Will valve prices ever come back down??

ROOG

ICBM said:

hollywoodrox said:

Are valves less prone to the effects of EMP caused by devices or nuclear explosions  

Yes, which is why valve production for the military continued up to the 1980s when nuclear attack was a major risk - but modern solid-state can be hardened sufficiently against it. The complexity of modern military electronics is far above what could be achieved with valves.

That’s probably the main reason production continued as long as it did, at least in the West - some of the most common NOS valves are now military-spec 12AT7s, it was a standard type and they stockpiled millions of them.

I understood that the military 'market' was a reason for the continued requirement for valves especially in legacy gear but I would agree with the sentiment that valve gear must surely be very out of place in most military applications by now. 

I recall an article published in the early 80's that one particular manufacturer of 'hi-end' HiFi amps announced that their entire production run was based on a crate of military valves they had acquired. sounds like a very niche line of business to me! 

I do sometimes wonder how the NOS valve business is fairing. I suppose the valve industry had quite a modest run commercially speaking, say from the 1930's through to the early 60's. 

impmann

In short, to answer the OP's question: NO.

There are four factories in the world right now making valves in any volume: Sovtek (out of bounds due to that mad bugger Putin), JJ (sporadic output is the best way of summing them up - great valves, though), PS Vane (*really* changeable quality) and Shuguang (literally only just re-opened, and minus all their original technical staff so QC remains to be seen). These factories produce valves with other branding on them depending on the market. Often they go to third parties who then select and grade them - and apply their own branding. But the valves themselves are made in these four factories - one of which is out of bounds, one of which is great but there are supply chain issues, one of which is "OK* occasionally and the other is only just restarting and there are question marks over how good they may be (unproven, in short).

You can find cheap valves if you dig... and they are cheap for reasons. Good KT-88s are eye-wateringly expensive right now. But realistically, pre-amp valves aren't that dear really - and they don't need changing *that* often really. EL34s/6L6 and their variants have crept up a little recently... but still not hideous unless you are revalving a Sound City 120. EL84s... again crept up, and can be a little more problematic in older amps.

But the price isn't going down any time soon. 

Fingers657

I thought tube prices were going to go sky high after the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine but was quite surprised how many sellers didn’t automatically jump in and start profiteering buy putting there prices up.
I have a lot of valve heads and combos so automatically did a panic buy before the invasion but really needn’t have bothered.

Moe_Zambeek

I’ve had four 6l6 amps through here recently - 3 had microphonic power tubes, the other one is very slightly microphonic but bearable, and 50% of the spare ‘premium’ replacements I bought were also microphonic (1 of a pair, granted). GT / Fender and TAD red base tubes.