A new audio tube

[HollowState]

It isn't ready yet but looks promising. I do know it's a beam tube.

http://www.timeelect.com/Book23.htm

Victor

[ray_moth]

Interesting! I get the strong impression that this tube is aimed at the musical industry (e.g. guitar amp manufacturers). This makes me wonder if it will succeed, given the popularity of long-established rival products on the market (6L6, EL34, etc.)

I wonder, also, if they will develop something for 'hi-fi', like a power triode that works at a reasonable voltage for a reasonable price? It'd be nice to be able to buy an indirectly heated equivalent of the 300B for < $100!

[Geek]

Originally posted by ray_moth
This makes me wonder if it will succeed, given the popularity of long-established rival products on the market (6L6, EL34, etc.)

<cynic>

Only if a magazine guru tells people it will

</cynic>

Usually the NDS requirement means the tube is still in the "beta" stage and new designs with it should be not considered until full release. The paramaters could change significantly.

But it's good to see people taking the risk

[Richard Ellis]

OK...So its' a new tube, and they have their own numerical designation? Given that there are perhaps a hundred different tube designations with specs ranging from virtual micro-tubes up thru monster transmitter types....who cares! I'd bet that one could find an 'old' tube with nearly identical specs, although probably out of production.
The hype that they are spewing speaks volumes as to what to expect............A very high price, undoubtly they will be serial numbered, boxed in a mahogany case & delivered to the one thru the lottery type system. The "winner" will have the precious tube delivered by the owners of the company......etc, etc.
Did you all notice how "Professional" the lab-table appeared with the fender amps lying there upside-down? I would never deal with such a "company" if this is their lab.....Even if it isn't their lab, that just looks shoddy...especially if this picture shows up on their web-site with the "new" tube announcement.
______________________________________Rick........ .

[Miles Prower]

Originally posted by ray_moth
I wonder, also, if they will develop something for 'hi-fi', like a power triode that works at a reasonable voltage for a reasonable price? It'd be nice to be able to buy an indirectly heated equivalent of the 300B for < $100!

I doubt that very much. The whole site is dedicated to guitar amps. They're obviously not into HiFi at all. For that, we really don't need a new type, considering that we've already got 807s, 6L6s, 6V6s, and a whole bunch of TV horizontal deflection PAs that are pretty hard to beat as for raw specs.

What we do need are power triodes that fall in between the vertical deflection PAs and the RF power finals.

Did you all notice how "Professional" the lab-table appeared with the fender amps lying there upside-down? I would never deal with such a "company" if this is their lab.....Even if it isn't their lab, that just looks shoddy...especially if this picture shows up on their web-site with the "new" tube announcement.

[TubeHead Johnny]

Yes! I wasn't impressed with the photos as well....And this is the big introduction? Ha Haa! I'm suprised there's not a pack of smokes and a can of Bud in those pics as well. How good can this tube actually sound? It certainly LOOKS interesting enough with the those tall brown bases, but I bet you it doesn't sound any better than a GE 6L6 or a Mullard EL34!

~~~Johnny~~~

[Richard Ellis]

OK....we all agree this "Introduction" is marred by the unprofessional appearance of their lab...Whats on your workbench? Heres" theirs..in a very tight space.
1: A Texas Instruments calculator
2: A box of jeweled Screwdrivers (Half empty) "Whers my screwdriver!!)
3: A nearly empty roll of solder (Wher did all my solder go to!)
4: Iso Alcohol (Assumed)
5: Pliers
6: Four plus empty tube boxes
7: A piece of wood (Drilled for ?) as a prop
8: A spotlight bulb
9: A nut driver
10: A roll of thread
11: A lone transformer
12:An alligator clip & wire
13: A whole empty chassis
14: A DPDT switch
15: A pack of 'Q-tips'
16: A fresh paint roller
17: ETC.
___________________________________Rick........... ....
PS I guess these amps are mounted tube side down as the writing is right side up in the photos.

[kevinkr]

I can't imagine after spending a few years in the MI electronics side of the industry that there are going to be very many adaptors of this tube.

Tubes for guitar amplifiers are generally chosen on the basis of cost, and ready availability from the local music emporium.

Description of their qualification and product process is either marketing claptrap or a sign that these guys are fairly clueless about what the MI market will bear price wise.

That work bench is the most unprofessional looking pile of rubbish (or insert your favorite expletive here ) I have ever seen on a site purporting to represent a serious commercial effort. Were I a major manufacturer I would not be taking them at all seriously after seeing a mess like that. (Excessively tidy might be suspicious too, but note the conspicuous absence of any sort of test equipment, even a meter for setting the bias.)

The comments about gurus, hobbyists, and the like was pretty disingenuous, particularly given the messy appearance of that bench. Yeah I'll harp on that some more..

Based on the amplifiers in which these sample tubes were installed I would guess it is an improved 6L6 variant.

Note that they made no mention of ruggedized mechanical construction - an area where modern tubes are often very deficient. This is the one area where they could make a meaningful contribution. I've replaced a number of current production 6L6 in Fenders and they generally seem to shake to pieces in a year or less of moderately hard use.

Given the copyright date on the site I would not be too inclined to take this too seriously. It may be yesterday's news.

[tubelab.com]

PS I guess these amps are mounted tube side down as the writing is right side up in the photos.

Yes, that is the normal mounting scheme for Fender amps.

To me the workbench looks like a normal workbench for someone who repairs or modifies guitar amps. I would be far more sceptical of someone with a pristine (never used) workbench.

The workbench in my lab often gets to looking like this near the end of a big project. It now has computer parts all over it since the first complete PC that I have ever bought arrived DOA, and I had to fix it. I was trying to save time by buying a computer instead of building one. On the bright side Fedex brought new memory yesterday, and the PC has been running flawlessly overnight. Two months for a "next day shipping" PC. Now I can clean this PC stuff up and mess it up again with tube amplifier parts.

I however will at least clean up the visible surfaces when I take pictures for my web site or even these forum pages (most of the time). If I was trying to "stage" a picture for a press release or web photo, I would only have the necessary equipment in the photo. My particle board bench top is 25 years old, and yes the burn marks and stains are real. (I have been asked in an e-mail).

As for the tubes, I doubted that someone would cook up something entirely new and this different looking, compared to the usual guitar amp tubes without something to start from. Besides, it looks familiar. Then I realized that about a year ago I dug up some old military surplus tubes that looked wicked, so I cranked a pair up in P-P mode. No problem getting 100 watts from a pair (700 plate volts) without any death glow. The tubes that I found have plate caps, so the plate voltage spec is 4 KV, screen voltage spec is a mere 800 volts. Plate diss = 40 watts, octal base. Looking for a tube that is triode or UL capable at 700 volts? Oh, yeah I have fed my guitar preamp through the breadboarded amp, and it absolutely screams.

I am assuming that someone made these with the plate wired out the bottom. Probably Bendix or Tung Sol.

I looked in my box of potential tube types (that I need to get back to) and there are a few of these. They have brown bases just like the ones in their picture. Oh, the type number, You want the number?

Try 3D21WB.

http://www.mif.pg.gda.pl/homepages/f...7/3/3D21WB.pdf

[kevinkr]

Hi Tubelab,
Interesting catch on the 3D21WB.. Hmmmm.. I suspect you are right..

I have heard rumors for years of someone preparing to resurrect the Sylvania 6L6STR, but so far nothing seems to have materialized that I am aware of.. Any thoughts on that one?

My bench gets pretty messy during projects too, but I am sure like yours it looks a little more like a bench full of electronics and not flotsam and jetsam like the one on that site.. (It looked rather like someone had dumped the contents of a small dumpster on that bench. hehe) I have taken some truly dreadful pix of some of my projects and I am relatively sure it didn't help my credibility any..