I just looked in the Farnell catalogue and saw that they listed 126 products in the "thermionic valve/tube" category. So I looked, well, you would. Almost all of the 126 products are made by Richardson Electronics, and none of them are in stock. Nevertheless, the prices are fascinating.
4852023: 12AT7/ECC81 £33.63
4852023: 12AT7/ECC81 £33.63
Google:
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.
http://www.vacuumtube.com/Mfg.htm
http://www.blackdahlia.com/tipindex/MD-811/tip_20.htm
etc.
Simon
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.
http://www.vacuumtube.com/Mfg.htm
http://www.blackdahlia.com/tipindex/MD-811/tip_20.htm
etc.
Simon
A gorgeous young redhead walks into the doctor's office and tells the doctor that her body hurts wherever she touches it.
"Impossible!" says the doctor. "Show me."
The redhead takes her finger, pushes on her left shoulder and
screams. Then, she pushes her elbow and screams even louder.
Next, she pushes on her knee and howls like a banshee...everywhere that she touches makes her scream.
The doctor asks, "You're not really a redhead, are you?
"Well, no" she says, "I'm actually a blonde."
"I thought so," says the doctor.
"Your finger is broken."
...don't know what this has to do with Richardson...other than the "Redhead" may be a customer of theirs.
"Impossible!" says the doctor. "Show me."
The redhead takes her finger, pushes on her left shoulder and
screams. Then, she pushes her elbow and screams even louder.
Next, she pushes on her knee and howls like a banshee...everywhere that she touches makes her scream.
The doctor asks, "You're not really a redhead, are you?
"Well, no" she says, "I'm actually a blonde."
"I thought so," says the doctor.
"Your finger is broken."
...don't know what this has to do with Richardson...other than the "Redhead" may be a customer of theirs.
Richardson's is a bunch of rip-off artists that got into the audiophile tube pricing blow out game early on. Remember their Made in USA KT88 for $250.00 a pop about 15 years ago? The tubes they actually make in the USA are low quality but take advantage of the fact that "Made in USA" is on them and this will command way higher prices. And in a lot of ways, they were right.
Good tubes come from a good tube factory, Richardson's isn't one of them. Take their Cetron 300B... Probably the lowest rated 300B out there but it's like the second highest in price, behind the WE version.
15-20 years ago, Richardson's was playing the same old game, but at least back then they had stock of actual NOS tubes.
Go to Antique Electronic Supply in Tempe, Arizona. For the most part they are reasonable in price and they aren't trying to play the "let's swindle the tube audiophile with mumbo jumbo and stupid prices".
Sorry for the rant...
Good tubes come from a good tube factory, Richardson's isn't one of them. Take their Cetron 300B... Probably the lowest rated 300B out there but it's like the second highest in price, behind the WE version.
15-20 years ago, Richardson's was playing the same old game, but at least back then they had stock of actual NOS tubes.
Go to Antique Electronic Supply in Tempe, Arizona. For the most part they are reasonable in price and they aren't trying to play the "let's swindle the tube audiophile with mumbo jumbo and stupid prices".
Sorry for the rant...
I saw a similar joke in my latest Allied electronics catalog. I have been using "Allieds own tube transformers" for at least 10 years. These are Hammond power transformers with an Allied sticker on them for about 20% less money.
I was looking through the latest catalog when I found page 1703. This is a whole page of vacuum tubes at similar prices, with few actually in stock. 6L6GC's for $81.26 USD each! But their 12AT7's are only $42.50 USD. Such a deal! However they are listing Sylvania 6BQ5's with 4 in stock at $7.65 each, reasonable.
http://www.alliedelec.com/catalog/pf.asp?FN=1703.pdf
Stuff that I actually recommend from Allied:
Cheap filter chokes:
http://www.alliedelec.com/catalog/pf.asp?FN=927.pdf
Transformers of use to tubeheads:
http://www.alliedelec.com/catalog/pf.asp?fn=900.pdf&Catalog=&PageNum=900
I was looking through the latest catalog when I found page 1703. This is a whole page of vacuum tubes at similar prices, with few actually in stock. 6L6GC's for $81.26 USD each! But their 12AT7's are only $42.50 USD. Such a deal! However they are listing Sylvania 6BQ5's with 4 in stock at $7.65 each, reasonable.
http://www.alliedelec.com/catalog/pf.asp?FN=1703.pdf
Stuff that I actually recommend from Allied:
Cheap filter chokes:
http://www.alliedelec.com/catalog/pf.asp?FN=927.pdf
Transformers of use to tubeheads:
http://www.alliedelec.com/catalog/pf.asp?fn=900.pdf&Catalog=&PageNum=900
Anyone here ever used Edicron tubes? I've never heard of them before, having just stumbled across their web site.
I'm surprised at how many valve types they list as being in current production.
http://www.edicron.com
I'm surprised at how many valve types they list as being in current production.
http://www.edicron.com
I Live just up the street from Richardsons plant and about 15 minutes from the Cetron/Richardson tube warehouse.
The Plant itself is a very nice facility, Employes a lot of people. They might not make the best 300B, But I would not jump to any conclusion that WE actually makes their tubes either.
Based on the whole golden lion thing they are pushing, They scare me more than Richardson.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=96096
Looks to me like WE is more guilty of inflating their prices than Richardson, Though I agree BOTH are overpriced.
Trout
The Plant itself is a very nice facility, Employes a lot of people. They might not make the best 300B, But I would not jump to any conclusion that WE actually makes their tubes either.
Based on the whole golden lion thing they are pushing, They scare me more than Richardson.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=96096
Looks to me like WE is more guilty of inflating their prices than Richardson, Though I agree BOTH are overpriced.
Trout
>Looks to me like WE is more guilty of inflating their prices than Richardson, Though I agree BOTH are >overpriced.
You are right. The new WE is NOT the same as the old Western Electric. The new WE is mainly capitalizing on the WE name (and are about to / already have with the Gold Lion name also). Auction pricing reflects this as the old WE 300B tubes go for much more than the new type when found as NOS.
Westrex did it with WE, Sovtek did it with Tung Sol, Mullard, etc.
By the way, Sovtek/EH makes pretty good tubes, they just tend to exaggerate their claims a bit.
IIRC, Richardson's main customer is the US Govt, defence contractors, etc. They don't mind the high prices as they ultimately get passed onto the taxpayer. This is why Richardson's does so well.
Unfortunately, good deals on tubes are getting harder to find as time passes. They are still out there though, if you don't mind hunting them down. There are still stashes of NOS tubes waiting to be found in warehouses, some HAM's shed, etc. I guess luck would be more important in finding these.
Daniel
You are right. The new WE is NOT the same as the old Western Electric. The new WE is mainly capitalizing on the WE name (and are about to / already have with the Gold Lion name also). Auction pricing reflects this as the old WE 300B tubes go for much more than the new type when found as NOS.
Westrex did it with WE, Sovtek did it with Tung Sol, Mullard, etc.
By the way, Sovtek/EH makes pretty good tubes, they just tend to exaggerate their claims a bit.
IIRC, Richardson's main customer is the US Govt, defence contractors, etc. They don't mind the high prices as they ultimately get passed onto the taxpayer. This is why Richardson's does so well.
Unfortunately, good deals on tubes are getting harder to find as time passes. They are still out there though, if you don't mind hunting them down. There are still stashes of NOS tubes waiting to be found in warehouses, some HAM's shed, etc. I guess luck would be more important in finding these.
Daniel
tubelab.com said:
best joke of the day "we do more than take your order" well, er yes one might hope you deliver it. Who thinks these things up?
Not sure if you can get it sent over to Blighty but the transformer page is unbeeeeeeeeeeleevable a 3 amp filament trafo for $10.15?
Am I reading that right? seems too good to be true... right now I'm calculating baggage allowances...
Andy
danFrank said:
Actually, New Sensor Claims to own the Golden Lion Name, And Just recently, WE changed some of the pictures and prices on their website. If you look closely at the WE Golden Lion on their website, Its Made In Russia! LOL
The old picture was much better as it was bigger and easy to read.
Trout
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