed in their tubes all the way from the 1920s to the 1970s! R.C.A. tubes
have an accuracy that is never hard, just accurate! Tonally the mini's, 12AX7, etc. seem to be just a hair on the softer side of a
Telefunken if you could give them any kind of label at all. The power tubes from the 6L6 to the 845 also have this broad
balance from top to bottom with all the natural detail and sweetness of the real thing. R.C.A. never tooled up for the 6DJ8 so
any such tube labeled as such was made by someone else. Unfortunately the entire R.C.A. receiving tube division was
liquidated in a 12 day auction during the fall of 1976, this basically broke the back of the tube manufacturing industry (and the
supporting industries) in the U.S.A.
Western Electric
The mother of all Electronics Companies. Western Electric always did a pretty good job of documenting it's activities, & here
we see the setting of the stage upon which some of the finest electron tubes ever to be made would appear. By it's 50th
anniversary (1919), Western Electric had already been making telephone repeater tubes for 5 years. 1919 was also the year
the first large-scale public address system utilizing tube amplification was demonstrated. (Peter Jensen was also doing
systems but at a much smaller scale.) The event was New York's "Victory Day" celebration after WW-1. This system used 113
loudspeakers and approximately 66 tubes! Eighty-five years later thousands of Western Electric tubes & speakers still make
beautiful music.
TUNG-SOL
Tung-Sol was an old hand at electron tubes and such. Starting in 1907 they developed the first successful electric headlamp
for cars, they followed that in 1913 with the two filament high and low beam headlight in a single bulb. They also developed
the flashing turn signal, and made that little thing that goes click, click under the dashboard for almost every American car
until the 1970's, yes, we all grew up listening to Tung-Sol. In the 1920's they entered the electronics field and applied their
basic company policy "make the best that can be made." They were leaders along with R.C.A. in the development of
sophisticated, statistical quality control systems and one of the greatest qualities of Tung-Sol tubes to this day is consistancy!
Tung-Sol's greatest contribution to the world of audio was the 6550, conceived and developed for Hi-Fi and introduced in
1955 this tube is still powering many of the world's greatest sound systems 45 years later! Tung-Sol was a privately held
company and was run like a laboratory this gave T-S tubes some of the best metallurgy and chemistry that has ever been
pulled off in actual production. Tough as nails and as sweet as tupelo honey, all Tung-Sol tubes are as accurate, neutral and
dynamic as you could ask for, very much like a Telefunken which is what they remind me of.
SYLVANIA
Sylvania electronics of Emporium, Pennsylvania was the second largest receiving tube manufacturer and R.C.A's arch rival. As
with most of the "New Jersey" bunch, Sylvania got its start in the light bulb business. Yes it was the light bulb manufacturers
who had the skills and experience in glasswork, metallurgy & high vacuum that are needed to make a fine tube. Like the rest
of the NJ bunch, Sylvania sought out and retained the most skilled men and women available, including former Edison
employees. They also lured away R.C.A.'s chief tube engineer of seven years, Roger T. Wise in 1927. This was a real jewel in
Sylvania's crown, and was reportedly announced with much fanfare. It's hard to say why he did it for sure, but he moved out to
Emporium and built a beautiful house 5 months before he took up his post at Sylvania which makes me think that part of the
reason for the change was he just wanted to get out of the smoke and clatter of NJ to start his new family. He was having his
first child and Sylvania's tube plant was nestled in the beautiful, wooded, rolling hills outside Emporium, PA, a point they
stressed in their recruiting efforts. Another one of Sylvania's main philosophies was to start with the highest quality materials
possible, and they were very good at it. They were so good that by 1948, they were the largest supplier of getters, wire and
other internal tube components in the industry. Their getters were so good that most major tube manufacturers in America
used them and their wire was good enough to be used extensively in Western Electric tubes! This emphasis on material and
employees showed in the final product to. Even to the casual observer, Sylvania tubes manufactured during the golden years
(1920's-1950's) simply exude an intrinsic beauty with their large, sweeping, mirror-finish getters and often, optical-quality
micas. In certain tube types, the early Sylvania simply blows away everything else. Unfortunately, good things often don't last
and Sylvania was one of those. The tooling held out pretty good up until the late 70's maybe even the 80's but the chemistry
and intrinsic quality of the entire package went to hell in the late 50's. Of course, some 96 percent or so of what is out there
for sale today is the horrid sounding mil. spec. Phillips branded stuff from the 70's and 80's but you won't have to worry about
that here.
This information on the vintage companies cane from Vintage Tube Services. There is MUCH more information, great photos,
old advertisements and lots of great things at www.vintagetubeservices.com