As Western Electric has resumed manufacturing of 300B tubes in its state-of-the-art Rossville Works in Georgia, USA, most of the existing manufacturing of tubes - or tube parts - relies heavily on operations in China and Russia. Only JJ Electronic, based in Slovakia, continues to be in operation - being likely that their operations are being affected by existing disruptions in the global supply chain. Many of the European and US-based suppliers and distributors of tubes have already stopped taking further orders, and some websites have even been temporarily suspended.
Based in Germany, Tube Amp Doctor just sent out a release updating the situation regarding the supply of tubes for the audio industry. As audioXpress is currently investigating the situation, we feel the content of the release from Tube Amp Doctor is important enough to reproduce as is. The following is the release content:
Without a doubt, the current situation on the tube market can be classified as dramatic. In any case, for years, there have been only three noteworthy manufacturers of audio amplifier tubes such as 12AX7 / ECC83, EL84, EL34 and 6L6GC.
In August 2019, the largest manufacturer Shuguang closed its factory in order to move to a larger and more modern location. Unfortunately, the new production facility has not been granted permission for two years now. In the meantime, leading employees have left or have been compensated. This probably means the end of the Shuguang Electron Tube Factory.
The second major manufacturer in Russia, known mainly for the Sovtek, Electro Harmonix, Tung-Sol and Gold-Lion brands, can no longer export tubes since the Russian sanctions came into force. This leaves only JJ as the smallest of the three big manufacturers. And their delivery time was already up to 18-20 months, even before the Russian sanctions.
As we anticipated the development with Shuguang at a very early stage, we had already intensified a new cooperation with a small manufacturer in China in 2020. We knew that they had acquired the production facilities of another tube manufacturing plant that had been closed in the early 2000s, but had not yet used them for the types of tubes we required so urgently after Shuguang ceased production.
Working closely together, we facilitated a massive expansion and modernization of the production facilities and started with the TAD 6L6GCM-STR REDBASE in spring 2021. This was followed by the TAD 6L6WGC-STR, the TAD EL34-STR, the TAD 12AU7A / ECC82 and the TAD GZ34-STR.
Currently, we are expecting the start of volume production of the new TAD ECC83WA, 7025WA, 12AX7A/7025, 12BH7A-STR and KT88-STR right now, followed by more models such as the 6V6GT-STR, 6550A-STR, 12AT7 / ECC81 and EL84-STR REDBASE series in the near future.
All REDBASE tubes are individually tested, listened to and, if necessary, matched at TAD in Germany, thus replacing the obsolete TAD-STR and TAD-BLACKPLATE tube models. The TAD REDBASE series is manufactured independently of the three previous manufacturers and will significantly ease the supply situation for the mentioned tube types within the next few months.
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