John,
When that happened, it shut me down and another business in Memphis, Ten.. Not
only us two, but several other builders in the US. At the time, there was
import restrictions against Yugoslavia where the EI plant was so we couldn't
get any from there. Actually, EI is a Phillips company and still in business
making tubes. It also hurt several guitar amp manufacturers who still use
tubes. In GE's line the 8908 was the most powerful, and the M-2057 was an 8908
with a 12 pin compactron base. Plus the M-2057 had a 12 volt heater like the
8950. The M-2057 and the 8950 were called RF amp tubes by GE. I think the 8908
was called an audio amp. The 8950 was a 6LF6 or similar with a 12 volt heater.
Right now, the larger guitar amps use 6550's which are really a souped up
6V6-GT or similar. The 6550 has a larger anode and the dissapation is greater.
The guitar amp industry is really all that's keeping tubes alive in the
receiving tube business. However, there are those very expensive tube
audio amps for the home which I highly doubt move much. Actually, that's a
business I'm looking at getting into but sell at a reasonable price. Where I
can wind my own transformers helps a great deal.
See, when Richardson bought GE, or now MPD, they closed all the line up except
for microwave. The guy I knew told me they were finishing up some glass tubes
for the military and would be the last. Now that the employees own MPD, it
would be nice to see them fire back up and make at least some of the saleable
ones. If they would, I'd sure fire back up in a heart beat. Especially if they
made the 8908 again! The 8950 or the 6LF6 would be a gem dandy too! All could
be used for audio amps and, cough, other stuff.....
My gripe with Richardson was what money they made me eat I had invested. I
bought enough M-2057's to build up what chassis I had left and quit. However, I
was stuck with a bunch of other parts, especially transformers which cost a
pretty penny! On top of it, I had to go job hunting and get a job at ACF
instead of running my electronics shop. They also closed up CeCo when they did
the buy-out where they were the salesman who sold to all of us in that
business. My friend at CeCo (Bernie Guss) had to go job hunting too.
Best,
Will
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
On 4/14/05 at 10:29 AM John T. M. Lyles wrote:
>Will's story sounds familiar, I have heard similar things about when
>GE Owensboro closed up. BTW, one engineer from there, works here at
>Los Alamos now, and I used to love hearing stories of the old days of
>glass tubes there.
>
>Whatever dealings Richardson Electronics has done in the past, they
>have held out as one of the last big tube distributors along with
>lots of other parts. They had the vision to do this, while so many
>small players couldn't foot the bill. I wonder if your venture whould
>have continued to this day, with NOS tubes from Ge or RCA or whoever.
>
>I don't always buy Richardsons tubes because they tend to be more
>expensive. Like a convenience grocery store here in the states, the
>can demand the price because of their inventory and quick delivery.
>If I can wait, I buy many tubes direct from companies like E2V,
>CPI/Eimac, Thales. But if i am off the air and the OEMs cannot
>deliver in 2 months, then Eddie R gets my business. It costs us $10K
>per hour of lost accelerator time.
>
>As for engineering, Richardson doesn't have a lot in house now, but
>they do have some capabilities, through some of their subsidiaries,
>like RF Gain. Just yesterday, we tested a 200 MHz VHF high band TV
>pallet, rated 450 watts PEP, with Semelab MOSFETS. We got the board
>from them for <$1K, which is a little over $2 a watt. That is quite a
>good deal for linear RF power at that frequency.
>73
>John
>K5PRO
>
>
>>Thing is, I know the following as a fact because I was directly
>>involved in it. Back some years ago, I manufactured some "products"
>>that used the following tubes; 8908, M-2057, 8950, and 6LB6. GE in
>>Owensboro, Kentucky was the manufacturer of these and the last
>>receiving tube manufacturer. They were still getting plenty of
>>orders on a bunch of different tubes. GE though decided to put the
>>tube plant up for sale and old Eddie slipped in and bought up the
>>majority of the stock. At this time, receiving tube prices were low
>>and normal. I was going to place an order for 1200-1500 M-2057's and
>>called CeCo which was a company owned by Richardson. There, they
>>told me point blank that since Richardson bought the plant, all
>>receiving tube manufacturing would cease and desist. Also that if I
>>bought, they would be no more after this. I had a friend who was a
>>manager and engineer at the GE plant. I gave him a call and offered
>>to buy the tube lines for the above tubes. I was told, they cou
>> ld not sell them, by Richardsons order and the equipment would be
>>put in mothballs and most likely rust away! Now what did this do?
>>The price of receiving tubes almost doubled overnight and have gone
>>up sharply ever since. GE's, now MPD, employees just bought back the
>>company not too long back. If you ever read their info about it,
>>they name Richardson as an un-disclosed buyer when this all
>>happened. Anyhow, I think it was done to monopolize the receiving
>>tube industry somewhat plus raise the prices very quickly on their
>>stock tubes. By the way, when Richardson bought the GE plant, they
>>went around to every other manufacturer who used to make them or who
>>GE private labeled for like Westinghouse and even RCA and bought any
>>remaining stocks. I got into a bidding war with Richardson and RCA
>>over a bunch of 6LB6's still NOS at RCA. Sylvania/Phillips sold out
>>their remaining inventories along with about all the others.
>>Westinghouse ceased entirely because they had GE make every t
>> ube. Westinghouses primary distributor was Elmira Electronics and
>>they told me what was happening at the same time. Now if there
>>wasn't some crooked dealings going on here, I dont know what else
>>you would call them. I think that's called manipulating the market.
>>
>>Best,
>>
>>Will
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