Will tubes ever go away?

If tubes go away, then the terrorists have truly won.

 

Don't know about tubes but I'm pretty certain class D will never take over the audiophile market.

 

I believe there was an episode of the Terminator where I saw a couple of military grade JAN 6Sl7's in his cranial cavity.

 

I don't know about all NOS tubes. There are hundreds of tubes that have little to no use anymore sitting in tube bins in many electronic shops. But the useful tubes will most certainly disappear someday.

 

From what I can see tubes are getting a second wind these days and seem to be steadily growing in popularity with the younger set. All good by me.

 

Tubes Rule!

 

I dunno, but if anyone has the answers, can they also please give me tomorrow's Dow closing numbers and the name of the World Series winner?

Of course, yes, someday tubes will go away. It's amazing that guitarists and audiophiles have managed to create enough demand to keep audio tubes in production at this late date. Already it's pretty tough to find a decent new production true pentode EL34 at a reasonable price and in wide distribution (there are some decent beam tetrode 6CA7s and KT77 that are labelled EL34, but few actually pentode EL34s actually in production and none that are really sonically great in my experience although I don't have any experience with the Sophia EL34s or any of the Sophia tubes but at $125 a tube, $500 for a quad to re-tube a push-pull stereo amp, I think these are unlikely to stabilize and support the further use of and demand for audio tubes). It seems like we are in a tube environment of fewer and fewer producers, higher and higher prices, and if not lower and lower quality and least not much better quality. I think those are conditions that will put downward pressure on the demand for tubes among most uses of audio tubes, and perhaps even among guitarists in the long run. How long will it take? I dunno, I'm 52, I think I'll probably make it through the rest of my audio listening days still able to get my hands on the tubes I need. But like I said, it's already hard to find good new production tubes of certain types, I think that's going to become more and more widespread as the years go by, not less and less.

 

Tubes do go away, when it is time to replace them with new ones.

 

My hope is that the current trend toward better and better new tubes will continue to the point where eventually NOS won't be as big a deal. It isn't like it is impossible to make them as well now as it was back when NOS was just plain "new".

 

Not for me.

 

If you understand the sound of tubes, tubes will always be relevant to you.

If you don't understand the sound of tubes then tubes won't be relevant to you.

As there will always be people that do understand the sound of tubes, tubes will always be relevant.

 

Right you are, but there are a billion more electric guitar amps out there, that are still being produced.

 

They might go away, provided something comes along that betters tubes in terms of sound quality. I haven't heard any solid state amps that can compete with certain low-powered tube amps (assuming the speakers are suitable for such usage). So far, Class D amps offer no advantage over other forms of transistor amps as far as sound quality is concerned. But, there is no way to predict where development of Class D, or any technology, will be in he future. Even tube design is not entirely played out, as evidenced by such relatively new and quite different approaches as Berning's Z-OTL amps. I would not expect tubes to go away until they are bettered by solid state in all or almost all applications.

 

The KT120's and the KT 150's are both recent designs. No such thing as a NOS of those tubes, because both are still in production and many tube amp designers are incorporating them in their amps.

 

You could always start learning how to build your own

 

Are any tubes made in the US?

 

As long as they sound better they will exist. Because music lovers become very picky when they listen for extended periods of time. I'm still looking forward to the day when I can get my hands on a pair of Wyetech 300B or 211 Ruby mono blocks. I have just the right combo of Tubes for my Macintosh MC 60s so not really in a rush, but always looking to hear those Wyetechs with enough power to satisfy my speakers.

 

I have a tube preamp and amp. Both sit unused because there is no way I can afford tubes on my retirement. I find I enjoy music just as much on my solid state equipment, as long as I don't listen to the tubes.

 

This (2013) article notes Western Electric plans.

 

I'm 34 and just entered the world of tubes with the line magnetic 518ia. So I would say no! The sound is timeless.

 

Interesting read. Looks like they are up and running with audio components as well Western Electric - Official Home Page »

 

...and thank goodness! (...no offense to my Fractal, Kemper, Line6 and solid state loving colleagues...)

 

I can't answer #3.
I can confidently answer #1 and #2 - yes, at some time in the future there will be no tubes. I can't predict exactly when, it may be in 100+ years, but there will be a time.

Out of interest, what is the general consensus on the guitar forum?

 

There's not enough demand to allow manufacturers to order larger quantities of raw materials at a better price, or $ incentive for high quality tubes to make manufacturers step up the quality. Guitar manufacturers pressure tube factories to keep the cost down - they're the ones keeping tubes in production and pretty much determine what we end up with - not a good recipe for better tubes.

 

Honestly, I don't see a trend toward better and better new tubes. I know companies like New Sensor and factories like Shuguang are now marketing premium lines like their Gold Lion tubes that they sell at high prices. They're good tubes as new tubes go, the Gold Lions, I mean, that I've used, and some of the other new tubes -- they sound good, have low noise, maybe have better QC than the standard New Sensor lines. But they don't last any longer or handle heat or anything any better than the other typical new tubes in my experience. Nothing remotely like old production tubes. I don't mind having to replace new tubes more often than old tubes if the new tubes sound good, as long as they're cheap. But when they start getting up to $50 a tube and up for some of the Gold Lion or the Shuguang "treasure" line and still don't last, it gets hard for me to think we're in an improving market for tubes and that there will be greater demand for them. There are super premium priced tubes out there too, like those from Sophia, which are out of my reach for disposable things that will have to be changed like tubes. And with SED Winged C tubes out of production I actually thing there are fewer good tubes -- certainly fewer manufacturers of good tubes anyway, and less competition isn't going to help drive more, better, affordable tubes. When the cost of operating tube amps starts getting really high because you need a new quad of EL34's every 18 months and a decent set will cost you $200 or $300, it's going put more downward pressure on demand for audio tubes, and I think we're heading more in that direction than in the direction of better and better new tubes, or certainly better and better price-competitive new tubes.