RTP-area local music and culture

[Chris Rossi <nospam AT spacelabstudio.com>]

I encounter far more tube amps being used for guitar than solid state.  
Tubes are still the de facto standard for guitar amps, at least from 
where I'm sitting.  You can find plenty of tube bass amps, too, but 
solid state is more common.  To a much lesser extent, there are some 
hi-fi enthusiasts who like stereo tube amps for listening to music.  A 
lot of those guys are also DIY enthusiasts and end up building their 
own.  There's also recording equipment that still uses tubes--because 
folks like the sound.  There are many flavors of current production tube 
based microphone preamps and compressors out there, although the 
majority are solid state. 

I'll probably end up building some tube guitar amplifiers and mic 
preamps at some point.  I have most of the parts to build a Vox AC30 
into an old Peavey chassis, but I haven't figured out how I'm going to 
wedge it in there yet.  It might not fit, actually.  The transformers 
ended up being friggin' enormous.  I had no idea.

Around 70% of the world's supply of new vacuum tubes is produced in a 
single factory in Russia, owned by New Sensor Corp (Electro-Harmonix, 
Sovtek, etc....).  The Russian mob tried to take it over pretty 
recently.  The owner fought hard and seems to have won for now:

http://www.stereophile.com/news/052206tubes/
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/16/business/worldbusiness/16cheat.html?ex=1175140800&en=c74d68afc461b3a0&ei=5070
http://swan.he.net/~tapeop/viewtopic.php?t=34552&highlight=russian+mafia

Phil, I was making fun of you because your post was such a non 
sequitur--even an explanatory sentence or two would have put that into 
some context.  I decided to leave the guy looking for garage in London 
to someone else.

chris

Jeremy Blair wrote:

> That reminds me of a couple of years ago when I bought a tube amp from
> guitar center. I was showing it off to my non-musician friends and
> they were all like, "you can still buy tube amps?" I think the
> majority of people think that tube amps are a relic of the classic
> rock era and aren't being made anymore.
>
> I see a ton of Fender DeVilles and Deluxes on stage these days..a few
> Marshall stacks from the big spenders and an occasional Vox. We're
> talking about tube amps at this point right?
>
> On 3/27/07, James Hepler <jameshepler AT yahoo.com> wrote:
>  
>
> > I might be mistaken, but I thought that vacuum tubes
> > still pretty much run the world.
> >
> >
> > --- Never call me Phil <philipayers AT yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> >    
> >
> > > Lately I've been into faux conversations. So much
> > > better than a real
> > > conversation because it's really really possible to
> > > say something
> > > meaningful?
> > >
> > > Amazing.. all those NEW vacuum tubes come from
> > > Russia, China, or
> > > Serbia. You know you got to have a powerful vacuum
> > > pumps to make good
> > > vacuum tubes? And the ones with thorium work best
> > > and last
> > > longer....."thoriated filament" as they say in the
> > > buz.
> > >
> > > http://www.vacuumtubes.net/How_Vacuum_Tubes_Work.htm
> > >
> > >
> > > On Mar 26, 5:09 pm, nos... AT spacelabstudio.com (Chris
> > > Rossi) wrote:
> > >      
> > >
> > > > Yes.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Jeremy Blair wrote:
> > > >        
> > > >
> > > > > is that 9/16 or metric?
> > > > >          
> > > > >
> > > > > On 3/26/07, Chris Rossi
> > > > >          
> > > <nos... AT spacelabstudio.com> wrote:
> > >      
> > >
> > > > > > http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/speaker.htm
> > > > > >            
> > > > > >
> > > > > > http://www.webervst.com/sptalk.html
> > > > > >            
> > > > > >
> > > > > > the speaker reviews are in there somewhere.
> > > > > >            
> > > > > >
> > > > > > -- ch-scene: the list that mirrors
> > > > > >            
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> > >      
> > >
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> >
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