Is This The END Of The Tube Amp? (we're running out of tubes)
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- Опубликовано: 12 мар 2022
- This week, Founder & CEO of Electro Harmonix Mike Matthews announce that Russia has banned the export of 200 different items, including the tubes from the factory that EHX operates (mullard, tungsol, EHX etc.) On top of the already slow production numbers of tubes world wide, this is going to put a serious strain on the guitar amp industry.
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Will this blow over? or is this a more serious problem, Id love to hear your thoughts.
Huge huge huge huge problem
Meet to start looking into ghina for tubes
This is a serious problem, but I think we all gotta be open to change. Just how we need to be open to transitioning to renewable energy instead of relying on foreign oil and big oil companies in America, we have to be ready that solid state amps and amp modeling will become the norm in the years to come. For example, the Tone Master Fender amps are really good and have potential to get even better, and Roland Jazz Chorus amps still remain relevant. Expect to see Vox, Marshall, Fender, and even boutique amp companies transition to solid state, and a lot more digital amp modeling to come forth in the future.
Relative to the severity of what's been going on in Ukraine, this is a non-problem. This is the most unimportant thing that I can think of in regards to this situation.
I don’t think it will blow over for about 5-10 years
The only thing I'm sure at this point is that tubes still sound the best, and I'm glad that they're still made at my homeland, Slovakia.
Maybe the maker in Slovakia can expand in 2022?
it's definitely a possibility
@@WarrenPostma It's JJ Tubes. They've grown big time since the 90s
@@MoreMeRecording awesome. well if I could buy more 6l6s from them I would.
@@WarrenPostma I don't know if they have the space but if only a few big names got together (seems unlikely), they could maybe help expand the manufacturing.
I vote that we guitar players, should panic and hoard toilet paper.
solid logic
@@RhettShull I didn’t get this far in life without an innate ability to panic.
What do you think I’ve been doing!!!
Exactly what these kind of videos will incite. Nickel strings and Cobalt (Alnico) products too btw. No shade as its decent info albeit a bit later. But the toilets paper plebs have been activated.
@@Stsilascousteau mother of God!, I didn’t even think of strings!!!! Why are we not at DEFCON 1 ?!?!
I think its a bump in the road. I agree with Pete Thorn that demand for tubes will be great enough to create new tube manufacturers. I remember in the late 70's when the Compact Disk would do away with records, and now we see the records returning. It's all about the demand.
you mean late 80s for compact discs
The first compact disc was made in 1982, that's hardly late 80s.
Sure records have their fans. I am one of them. But their demand is nowhere near what it once was. Sure tube amps will always exist but the demand is not what it once was and it will never be the same.
@@vladimirlopez7840 Can you give me the winning power ball numbers for the next draw since you're able to read the future? Thanks.
@Hulk Hogan There is absolutely no substitute for vinyl. When I was a kid I had Led Zeppelin I on cassette and subsequently bought the CD version. Terrific album start to finish. I had never heard it on vinyl. Fast forward a couple of decades and I heard it for the first time on vinyl. It gave me chills.
The things that you can here on vinyl do not transfer to digital. More people need to go back to recording with analog equipment and putting out music in analog formats. Digital, although convenient, sucks. Just ask Jack White.
I have boxes and boxes of tubes. I should be set for life. They don't really degrade on the shelf and I kinda saw the writing on the wall and got lucky a few times where I could buy tubes in bulk from businesses that were shutting down. If I get a few minutes this week, I'll look and see what I have and see what I can share to get us through this.
Im 18, started playing guitar at around 15 and just few days ago i got my first tube amp (marshall mhz15 haze). I absolutely dig it and i see that many people around me do prefer modeling amps and/or plugins. Coincidentally i am from Slovakia and had no idea about the tube making here. I hope that everything will be normal as soon as possible.
В Словакии есть свои лампы. Открывай бизнес и продавай лампы в США ;)
@@ExpatZ266 thank you very much! i totally agree
I wish you all the luck man, and I agree with pope todd, if it sounds good it is good, keep on picking.
If truth be told, I was never really able to afford a decent tube amp or really any tube amp for all practical purposes. I just about was able to afford a modeling amp and very inexpensive guitar and pedals. I try to approximate a tube sound as best as I could. I feel bad for people who own tube amps now that this happened. Maybe this will drive manufacturers to come up with a better solution. I know it's been done before in other areas.
Yeah, JJ tubes are made in Slovakia. We're good, but JJs will probably go up, as they should.
70 years into the mass production of electric guitars and related gear, it’s too easy to forget the non-musical reasons why our heroes played what they played. The classic example is the development of British gear companies because of bans on the import of American gear, but there are others. Imagine where we would be if, 100 years ago, working class Americans couldn’t buy acoustic guitars from mail order catalogs for relatively low prices? What if trumpets or violins had been cheaper? What if the itinerant musicians that inspired Robert Johnson had played something else?
Practical factors of culture influence music at least as much as the other way around.
#1 - There's a microchip and rare earth metals shortage too (this is applicable to analog alternatives)
#2 - There's too much money to be made in tube amplifiers and vacuum tubes for someone to not step in as a replacement
#3 - The situation with Russia will not last forever
#4 - Russia still sells tubes domestically and to other approved countries. A percentage will make their way elsewhere for the time being
#5 - Panic about a tube shortage is more likely to cause a tube shortage because of people stocking up
#6 - Digital doesn't sound as good as analog at this point in time
....these guys doing the videos are the same dummies that bought all the toilet paper.
My thoughts exactly also all the dummies buying electric cars the damage that does to the ecology. SMH
The hybrid F1 cars are awesome though.
Disagree on #6. Nobody can really tell the difference. You can argue about power amps and fletcher munson but they've largely nailed that with modern SS preamps.
Microchip shortage won't last forever either. a lot of that's driven by supply chain issues and the boom in cryptomining. Rare earth metals is more of an issue(particularly the slavery-like conditions they're mined under) - but that applies to tube amps anyway too.
@@SisterRose Agreed. I would even say that just because you can tell there's a difference when you A/B tube vs. whatever, it still doesn't matter. In a mix or live, the differences are nearly imperceptible and completely don't matter at all. Not to the audience, not to other musicians, and certainly not to tone snobs.
@Sister Rose Digital can sound awesome. Look at any hi-fi application. In fact I'd argue SS amps are the best option for reproducing music recorded with tube amps because they tend toward being neutral. There is some magic listening to some classical or jazz recordings through a hifi tube amp, though.
My point? There is a unique and special sound that comes from a instrument tube amplifier on the cusp of loosing it. I have yet to hear a SS amp do it. IMO this is because SS amp designers are using the same default design goals (clean headroom, low noise, break-up if desired) and are building better-engineered and fundamentally superior amplifiers. Unfortunately there is no link to sounding like a tube amp. Modelers sound different as do things ilike the Nextone.
Maybe it's already out there, but I'd like to see someone build a SS amp that uses high voltages, moderate-to-high impedance internal nodes and transformers to convert to low impedance. This goes against much of what SS design can offer, but it would be a worthwhile experiment. There is a lot going on in a tube amp beyond the tubes that will color the final tone.
I’ve been playing for 57 years and currently play around 120 gigs a year. I own Fender, Fuchs, and an array of different tube amps! I know there will be people who laugh and make fun of what I’m going to say, but the best amp (work horse) in my a arsenal is a Roland Cube 60. It’s loud, it makes a wonderful pedal platform and it’s never ever let me down. I actually have another just in case my original bites the dust. I also own a Quilter 100w Aviator and paired with a 2-12 cab, it’s a beast! I own a Boss 50 and 100w Mk II Katana’s and for pedal platforms, the clean sounds can’t be beat! So for what it’s worth, there are very affordable options out there for the working guitarist! Play hard and have fun! 😉🎸
Ripley was in hyper sleep for 57 years. I drink too much....,.
Got my eye on a Boss 50 and also have a tube amp and I am old school and have played with tube amps 4 years but I am in my 50's and the older I get the heavier the Ole tube amps seem to be getting 😊
Right on..honestly us guitarists are the people that recognize this...most people at a gig don't care what a guitarists rig consists of they just care the song sounds good dude much props to you for talking about the cube.. right on dude keep jamming yourself
i work at a guitar center and two days ago we got the memo to start taking specific tubes off the shelves. i’m not sure it’s signaling the end of tubes entirely, but i do think the entry level price is going to skyrocket & it’s going to make tube amps strictly a niche, hard-to-get-into part of guitar tone simply for the price & hassle.
Good old fashioned artificial price gouging coming to a theater near you! These fucking companies greed knows no limits. Theres no fucking shortage. They are purposely creating the shortage.
@@breadnaut3087 You are not paying attention. There is a shortage and they aren't creating it.
They just pulled the tubes so they can sell them later at a 3x markup. That's just the way g.c. works
@@jguse2378 Yeah, just like there's a US oil shortage too....right?
@@captaintony1227 Yeah, or they're just plain stupid and think that pulling the tubes will stick it to Russia.
How often do you guys and gals actually change your tubes? I still have all the original tubes in both of my amps. Unless you are into tube rolling or serious touring, you probably don't need to change them very often. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Yes tubes will get more expensive in the short term. But the conflict will eventually end and Russian tubes will come back. I don't see the tube amp dying any time soon.
I find I usually have to replace power tubes every 18 months or so... Not driving them particularly hard, but they get daily use.
Usually it's a problem like microphonics or rattle and buzz that starts to creep in that makes me change them.
Once a year. I crank my volume maybe a tab too much
I've changed tubes, on one amp... once in my life. I better buy a pack asap for my ac15
Only touring musicians really need to be concerned about replacing tubes on a regular basis. I'm not a gigging musician anymore but I do play every day. I only replace tubes if one blows up, which has only happened to me a couple times in the past decade. In my main amp, I currently have a couple old stock tubes from the 70s or 80s that I have been using in various amps of mine for the past 20 years! They still sound good. It's just not necessary to regularly replace tubes as long as they're all still operational.
@Hell Cat well tel putin to be less of a dork
Rhett makes some great points. I own a tube amp company - and tubes are pretty much unobtanium right now. Does that mean it will stay that way? Who knows. But, obviously, I hope not. I remain convinced that the pure spectacle of seeing, and feeling, a big fat tube amp onstage will continue to have its place. Time will tell. (Fingers crossed)
@Scott Phillips What is the name of your company?
Phillips....
EHX as of March 16 says the Expo Pul/Saratov tube factory is running again and tubes are being imported to the US again, just with Russian export tariffs and US import tariffs.
Mostly, that means expensive boutique amps will get more expensive.
@@rikkousa Mahalo Amps
@@sjlBoise54 Sadly, probably true. Our costs have skyrocketed in the last year. We haven't raised our prices - but it may be inevitable. Inflation is no joke.
One crucial part of this discussion worth emphasizing is solid state amps. We're going to see a lot of manufactures scramble to design and produce new solid state amps (and I'd bet many are already in the process of doing such). FETs, JFETs and other similarly warm-sounding circuits often found in pedals are going to make a big splash in the amp world. With good gain staging and circuit architecture, it's possible to make many, many different components sound excellent.
To give a personal example, I spent 3 years eyeing Vox AC15's - I love the variety of colorful sounds you can get from those, especially when pushing them hard. I was dedicated to saving up and buying an AC15, but last Autumn, I tried out a solid state Quilter Mach 3 by sheer coincidence. The Mach 3's amount of control over gain staging had me absolutely floored, plus I was able to dial in sensational sounds at virtually any volume thanks to some excellent power scaling. I ditched my former dream amp the AC15 in favor of the Mach 3 before this tube shortage hit, mostly for sonic reasons.
We're diving into a big rise in virtual AND solid state amps.
Problem is that THT FETs basically don't exist at least for RF applications. I have no clue on FETs for AF uses.
No we're not. Tubes aren't going away, and you can't make a "warm" solid state amp.
@@TheHexeract Somebody seems eager for an argument. I never said tubes are going away; I just think we're going to see good solid state and virtual amps go up in popularity.
As for making warm solid state amps, I hope you try out a Quilter Mach 3 or Mach 2 sometime. I'm ogling the Mach 3 in particular because of how warm it sounds. A lot of cheap entry-level solid state amps out there sound crispy as heck, but nicer solid state circuits that provide more control over gain staging are another matter to me entirely. Cheers!
I think you're right, another good example of a company being successful with solid state amps is Orange with their Super Crush 100. It's almost indistinguishable from their Rockerverb III and cost's 1/4 of the price.
Really appreciate your sensitivity to a very important and event in mankind and of the world. This is definitely a huge impact on guitar amps, and I do wonder how it will conclude.
Lol man someone will just make them somewhere else and probably better too it's not that big of a deal. People need to stop sounding like they're trying to give important speeches in their RUclips comments.
@@ThatIrishCowboy yep and remember to vote republican
@@tbone9347I hate to break it to you, T, but "Republican" has an entirely different meaning in Ireland.🤣
Like gasoline, I would gladly pay a premium to have ethically built high quality tubes. I've used many solid state amps and modelers, and they're just not the same. I hope another manufacturer steps up.
@@rohankhemraj Good news; JJ in Slovakia are still in full production right now, and could possibly even ramp up production to keep up with the increased demand.😉
Being an electronics designer for 50 years now, and a guitarist, I know it's perfectly possible to build a transistor amp the has the soft clipping sound of tube-amps, without modelling. Whilst tube-amps can sound very good of course, tube use is a marketing excuse to create an artificial kudos for a higher price product range. There are already solid-state amps out there that will pass a blind-comparison test with tube amps. So there will be plenty of good amps to buy in the future, with or without tubes.
Definitely waiting for the day that conversion kits or solid-state tube replacements become the hot ticket.
Why do so many sound like shite though? Even the Orange Super Crush, which is touted for its tube-like sound, in reality sounds crap compared to their tube offerings.
@@fuzzboxBBQ maybe because it would hurt their expensive tube amp sales?
@@klonklone7787 there are also SS amps that use a tube in the preamp, such as the Vox VtX line up
Solid state might become even better, and the PR will likely talk about the warm sound of tubes.
I'm sorry to hear about the tube shortage just as I am beginning to learn how to service tube amplifiers! Great job keeping us posted. Thanks!
Being electronics engineer and a guitar player for many decades with deep knowledge into amps, I think that you are on the right track. It is, however, difficult to figure out what will happen to the tube industry. Tube amps do have a unique sound mainly due to the tube characteristics, but with increasing capabilities of computer processors and some transistors it is getting very close to being able to produce sounds that closely resemble the tube sound. Personally, I love tube amps and I have been using them for decades, but I have been using effects processors and plug-ins for some time now and one thing that you can see is that these get better and better as technology evolves and the possibilities with these new devices of which some are purely software on your computer are endless. And don't forget that the vast majority of pedals are based on solid state devices.
This was a long comment, but short in terms of what could be said about the subject, hope it makes sense!
As an electronics engineer, would it be possible to create a solid state substitute for a tube that could plug right into a tube socket? I understand that it would be difficult to make it sound just the same but it could make tube amps convertible. I am not an engineer but conceptually is it a possibility?
@@aoandthekos1417 That is a very interesting question and as an engineer, I would say that it would in principle be possible to create a solid state device that would fit in a tube socket. It has been done with rectifiers and even though they are much simpler devices it should also be possible with other tubes. I have never thought about a direct solid state replacement for amplification tubes, but I am definitely fired up to investigate the subject and it seems like a good chapter for my website.
What I have looked into is recreating a tube performance using solid state devices at low operating voltage where it is easier to find devices with tube-like characteristics. It will be interesting to see if there are high voltage devices that could fit the bill.
This is a short answer to the question, but I am poised to look into this further!
@@hankgesmag9650 thanks. You mentioned a website. Can you please send a link?
Mike Matthews is a wild man. He’ll move his factory before he lets Russia end tube amps.
I was just thinking about this, mans literally bought a tube factory bc he was tired of issues stocking them. Maybe he'll buy the old e.i. factory next.
Yeah, I really hope so!
That won't work. The capital required to produce the tubes is not trivial. Most of the sites producing tubes today have produced tubes since the sites were first opened many years ago. Sure the owners have changed...but the physical production sites have not. The tooling and skills required to produce these tubes does not exist outside of Russia, China or Slovakia and the market is too small to build it from the ground up elsewhere.
All good points. I wonder how many things have the words, Electro Harmonix on them. A few. He’s sure to have ties with folks the run the gamut from fifty years in the biz. Stranger things have happened. But I hear ya. Picturing creating the parts and assembly of tubes is a daunting proposition. This too shall pass.
My three three amps represent my specific preference for tubes, even though for some time I've felt solid-state has advanced to the point of being on equal ground. If I had to go exclusively solid-state it wouldn't upset me and I have a feeling I would be hard-pressed to tell the difference. However now I as well wish I had purchased back-up tubes a year or two ago.
One other observation to share is it has been quite a few years since I've had a tube go bad; as a home player tube failure is rare.
The last set of 6L6s in my dual rec lasted about 20 years and are still good, so the new set I bought should see me right for a while, at least for power tubes. Hope I don't need any 12ax7s though, tried to buy some tung sols the other day and they've shot from $20 to around $90 .
Great share - wonderful share - and thanks for the humble approach regarding war and serious things going on - well done Brett! Loved the talk on many levels.
Rhett- Thank you for this informative talk. I heard Robben Ford talk about this. He was talking a while back to Howard Dumble, and it was a bit surprising, in the sense that Howard said that the solid state technology will get there. That’s coming from Howard! Last year, I bought a Fnder Tone Master Twin Reverb. During my career, I’ve mostly played tube amps. And have a couple at my home. But, the Twin TMaster is a close as I’ve heard to a tube circuit. And it’s 33 pounds, it doesn’t kill my back. This could be the beginning of the end for tube amps, outside of a small percentage of players. Thank you again, Rhett.
The Fender Tone Master Twin is a killer amp! I picked up a used blonde twin, it has that great Fender tone! With a few pedals, it can literally go from clean to mean and compete with my tube amps!
Quilter is doing some amazing work with SS amps that have a tube like feel. I think its here, but with a limited number of builders.
Pardon the pun, remember that nature abhors a vacuum. I'm hoping that the "vacuum" left behind by Russia's export ban will result in increased production in Chinese and Slovakian factories. I'm also an electrical engineer and despite getting close, I'm can't fully replicate vacuum tube circuits with transistors or op-amps. Digital modeling is getting very good, but there's just something special about playing through a warm, glowing tube amp that can't be replaced. Perhaps it's emotional, regardless, long live the valve!
China's tube factory is out of business.
@@faethe000 China paused production to make different products with a higher profit margin and you can bet all your gear if the world needs tubes they will again begin to produce them. They will probably not be the quality of JJ or other Russian made tubes but then again they could end up better if all the engineers get on board.
@@dingusfuzzklonnkt2755 the market for tubes is shrinking rather that growing though. There's no future in it
"Digital modeling is getting very good, but there's just something special about playing through a warm, glowing tube amp that can't be replaced. Perhaps it's emotional, regardless, long live the valve!"
Read my other post on this thread. In it, I explain the issue you are referring to.
Like staring at an old Coleman gas lantern glowing mantle as it hisses away.
I've suspected this was going to happen over 15 years ago. I own several late 60, and early 70's fender twins and Marshall DSL amps. The price of replacement tubes back then had started to go up markedly. I almost sold some of these amplifiers but I held onto them. I also bought back up tubes for all 6 of them. Glad I held onto them. Synthetic/digital is almost good. There is nothing like a true tube sound. End of story. At least mine. Thanks Rhett. Great episode.
Kurtiss (Citizen Joe)
I switched to a UAFX Dream 65 pedal amp and it's working well enough that I don't miss the old Blues Deluxe on gigs. Less schlepping, a good monitor mix, and the band are happier without the added stage volume.
Same shit happened in the 80’s with the Cold War. History repeats itself.
It is ridiculous that a factory in the us can't produce tubes when there is such a demand.
Could happen if you want to pay hundreds of $$ per tube
Better than no tubes.
Making them is bad for the environment. The U.S. has regulations and such. Plus the cost of worker pay, insurance, retirement, etc., means that they can be made cheaper overseas where regulations don't exist. If tubes are in such demand and could be made here they already would have been years ago. But there's too many reasons for them not to be.
@@drumsNstuff79 Making electric cars, batteries, and laptops are also bad for the environment. The internet itself is bad for the environment. Yet here we are.
@@drumsNstuff79 LOL American companies don't pay for their employees retirement 🙄 Pension funds are dead, they force us to gamble our own money on the stock market with a 401k.
Interesting historical tidbit; during the Cold War, the USSR never figured out semiconductors, so they continued to use tubes until the Soviet Union collapsed. All of the military gear in the 2nd World had tubes, so China and Russia both used tubes. They got very good at it, and they made lots of them because they used a lot of them; their Navy ships had two of everything. That redundancy, two of everything, required twice as many tubes. When communism collapsed, Russia had a legacy of superior tube technology, skilled makers, and the manufacturing infrastructure in place to move right into the Western marketplace. That's why China and Russia have been the primary source of tubes for amps since the end of the Cold War.
The Soviets were concerned about EMP (electromagnetic pulse) in case of a nuclear strike, that is the primary reason they stuck with tubes for their military euipment, because tubes are immune to EMP, contrary to semi-conductors.
Actually, the USSR has been making transistors for 50+ years. Most of the germanium transistors available today were made in the USSR.
@@littlefury tubes are not immune to EMP, although they are more resilient to it than semiconductors.
@@afterbirth04 much longer than 50 years
I've heard from techs but can't confirm that the quality of Russian tube manufacturing has really dropped since the fall of the USSR.
very intelligent and inspiring video Rhett. I watched a video of yours thats created a bit ago. You talk about how all yoyu wanted was to have a YT channel but that you said you .....i digress....i feel like youre speaking to me....i have a channel and i just cant get out of my own way, to let things just flow......if you have any good advice, i would be surley gratful. .....i am very impressed with how youre channel has grown and you have grown with it........i dot know you very well...but from one musician to another....kept the flame lit......dig the vibe, enjoy the ride, and let grace, navigate your witt.........cheers!!!
This is heartbreaking. Honestly getting my 1st tube amp was what made me get super serious into guitar playing. It was that moment when I was like this is what it is really all about and it all made sense. I really hope this isn’t the death of tube amps.
I remember my first amp I played guitar through was my Pioneer 100watt stereo receiver..
Just think of the great amp you could have got if you spent your money on something other than expensive tubes. I'm not against tube amps, but the initial cost and upkeep is diabolically expensive. ✌️🇦🇺
My first tube amp was an epiphone valve Jr. Head. It was so cool when you turned it all the way up it distorted so good
I think it will simply bring more amp manufacturers into 2022. The Fender Tonemaster series Blonde update is just amazing. I mean Marshall made the Lead 12 about 40 years ago and instead of developing it they just stopping making it. One of their best sounding amps and it’s solid state.
@@Richtone85 my dad had a lead 12 they really are amazing amps. They should do away with the MG series and bring back the lead 12.
I personally think it just means that the tube sound will become even more expensive and sought after but people will still crave after it, Chip shortage is a problem too so the solid state stuff will be hard to build and probably become just as expensive as well its a bit like saying you cant have a v8 corvette any more so here's a Toyota Prius it still gets you from a to b but not in the same way a corvette would
I went through a very similar event back in the early 1980's, when the last U.S. tube manufacturers stopped making tubes, The U.S.S.R. was closed to all western countries leaving only P.R.C. as our only source of tubes. I know this all happened long before you were born, but I grew up during the Cold War, when the Russians were our enemies, we had a similar situation, with most tube Amp manufacturers, developing more hybrid and solid state amps, as well as the price of both tubes and tube amps skyrocketing at the time. My advice is not to worry about the tube supply, and please, everyone, STOP panic buying anything, whether it's toilet paper, bread or tubes!
In the early 1980's an RCA/Sylvania salesman told me the U. S. would never run out of vacuum tubes, even if American tube factories were closing. As a hifi repairman and guitar player, I asked what I should do. "Buy what you can afford now, and call me when you've got more money in the future." How did he know I would have way more money in the future?
For real. Idiots panic buying will cause more problems than the actual shortage
@@Nick-qq2nq best is these are exact the same people who make fun of the preppers for horting food before..yet these panic now about sunflower oil, toiletpaper and flour 🙄
Or tubes 🤣
@@Nick-qq2nq Videos like this one lead to more panic buying. Super irresponsible to put out such a dumb alarmist video. The guy really is a dullard.
Good video. As someone who is just starting to get into building tube amps from scratch, I would suggest the following. The Ukrainian economy is getting hammered by the war, and they need to continue to do business to keep it moving. An infusion of foreign capitol is very helpful. While the major vendors (Tube Depot, etc.) are generally out of stock, there are a number of boutique vendors, at sites like Etsy and eBay, who sell tubes (new, NOS [New, old stock], and used). Some of these are based in Ukraine. By ordering tubes from them, we inject capitol into the Ukranian economy. Of course, shipping will be delayed, so the time to order replacement tubes is now, not when they fail. They come when they come, and one does business with the people who deserve help. If the tubes are made in Russia, well, they were bought by the distributor before the war, and the money to pay for them now goes to the distributor, not the Russian company that made the tube.
Yesterday, I ordered a pair of 6N1P tubes, and four 12AX7 tubes from a vendor in Ukraine, for about $23 shipped. If they never come, I'll consider it a donation to the people of Ukraine. I would suggest that if you're worried about replacement tubes, place an order for some from a boutique vendor in Ukraine, and what happens happens. I won't share the distributor I used here because then everyone would use that one distributor - search and find one on your own, so that we collectively order from many of them and not just one.
So what, did the tubes come? I'm just interested because delivery in Ukraine rn works fine (with the exception of blackouts) and there is no issue in shopping, just make sure that the merchandise is in stock.
Thanks a lot! Helping us even in such tiny things means a world to us. Wish you only the best!
@@MrDarthImperius Yes, the tubes came in about 3 weeks, well packaged, it was all good.
It's totally alarmist if there's a demand for the tubes they will be made somewhere else
Tube junkies will go through withdrawals.
ONLY if the numbers make sense. It's a small market and if this dumb Russian stunt forces amp manufacturers to all go digital, then Crazy Ivan may have destroyed the market for his own product!... At one time, the makers of whale oil lamps and sealing wax probably thought those industries would last forever too. Today, Coal companies know their days are numbered. The fact is that industries DIE OFF all the time, buddy.
Getting a tube factory up and running doesn’t happen overnight and it would be a big reach to invest in building one if a ban is only set to last a year, especially in such a niche industry as guitar and hi-fi tube amps.
@@blueheron5232 Idk seems coal, gas and other dirty energy companies are having a banner year
I'm still waiting for my windmill and solar panel.
We’ll see the same thing the vinyl production industry is facing right now: 12-18 month back orders for production at fewer facilities. As long as there are tube amps in circulation, factories will make vacuum tubes. Feeling fortunate that I dropped new EL84s and 12AX7s in my AC30 last year.
That is not true. There were plenty of tube amps in circulation when tube production ceased in western countries in the eighties. If it had not been for the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, tube amps would be a novelty. The Soviet Bloc countries held on to tube technology longer than western countries. They did so because vacuum tubes are most resistant to electromagnetic pulse energy than silicon.
I have always come at guitar from a slightly different perspective. I started on some pretty cheap gear in the 80's, moving up to my first decent amp being a Peavey Special 130. I didn't really understand the difference between tube and solid state. I also started out with Casio MIDI guitars (which I still own and play). Today I do own a tube amp, but as a gigging musician I have used amp modeling for the past 20 years. Line 6 at first, Roland VG and GR next. The reason is the range of sounds the technology can deliver and at a fraction of the cost of conventional guitar gear. Does it sound as good? On a one to one comparison of the amp being modelled, who knows because, by the nature of the "old" technology, the performance of the individual components varied so much that when you added them together, the final sound from one amp to the next could be dramatically different. What's my point? It was sad when the horse was replaced by the tractor and the automobile. It's was sad when the steam engine was replace by Diesel and Electric trains. Not because the new tech was inferior, but from a nostalgic, romantic point of view. For me tubes died 30 years ago, they just didn't realise it.
I will still dig out my tube amp once every few years and have a strum, but quickly go back to the sonic potential of digital modeling because that is what my audience wants to hear.
Just wanted to say I really appreciate your comment here. I also come from a very different musical angle. To me, so much of the "comparison" between the two different technologies doesn't seem fair. It's always a comparison to how close solid state or digital can sound to tube amps, when we could just ask what do digital and solid states offer on their own terms, in their own context. If someone loves their JCM or Vibrolux, hey, great, go for it. But instead of only asking if something is "good" or "bad" what if guitarists (and musicians generally) asked if something is useful or interesting. Art is always contextual, and not every song, album, band, genre, or scene calls for the same technology/techniques. And if we're considering audiences, the massive popularity of non-guitar-centric genres should prompt some consideration of different approaches as being equally valid. Not every music lover loves a cranked AC30, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Talking about aduio quality with dsp is a joke put your modeling 200 watt next to all tube 15 watt and the tubes will blow you out the water and will sound better
@@MrMoneyHelper if we prefer listening to music on a hi quality stereo big warm full sound we are going to prefer the right hi quality tube guitar amp . most players today only concern themselves with how many knobs amps have on em , but to be anymore than 6 degrades tone , my fave is a '55 3 knob 5E5 tweed pro clone handmade from scratch constructed from too many tone goodies to mention . glad I have a good stock of tubes as well but could use extra 5Y3 5U4 5V4 and GZ34 rectifier tubes . I just can't imagine guitar without tubes for classic blues , rock and country .
@@firefly5783 Interesting, but I don't use a modelling amp. I put my modelled sound through a small keyboard amp for monitoring and a 3K PA rig for output to the audience. No 15 watt tube amp could compete with that. In fact when the other guitarists I play with use tube amps, they mic them up so the final output is processed through a mic and then the desk so the subtleties of the tube amp tend to get lost. At the end of the day, my gear may not exactly match the sound of a Fender Black Face but it will do a better job than trying to get the sound through a Vox AC30. Besides, I can also switch to a pretty convincing 12 string then to drop D mid song. Its about the sound, the performance and the audience. They don't know or care if the amp has valves, transistors or runs on fairy dust. They just keep coming back to hear it.
Each to his own, be good my friend
@@MrMoneyHelper ive never played that amp but speaker choice and how many makes the world of difference tiny terror through an 8" speaker will sound small and not very loud plug into a a halfstack 4 12s itll blow your head off
Vacuum tubes (valves) are also used in some high-end mic preamps, and also as the front-end buffer/preamp inside some high-end studio mics. So guitar amps aren't the only part of the musical signal chain that's being affected by this. -Tom
I think these big tube amp manufacturers should join together and get their own tube making facility. Marshall, Fender,Suhr, Friedman and so on
Yea.. a monopoly on tube production. What could go wrong? /major sarcasm
@@breadnaut3087 better than no tubes
I’ve only had a few budget tube amps over the years and they never impressed me that much. I switched to the orange crush 120 and run a pedal board into the front. It’s a great compromise because it is tube like, but not digital, budget friendly, and still looks like a “real” amp.
A fact I just learned the 12Ax7 tube was invented in Camden, Nj… Nj has a crazy rich history of inventions… anyway I’m sure from what I’ve seen and experienced historically this should be a temporary issue… I’ve been using tube mic preamps, guitar pedals with tubes and tube amps for almost my whole music career which is more than 35 albums in a little more than 30 years however I’ve also used guitar amp modeling technology, guitar effects and amp modeling plugins… all of these various techniques and even tube instrument direct boxes… virtual pedals and many analog pedals…. I use vintage and modern gear… I fairly recently realized the tube shortage and also realized I had a few back ups… I just purchased some hybrid tube guitar amp heads for an upcoming project… there are many work arounds to warm up digital and solid state amps, plug-ins, modeling amps etc… as an audio engineer I don’t turn my nose up at anything… I even have this plugin I’ve had for many years which emulates a tube… it’s programmable and has two distinct tube types… my recordings are considerably warm…
I ordered a blues jr tube set from Amazon Sunday for my 4 year old Monoprice StageRight which still has the original cheap Chinese tubes I was worried the order would not get filled but I just got notified that they shipped. The listing now says currently unavailable...
The thing that drives me crazy to this eventual move away from tubes, is that everyone is over exaggerating how close digital/ solid state amps sound to tube. Maybe a kemper can sound close in a head to head shootout straight up. But with that being said, as soon as you put pedals in front of any none tube amp, it doesnt react the same. I'm not saying it sounds bad, it just doesn't come anywhere close in my experience.. and I don't believe they ever will.
The battle of the mind versus reality.
True, not only do many SS amps sound harsh or total shite but they don't react in the same way as a tube amp does to touch or the guitar's volume control.
@@Mark95876 the greatest counterexample I can give for your statement was the fact that B. B. King, from 1974 to his death, used his Lab Series Lab 5 solid state amp more than 99% of the time. He only used tube amps when his Lab 5 was in maintenance, or if it wasn't possible/feasible to bring them in, in these cases he asked for Fender Twin Reverbs. One thing you cannot say is that B. B. King had a bad tone.
@@nichendrix yea i agree solid state amps can sound good in there own way, but different. And I also can't argue with BB's tone, but he didn't use pedals as far as I am aware. My point is solid state and more specifically digital do not react the same to pedals. And being someone who uses pedals for my gain stages, I can tell you I am yet to here a convincing sound out of a digital amp when I run my board in front of it... It sounds like compressed garbage with 0 note definition. From Mustang gtx to Kemper.
@@nichendrix I may be wrong but I don't think that B B King played through digital pedals into a distorted SS amp.
Honestly, I saw this coming. Same as the switch from petrol to electric power. It's unfortunate because we all love these technologies but inevitable that the change will come. However on an upside, companies like Korg have developed technology that sounds like tubes but much more efficient and they put them in things like the superbeetle, plus just like orange and the super crush 100 you can use JFET as well and they do sound pretty sweet.
I’m using a combination of Quilter and Rocktron Amos along with a lot of various boutique pedals to get classic tones like Fender, Vox Marshall and Dumble amps. I don’t miss my tube amps at all.
Thats why I bought a Roland blues cube artist 2×12 with 4 tone capsules and a quilter micropro 200 they sound phenomenal no joke
If there is money in tubes, someone will find a way to make tubes. It's called supply and demand. Tubes will never go away. They might double in price though.
Exactly!!!
There is a huge market and so much love with tube amps, so I wouldn’t be surprised that someone invent replacement pieces for our tubes, such as « nu-tubes » that appeared some years ago, that can be placed in our amps and emulate vacuum tubes.
@@vincentderouand6103 I was going to say the same thing too. Nutube is done by Vox and probably it's proprietary to them. But tubes won't go away so quickly. We definitely want them.
Double? Try 5X
@@vincentderouand6103 I've never tried one of those nu-tubes on a regular valve amp, but I have a vox Cambridge for a couple weeks on my house. It maybe the modeler, but it sounds a little too digital for me. I prefer the fender TM series, it feels more real to me
I have a Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue (some tubes already replaced) and a Roland JC 40. Both great in their own way, but paired through an ABY switch is the best of both worlds with a very broad tonal spectrum. I only use an Electro Harmonix boost pedal and a Boss DS 1 Distortion pedal. There's plenty of tonal variation with the amp settings and my tone control in my guitars for my use in a classic rock band. Thanks for the insights and tube updates. Always useful information!!!
Very well said. Good job even during a bad time...
My partner's uncle is sitting on 15-20 large carboard boxes FILLED with nothing but various brands of different sized vacuum tubes. He doesn't realize how much they are going to appreciate in value.
Remember when it was said CD's would kill vinyl. Ironically CD's ended up being decimated by streaming. In the UK vinyl now considerably outsells CD's. For Vinyl think Valve, for CD think transistor, for Streaming think Digital modelling. Short term valves are in a precarious position, but belive me they'll still be around in ten years time and by then thriving again.
100% my thoughts😅
And vinyl is as popular as ever.
Great point!
And of course, streaming is still digital...Most people listen over their tiny little cell phones so it's not really that much of an issue at this point.
we have been brainwashed with vinyl. that crackle when playing a record. though they do look great on a wall.
great video as always! my father and i created 2 amps back in the days, based on old russian tubes 6p3s which i believe are analogues of 6l6 tubes. that was really cool experience, and im enjoying those amps every time i turn them on, but im catching myself on the fact that im using hx stomp much more often then amps just because it’s way more usable :) new era of gear really seems to be coming. peace to everybody!
Very timely, and a good look at the current tube situation. Even as an old fart tube lover, I am glad I have taken the time to find non-tube devices I can work with.
I cannot imagine that a thriving boutique handwired amp industry is giving up that easily. Someone will pick up tooling and take on production somewhere in the world.
Its difficult and you need parts to make them. But the biggest problem is its not friendly to the environment and we are headed into a 'everything must be green" new world. I don't think any new companies will be popping up.
This is something I never really thought about. I currently own a Marshall Vintage Modern 2266C (bought used several years ago) which I absolutely love and I don’t have any replacement tubes. I don’t use it much, however having a set or two extra tubes would make me feel better about using more (I do have a ToneMaster Twin as well). I putting this out here for all to respond; anyone know where I could get a set of these tubes, please let me know. Thank you Rhett for this video as a well as your sensitivity on this subject✌🏿🙏🏾🙏🏾
JJ is Slovakia is still making KT66s. That would be the way I go.
@@dafud77 Thank you!!! I will check them out!!!
holy cow, that'll teach me to type from my phone. JJ's are made in Slovakia lol
Germany makes better tubes , cost almost the same, more variaty and are part of Nato. Buy as mucho as you can and burn the russian (tubes) they were the werst of the bunch any how
I don’t know how it is these days, but I used to find a fully computer-based guitar setup very clunky for live performance, despite the flexibility and versatility you can get with tones snd effects. There’s also the extra complexity of the OS or computer freezing up after a while. I recently saw Tim Henson do a Multivoicer/Vocoder guitar tutorial that sounds really cool, but you don’t really need a tube amp for that.
I love me a good tube amp, however these days I make do with a analogue based DSM Humboldt Simplifier and pedal board. Once in a while I play my 15 watt Egnater Tweaker at home.
At 71, I have lived through several 'end times' of the vacuum tube and it's not going anywhere: there's plenty of surplus out there and as long as people appreciate the sound of 'valve' amplification, someone, somehow will be willing to create supply (everone please calm down...)😊
This is sad. I’m just a home player since the late 70s. I started out on solid state amps because they were cheap. Then I went for a modeler amp but that became annoying because I spend more time trying to find a tube amp sound but nothing was 100% convincing. It was always missing that special organic feeling to me. Then I switched to tube amps, a 6 watt class A amp and a 1 watt push/pull amp. They are fantastic sounding. I can’t imagine going back when my last spare tube runs out. So sad. :/
I started out in the 80s at a time when tubes were expensive, and getting hard to source. We didn't have the information we do today. I didn't get it, so I went down the same path your talking about. In the 2000's I jammed with some tube amp players, and realized how thin my modeler sounded. I got a tube amp, and never looked back. Once I found what tubes I liked, I would purchase enough for two swaps for each of my amps. Glad I did.
I feel like this is just temporary and as price and demand rises, production will make a resurgence and the increase in supply will drive prices back down a bit as tubes approach an equilibrium.. that said.. I am using my universal audio amp plugs more and more these days and something like an AX FX is certainly becoming more and more appealing..
same, UAD rules
I think the key thing here is: who is going to produce them? Some posters below allude to small industries dedicated to keeping alive otherwise outdated tech and hobbies/practices based on that tech. Something like that will need to happen.
@@paulvsmith I personally don’t think the Russian tubes will be offline forever and the Chinese tubes will likely be available even sooner.. I do think the temporary spike in demand, if it lasts long enough to cause a significant price increase, could spark some other smaller manufacturers to get into the market..
@@stabzatvisionz prices and availability will remain high if people follow the advice to only replace tubes every 6 years or more...every two or 3 years and they'll keep making new ones..
Hope they can find more manufacturers. I do use modeling on occasion but tube amps are my go to!!!
I agree with your assessment 100%. I still own a few tube amps but 99.9% of my guitar sounds are generated with plugins these days. I can remember upright bass players throwing a fit in the 50's when the Fender bass came along. As we evolve as a species our tools change. Nostalgia can make us hold on to plans that no longer serve our goals. Adapt or die is the name of the game. Gas guzzling cars and tube amps have had a good run but we're past the point of diminishing returns.
This should also be a good time for people to explore specific style modeling amps as well. The Fender Tonemaster and Boss Nextone amps actually sound great. I had already made the switch to a Nextone Stage and I am considering adding a ToneMaster Deluxe Reverb for a stereo set up. The tones aren't exactly the same as a tube amp but live the average audience member is still going to find they sound great.
I saw a blind test with the tonemasters vs. the tube amps they were based on and the 'experts' didn't seem to be able to tell the difference
This is a great opportunity for our community. Millions and millions of amps that each need up to a handful of tubes. Who wouldn't want a USA made tube for their amp.. even if it costs a bit more? Someone should open up a factory here... why rely on on other countries for anything?
AS he mentioned in the video....environmental restrictions would pretty much prevent anyone from creating a factory here in the US. This is one reason why most everything we buy is "made in China" or at least parts of it are made in China. I've built guitar pedals, and every single component that goes into a pedal is made in China. Any pedal company that claims "Made in USA," really means "Assembled in USA." Everything, the resistors, capacitors, transistors, ICs, the box, the pots, the knobs, the jacks....Everything is MADE in China.
A factory would be completely feasible and would make gobs of money. Epa won't do anything and can be done away with.
Yup we’ve regulated ourselves out of the world market.
@@jimgillis8522 check the commercial fishing industry. Fish being taken off US shores by foreign owned boats, being sold here with less regulation than an American boat faces.
@@jimgillis8522 thats not why, its just not profitable. mines continue operating because its essential and profitable.
Tubes in the music industry will never go away. They tried that already, didn’t work then. Supplies may go down and it might become very difficult to obtain but once supplies come back, the demand will be there with open arms.
Whatever is pleasing about the Vacuum Tube, you can easily replicate it with the RC20 VST. I can apply whatever "vintage quality" to the audio that I want. You want Vinyl Crackle? You can add that. You want Wow & Flutter? You can add that. You want Harmonic Distortion??? You can add that. You want a Wider Stereo Separation??? You can add that. And you can A/B (turn the effect OFF & ON and decide whether you like the sound before or after the RC20 effect). Digital VSTs have come a long long way.
I could probably make a "Fake Vinyl Rip" that would fool the most snobby Audiophile. Lol...
@@kitsunegiblaze8022 Can i ask : Is the RC20 VST some kind of micro chip?
@@vincentl.9469 -- It's a VST plug-in for Adobe Audition... It's a versatile method of adding a "Vintage Feel"
@@kitsunegiblaze8022 you plug it into a computer?
@@vincentl.9469 ---- It's Software, just look up RC20....
Thanks for making this video!
This goes well beyond current teens. I'm 30 now and I have never even owned a tube amp. The conveniece and price to performance ratio of the modelling technology just made it hard for me to justify. These days what I see half the time is guys my age and older leaving their heavy guitar heads at home and turning in to gigs with a modeller.
same. I'm 47 and never had a tube amp. No one has ever said i would sound better if i had a tube amp lol
@@kiethyrich You would sound much better if you had a tube amp
I'm 38. I have never owned a tube amp either. In my opinion, they're too expensive, too loud, and I don't think they sound any better.
I do have a small tube amp for my vinyl turntable rig, and that sounds nice. But if the tubes go, then I am not going to lose any sleep in replacing it with something else.
@@kiethyrich I'm 47 too, and while solid state can sound good (I've owned both types of amps, as well as a hybrid amp w/ solid state power section and a small tube in the preamp), with tubes, it's the "feel" and touch that set them apart. If you've never played a tube amp, it's hard to explain. Simply put, tube amps just feel different (better) than solid state.....especially when you really push the tube amp, which you can easily do and still keep it at lower volumes with a good load box. I once had a Sovtek Mig 100H, and it was pretty impressive for such a "cheap" amp back then - wish I never sold that thing. I fully cranked it once (back then, the only load box really available was a Marshall power brake, which I didn't have), had to put it in the basement while I played from the first floor lol. So awesome though, and the amp reallllllly came alive when pushed to the max.
I’m 38 and I went from Roland cube to fender bassbreaker to Vox ac30. I really prefer the dynamic characteristics of a proper tube amp. Might switch to a fender 68 pro reverb in the near future.
I am an individual who has big boxes of new tubes in my house. All sorts of guitar amplifier tubes. I totally agree with your assessment for 2 primary reasons. 1, SS amps are getting better and better everyday. 2, tubes are bad for the environment and younger people are very supportive of cleaning the environment & stopping globalwarming. I am 71 years old so my family or friends will have no problems with their tube amps if there still is a good amp tech to repair them. Tubes will not be their issue.
just wanna ask if the boss mkII katana 50W is the best choice for a beginner like me(my first amp also hehe)? I kinda need a an amp that can be versatile(like play a lot of different types of genres without pedals or such) , loud enough to play in small crowd gigs and under 400$
I just buy my first tube amp today, a local store put some Bugeras V5 in offer and I got one, I should receive it tomorrow. These are hard days, we just can have hope. In my country, everything is raising price.
As a side note, I love how it's *Russia's* decision to stop the export of tubes. It's as if someone thought "Oh, so the world's going to punish us for invading Ukraine? We'll show them! We'll punish ourselves even more!"
Outstanding business model!
To be fair, most non-Communist countries have banned the import of products from Russia anyway
I don't think they said they would ban export of tubes specifically... But electronics in general.
I believe tubes currently are more of a luxury than a necessity so maybe they're leaving out of "caviar" our community, it's sad but at some point it has some sort of sense unless they refuse to give those items an use or pay the companies a subsidy...
@@BellsCuriosityShop India China are all that matter and we now know this was planned by China starting 2019.
We have ruined our economy because the Bushies Clinton’s and Team Obama are too corrupt people stupid and greedy to make decisions in favor of our citizens.
But hey at least we are on the side of the NAZIS.
Well-handled Rhett. This afternoon I was doing my usual browsing guitar gear on Reverb and stumbled across a cool looking shop selling boutique effects, based in Kyiv. It stopped me in my tracks. I hope to god they’re ok and this conflict ends soon.
vote Republican in the future
Thanks you for support and good words! Wish you only the best!
Well said Rhett - When I listen to young players Like Jakub Zytecki playing through a line 6 helix and getting amazing tone and sounds tube amps do not seem so vital - Tosin Abasi used a Fractal for years and still does in the studio sounds amazing - If we have to we can survive with out tube amps - Peace to the world and it's people are more Important!
I remember new tubes being incredibly difficult to locate in the early 90s and everyone was expecting tube amps to be part of history. They suddenly became ubiquitous with the collapse of the Iron curtain, factories coming online in China and the internet making niche markets viable due to a nationwide (if not worldwide) marketplace. I still have a ton of tubes in a box that I don't need because I've switched to Kemper full time. Guess it's time to sell them
Capital investment. You could make a killing on Ebay selling those. Prices are INSANE right now.
Yep, I remember the 90s too. When few new tube amps were being produced and the future of tube was truly in question.
I strongly agree with Rhett on many of his important points. I have saved every tube I've ever changed out, so my sound may eventually have a lot of squealing and pops in it if I am forced to recycle some of these. One can only hope this becomes the new sound guitar fans covet. We may need new parameters in our modelers to mimic these old tired tubes.
Have you tried a Quilter amp? I have always been a tube guy - recently switched to a Quilter 202 Toneblock and cab and it’s great and light!
I switched to a BIAS Guitar Mini head in spring of 2020 - and never looked back. The head weighs just over 5 lbs and delivers 300 watts @ 4 Ohms which powers my Blackstar 2x12 cab nicely. Line out for FOH so no clunky (sometimes crappy) mic on the cab. The head features 8 clean channels and 8 dirty channels, each highly tweakable. I built an Arduino-powered 6-channel MIDI footswitch so I am good there. I did keep my Marshall DSL40 combo though. 8) Love the channel man! \m| |m/
As a tape guy, there are only two tape companies left in the world, and one was only founded a little over 10 years ago in Pennsylvania and was set up specifically to make small batches of tape for musicians. I don't see why something similar couldn't happen. We've seen whole pet industries develop to manufacture to keep antiquated tech alive. I'm think of vinyl mastering, reel to reel tape restoration companies, and of course vinyl pressing where some new vinyl pressing machines were in fact made new. So there is hope, and certainly demand, for something similar.
Absolutely! I just hope it doesn’t become a commodity exclusively or primarily for the affluent.
John Kaplun - Tube manufacturing is extremely toxic, and very cost intensive. It would have to be a large market, or none at all. A small market would not make it cost effective to even take it on.
@@christopherweise438 Well pretty much all the same points could be made about tape or film, but they're still going. Clearly a smaller market than in the past will exist, but its clear there's enough demand for at least one factory to operate since the one in Russia was backorder months. The hard part will be finding the equipment and starting.
@@johnkaplun9619 - I get it, but it's not nearly the toxic mess to manufacturer tape or film as it is tubes.
I highly doubt the EPA would even allow it in the U.S. That's why the only plants exist in Russia and China where they don't give a shit about pollution.
That already exists. There's a guy in my town who makes tubes but they are fairly expensive already
I think the change is coming, however I don't think we'll only have digital modeling amps to choose from. Analogue solid state amps will continue and with the emergence of the "Nutube", a hybrid of the two seems a reasonable way to go.
Someone needs to figure out how to make transistors that will retrofit into a tube socket to replace a tube! A million dollar idea. I’d do it myself if I knew anything about designing electrical components
I left my own comment on Nutube before I saw yours. I agree 100%. I use the Vox MV50 Clean for rehearsal and I love it, possibly more than my actual clean tube tones from my live gear.
@@honkytonkinson9787 Hey... Sell that idea to Vox re: the Nutube! I'd buy that!
@@honkytonkinson9787 i was thinking that myself. It doesn't seem like it be a huge challenge either.
I'm hoping they'll come up with nutube conversion kits for existing tube amps. That way, they won't become useless museum pieces when their tubes die. Until that point, I guess I'll be stocking up on replacement tubes for my Marshall JVM410H. Just ordered a full set of tubes just in case. :P
I have always been a fan of tube amplifiers: Ampeg, Mesa Boogie.. I have tried to play in modeling like as Helix and others, they are very good tone but so far they have not been able to give the harmonics of a vacuum tube. Thanks for the video.
I knew a guy who invented a "solid-state tube" which could plug into an amp and perform the function of one of it's tubes. I was told that the same type of tube may perform differently in different types of amplifiers, so that a "one size fits all" solid-state substitute for a particular tube isn't feasible, unfortunately.
But it could potentially be feasible to make a series for different amps should vacuum tubes become unavailable...
There are commercially available solid-state tubes that sound pretty good, they are called "AMT warm stone". There is only one problem - they are Russian as well.
@@metalosaur I love AMT products. Too bad their stuff will be next to impossible to acquire for quite a while. I've had a few of their distortion pedals, they're *sick*.
@@bravotronalpha3787 their Ultima is the ultimate beast. It works either as the incredibly compact full chain processor or as the world smallest stereo IR cabsim which also has balanced outpus and midi in. It is like the ultimate pedal for gigging or practicing.
@@metalosaur I have one of their Legend Amps C2 pedals. Has direct out and cab sim function. So essentially, I could plug it straight into an interface and never need an amp. Kinda wish I had more of those pedals right now. They were really thinking ahead.
Maybe thats a good thing. Its about time the traditional brands invest serious money on research and development to make real top of the line solid state amps.
This is an important one. You communicated it well.
Or do they have any replacement solution's. For amps that work in place of the tube utilizing that socket
I predict companies have already fired up their engineering teams on how to fill the gap with solid-state amplifier alternatives, thus bringing forth a new wave of incredible and affordable solid-state and modeling amplifiers. This might be the push big brands needed to invest more in solid-state lineups and take modeling farther than it's ever gone before.
they do not compete with a good tube amp, otherwise they would have stopped making them decades ago.
They better fire those people cause they are gonna sell alot less amps
@@Ottophil Alternatively they can just wait until supplies are entirely depleted and lay off the team you're saying should be fired now. I personally prefer a tube amp over modeling any day, but what do you do when there are no more tubes? When no new tube amplifiers can be built? An alternative has to be considered.
They already have! I use an orange CR120c and it's the best solid state amp I've ever heard. It emulates tube breakup in a way that I've never seen solid state amps ever accomplish. They even improved upon this with the release of the Super Crush 100. Trust me, the future is now.
Yuck.
I left tubes behind a couple of years ago. I've owned and enjoyed Fenders, VHT, Marshall, Vox, Reverend, Swart, Sovtek, and others. Quilter has been doing amazing things with their all analog solid state designs (no modeling found here!), and they've become my go-to amp live and in the studio. Plus, there's a lot more to them than just being tubeless. Check them out, you might be surprised.
Thanks I was looking at Quilter a few days ago.
I had a friend who had a vox it sounded like mud because the tube's were never replaced people don't realise the sound does change overtime and they are a service item to a degree
I would put my Quilter up against most tube amps and choose the Quilter every time.
I bought a Quilter Aviator Cub and I am very happy with it.
Couldn't agree with you more. It's a new world of great sounding gear out there, but for me I still love pushing air and hearing tube break up. I also own some quilter products and we deal them at the store I work at. They sound great and have their place in the world of live music. Who knows what the future will hold for guitar players? Also, props for mentioning Swart amps. They are produced in my home town. Just a few miles away from where I live.
There's a local blues jam that has been going on for 17 years that I just started attending. You have to bring your own gear so I brought my 90's reissue Fender Vibroverb, SG and Pedalboard. The idea was to get into the club with only one trip to the car. Gibson SG in a hardcase in one hand, Vibroverb in the other hand and my PedalTrain board in the backpack that they make. Stating the obvious: that Vibroverb is heavy! I had this in mind when I started thinking about the optimum jam rig. Between the first time I went to the jam and the second time, this video came up. That made me think about an amp in a pedal format. No tubes? No problem, it's solid state! A few folks do it, but the Quilter options looked really intriguing. Today I went to Quilter Labs HQ in Irvine. They just moved locations. Still unpacking but they were gracious enough to let me come. Pat Quilter was there! *Mind blown*. I tried the Superblock US and the UK version. Wow. Blown away. They both sound great. I brought my Fender Vibro Champ to have something to compare them to and didn't even bother. I brought my pedalboard and my 12" Speaker cab. I walked away with the US version but they're both phenomenal. Really excited to try them out in context.
Good video; I think you are right. Amp manufacturers will probably start to put in software into their amps to mimic tube amp sounds (if they didn't already start doing so, because I'm not really up to date on this topic). Because these amps will be more convenient and reliable than a set up with a P.C. I think that over time these amp will become so good that there will be no need anymore for real tube amps and tube amps will become more like a collectors thing.
It is a sad situation in Ukraine. I am glad you gave voice to the very real human condition happening. Definitely that is where the world will see changes that affect us all. That said I remember back in the 80’s it was a pretty forgone conclusion that tubes and everything tubes were in the past. The only chance of finding tubes was NOS. There was a great resurgence in the 90’s and I only hope that peace returns and the world returns to “normal” with or without tubes. One door closes and another one opens.
Have to do more than just "give voice". voting or not voting has consequences. now we feel it in our pocket due to fuel prices and instability on the world stage due to weak American leaders. Voting the wrong way has consequences all the way down to an insignificant guitar amp tube.
Interesting to note that the decline of tube availability is happening at roughly the same time as the declining availability of traditional acoustic guitar tonewoods (although this decline has been progress for decades). In both cases, traditional tone and feel will become unaffordable to newer players. Will they miss it? Or will they just become accustomed to what they're used to?
I've been recording DI for over 40 years. Starting with Boss effects into my Portastudio in 1980 and continuing today with a Pocketstudio to record and Audacity for mixdown.
Thanks for the interesting discussion. I literally just ordered my first tube amp (MARSHALL DSL40CR), and was planning on selling my BOSS Katana 100 MKII. Now I’m wondering if I should hang on to the Katana? Will have to think about it.
keep the katana. I just got the katana because of well you know tube shortage and imagining that tubes are going to be this way until russia and the rest of the world resolve their differences.
This is going to be a bump in the road. after watching your video I did some research and found that a company in Georgia - the state not the country - is looking to expand its tube production. The company is called Western Electric, and they currently produce one type of tube for High Fidelity audio equipment.
I thought that they are out of business completely but apparently not. I remember that like a decade ago they were making almost all basic tubes, like KT88, 6L6 and US equivalent of 12AX7 and one or two more. But today they only make 300B, sadly. AFAIK those tubes were not that readily available in Europe back then.
I probably wont ever get a tube amp (at least a loud one), but I would definitely hate for them to go away. I have a boss Katana for bedroom playing and Neural DSP for recording purposes, so imo I dont have the need for a tube amp, but they have been such an integral part of music history and have a unique tone to them, it would blow if they went away.
Katanas are superb, they cover just about all styles and applications. At the same time, nothing really matches a tube amp. It's not the sound, it's the way it responds to your playing. Dynamics.
@@darthgibsonlp6631Ding Ding...spot on. The response for players is different and you see little mention of that when comparing tube to modeling. Nice catch...cheers
Just so happens, I'm the proud owner of a Boss Katana KTN-100 1 X 12 amp, I also have the optional foot controller and amp cover too, wonderful little amp.
Been playing around with Amplitube and the free version has enough to get you started. Was pretty impressed with the tone variation I was getting. Also our bands JCM900 head just took a dump and needs new 6L6 tubes and they are supper hard to find right now.
I have to agree with you. I started at guitar 3 years ago and I play with a FX processor with amp simulator. I use pedals as well with it, but I don’t have plans to buy tube amps because they are expensive, heavy and difficult to take with you around. I have an amp, but a small one to study.
Genuine question, has any manufacturer tried making tube like replacements that have computer circuitry that mimics how tubes behave that can plug into the sockets so the amp is usable?
I get the modeler argument, what I'm asking is if manufacturers have figured out a way to easily convert the current tube amps we all currently have.
Yes Russian did. AMT Makes a 12AX7 full Solid State. Not available as well...
@@samuelsoucy-bouchard6114 so the technology is there. I watched a demo of it and I couldn't tell a huge difference in sound. I'm guessing the way its manufactured is a bit more eco friendly?
Honestly though thats the best route for amp manufacturers to go. I'd hate for everyone who owns a tube amp to be in the situation where there amp worth thousands of dollars turns into a paperweight because they can't get regular tubes.
Vox has nutubes, which is another technology that has potential. Its just a matter of them building a tube esque replacement that can fit in an amp.
There are S.S alternatives to rectifiers, but beware that B+ will be available too quickly for some output tubes and can cause unnecessary wear on them, unless they are designed with a soft start feature.
You don't need a computer a valve acts like a transistor any suitable MOSFET can replace a tube with few mods.
Some valve amplifiers have a valve preamp and a MOSFET based output stage. You get nice harmonic distortion with the valves and the reliability of a MOSFET output stage.
That doesn't make any sense at all. That'd be like saying "do you have a computer that mimics how a combustion engine behaves?" We're talking about physics here. You can't just slap a computer into a car and expect it to move. You still need a motor. The tube is the motor of the amp.
I think the tube freak out is a huge overreaction personally. I’ve had the same set of RCA and Amperex tubes in my amp for nine years. Vintage tubes last decades, not years.
If old tubes aren’t your thing, JJ’s aren’t made in Russia.
Hmm I don't think that the issue is that there won't be any replacement tubes just that the market will stop developing in that area.
I will continue to use tube amps. And yes tubes last a long time. Thankfully my tubes in my main 2 amps are less than a year old. So I am not going to buy in to any stress on whether tubes will be available or not.
@@Pinko-Diamond
The demand will lessen as years go on, sure. But guitar players aren’t the only ones who use tubes. Don’t forget how often old trends come back in style too.
Anyone know why Korg Nutubes haven't been used more? I know they have lower gain but they could be really useful in the future if setup in the right circuits to drive them. Vox has the Vox Mv50 for example.
Just ordered a set for my JCM800 4210 ready for when I pull it out of storage as it will need a full refurb. Would have bought two sets but that would be expensive for 5 12ax7s and 2 el34s. Thanks for the heads up 👍
Regardless of the tube situation, I would like to see more class A/B all analogue solid state amps that are their own thing and not trying to emulate stuff
Is that similar to the Orange Crush series? Cause I really want to see more like that too.
Exactly. THere's some cool stuff out there, but still not near enough. There's a lot of amps that would be killer with the right speakers. As is, it kind of sucks to have to shell out $600+ for an Orange SS combo when I know something like that could be produced much cheaper(an advantage to SS), or over a thousand for an SS Twin Reverb.
@@stephenpirie8900 JCs are pretty pricy for what they are, though. IMO it's not really worth it unless you really want that specific sound. Too many modelers have nailed it.
I agree completely. Back in the 90s I had a Carvin solid state, twin speaker combo amp. I can’t remember the model number, but it had three channels if I remember correctly. I seem to recall that they stated in their catalogs that they were more or less trying to match the tonality and playing “feel” of their own series of tube amps, but weren’t necessarily trying to model them, or any other type of amps. The amp just simply had regular controls like any other amplifier. No digital presets. And it had an amazing sound, in my opinion.
It totally escapes me now as to why I got rid of that amp, but I know I’ve beat myself up over the years for making the decision to get rid of it.