In the short term will tubes be more expensive,and will everybody freak out and start buying every tube in sight?…yeah,they already are…I have a 84,87,and 92 Marshall with the stock tubes in them…they are still going strong…I have changed 1 set of power tubes in 35 years…they last a very long time…Is this the end of the tube amp world?..Absolutely not….JJ is running full steam making tubes,Shuguang in China is due to come back online in 2023….if there is a market,somebody will fill it….it’s a bump in the road…in the late 80’s,tubes were scarce,companies like Randall Amps started sounding the alarm that tube amps were dead,and started developing solid state amps….Tubes and tube amps aren’t going away….This is a temporary disruption…tubes are still being made…
For non-tube amps take a look at the following: Quilter Labs, Boss Nextone amps, and the Vox Nu-Tube tech. I really like my Boss Nextone. Roland Blues Cube is worth looking at too. I wonder what some other good analog options are.
The prices on Western Electric tubes is ridiculous. They also only manufacture one type of tube, 300B's. Single tube is 699USD, matched pair is 1499 and a matched quad set is 3099. They also only make 300B's which I've never seen nor heard of being used in guitar amplifiers. And even if they could be used for that purpose (and I doubt they can) it won't help the people who already have tube gear and need replacements. Every tube amp maker would have to re-design every amp they sell around that one tube...again assuming they'd even be suitable for that type of amp.
lol there appears to be a company named western electric? I don’t know how you could say that with a straight face thank you I needed some comedy relief
I'm seeing this subject on a few guitar related channels, and it's understandable, but I'm not panicking, even though I own several tube amps. Remember how records and record players disappeared, but later came back because of demand, creating the profit motive needed to tool-up manufacturing again. I believe the same thing will happen with tubes/valves, although they may become more expensive. I would welcome tubes made as good as the best of the past (RCA-Mullard-etc.), and hope that happens. The environmental problems related to tube manufacturing happened because the governments of China, and Russia to a lesser extent, allowed industrial pollution to happen around manufacturing facilities. Tubes can be made without polluting the environment, and the technology has already been developed, just a matter of financing, and the profit motive will become a catalyst for that. I know people are going to start hording tubes, making the price escalate drastically in the short term. Tubes are being made at a profit in several countries, so it can be done again in the USA, or more likely: Germany or Japan, who have better manufacturing technology base at this point. Time will tell.............?
Just my opinion, but in the short term tubes will first be unavailable and then become ungodly expensive. But as long as there is demand coupled with a high price, capitalism will make sure some mfg. fills this niche. I don’t think they will go away. meanwhile, modern modeling amps have gotten insanely good. Plug-ins today give tube amps a real run for their money. The advances in DSP and programmable logic will mean this technology will eventually be affordable in a stand-alone amp. In other words, I believe prices of modelers will eventually drop enough and the tone reproduction will increase to the point that modelers like the Kemper and AxeFX become a serious alternative to tube amps at similar price-points. There’ll still be tube amps, of course. But I think 10 years from now they will occupy a space similar to vinyl records.
Younger players only choose digital mostly because they don’t have the income to support the purchase of multiple amps and/or they don’t know if it’s going to be a long term hobby. A lot of folks start that way and move into amps when the income and desire are there.
tube shortage is because all the guitarists panic buying the inventory, also probably due to scalpers. so my advice would be getting a good solid state amp head, and run your speakers into it. might work well.
A month after I buy my first tube amp, this happens. Thankfully I had recently bought new preamp tubes before this happened. Mine is used and I figured I'd be safe. Ordered an extra set of power tubes and two more preamp tubes. Just waiting for those to ship. Still, it's a bummer that there are so few manufacturers. Even if the market is niche, you'd figure someone could make bank on it. I'm curious how that Nutube stuff from Korg/Vox is doing. That might be the best compromise, but I don't know much about it.
Tube amp manufacturers wouldn't be continuing to make them if there weren't going to be tubes. Remember the TP shortage of 2019. Ya...it'll be tough for a minute..there will be a wait and backorder. Patience
@@GuitarChimp it totally rocks. The Tube Depot is currently offline. The site says they are swamped with orders. That didn’t take long to become an issue! 🤣
My axe FX3 is a glorified FX box. I never use it for the amp/cab sims… just 4CM with my amps. That being said it’s the best of the digital options that I’ve played.
Tubes are hard to find right now, for sure. Better to worry about where you will spend eternity, though, as time could very well be running out.
In the short term will tubes be more expensive,and will everybody freak out and start buying every tube in sight?…yeah,they already are…I have a 84,87,and 92 Marshall with the stock tubes in them…they are still going strong…I have changed 1 set of power tubes in 35 years…they last a very long time…Is this the end of the tube amp world?..Absolutely not….JJ is running full steam making tubes,Shuguang in China is due to come back online in 2023….if there is a market,somebody will fill it….it’s a bump in the road…in the late 80’s,tubes were scarce,companies like Randall Amps started sounding the alarm that tube amps were dead,and started developing solid state amps….Tubes and tube amps aren’t going away….This is a temporary disruption…tubes are still being made…
For non-tube amps take a look at the following: Quilter Labs, Boss Nextone amps, and the Vox Nu-Tube tech. I really like my Boss Nextone. Roland Blues Cube is worth looking at too. I wonder what some other good analog options are.
Thanks man!!
@@GuitarChimp i believe somebody will come up with an technical Invention ,a replacement for tubes that will allow us to run tube amps .
The prices on Western Electric tubes is ridiculous. They also only manufacture one type of tube, 300B's. Single tube is 699USD, matched pair is 1499 and a matched quad set is 3099. They also only make 300B's which I've never seen nor heard of being used in guitar amplifiers. And even if they could be used for that purpose (and I doubt they can) it won't help the people who already have tube gear and need replacements. Every tube amp maker would have to re-design every amp they sell around that one tube...again assuming they'd even be suitable for that type of amp.
Thank you for the info on that. That makes tubes even more scarce coming up.
Western electric has a survey on their website right now. They want to expand to include tubes for the guitar and pro audio industry.
lol there appears to be a company named western electric? I don’t know how you could say that with a straight face thank you I needed some comedy relief
I'm seeing this subject on a few guitar related channels, and it's understandable, but I'm not panicking, even though I own several tube amps. Remember how records and record players disappeared, but later came back because of demand, creating the profit motive needed to tool-up manufacturing again. I believe the same thing will happen with tubes/valves, although they may become more expensive. I would welcome tubes made as good as the best of the past (RCA-Mullard-etc.), and hope that happens. The environmental problems related to tube manufacturing happened because the governments of China, and Russia to a lesser extent, allowed industrial pollution to happen around manufacturing facilities. Tubes can be made without polluting the environment, and the technology has already been developed, just a matter of financing, and the profit motive will become a catalyst for that. I know people are going to start hording tubes, making the price escalate drastically in the short term. Tubes are being made at a profit in several countries, so it can be done again in the USA, or more likely: Germany or Japan, who have better manufacturing technology base at this point. Time will tell.............?
Just my opinion, but in the short term tubes will first be unavailable and then become ungodly expensive. But as long as there is demand coupled with a high price, capitalism will make sure some mfg. fills this niche. I don’t think they will go away.
meanwhile, modern modeling amps have gotten insanely good. Plug-ins today give tube amps a real run for their money. The advances in DSP and programmable logic will mean this technology will eventually be affordable in a stand-alone amp. In other words, I believe prices of modelers will eventually drop enough and the tone reproduction will increase to the point that modelers like the Kemper and AxeFX become a serious alternative to tube amps at similar price-points.
There’ll still be tube amps, of course. But I think 10 years from now they will occupy a space similar to vinyl records.
The sky is falling! Panic! Panic! Hoard all you can find! There's no chance we'll run short on stupid.
Younger players only choose digital mostly because they don’t have the income to support the purchase of multiple amps and/or they don’t know if it’s going to be a long term hobby. A lot of folks start that way and move into amps when the income and desire are there.
I agree. I know a lot of people who are digital for the convenience of it especially for home recoding. -Jerald
Ease of recording and noise are also important factor.
i've been a freak on ebay the past 12 hours. Two days ago I didn't even know or understand anything about tubes.
Ya. It’s been pretty interesting the last week. Ebay is a great place to look as most are on reverb these days. -Jerald
tube shortage is because all the guitarists panic buying the inventory, also probably due to scalpers. so my advice would be getting a good solid state amp head, and run your speakers into it. might work well.
A month after I buy my first tube amp, this happens. Thankfully I had recently bought new preamp tubes before this happened. Mine is used and I figured I'd be safe. Ordered an extra set of power tubes and two more preamp tubes. Just waiting for those to ship. Still, it's a bummer that there are so few manufacturers. Even if the market is niche, you'd figure someone could make bank on it.
I'm curious how that Nutube stuff from Korg/Vox is doing. That might be the best compromise, but I don't know much about it.
I wonder how hard it is to make tubes. Might be the reason why no one does it. -Jerald
@@GuitarChimp It’s almost an art, which is why the hand-made ones are stupidly expensive.
I just bought a second tube amp so imagine me scramble for some spares!
Better worry more about POWER tubes than preamp ones....as they are the ones that wear out much faster.
@@yomommaahotoo264 I ordered an extra set just to be safe.
Tube amp manufacturers wouldn't be continuing to make them if there weren't going to be tubes. Remember the TP shortage of 2019. Ya...it'll be tough for a minute..there will be a wait and backorder. Patience
I actually make a comment in the video about not wanting to be the person with a garage full of toilet paper and hand sanitizer:) Jerald
i told someone the same thing yesterday. Tubes are the new toilet paper.
They should environmentaly find a way to build Tubes Safely in the USA
I would be curious how difficult it is to do. I imagine it takes a lot to make tubes or we would see more people doing it. ~Jerald
Boss Katana amps are the future...
only if the question 'what's the best door jam you can buy that looks a bit like an amp :D
Yes!!
Axe FX 3, after I buy a full set of replacement tubes for my Dr Z Cure 🤣
Haha!! Your Dr Z is a great amp. The FM3 is just super easy. -Jerald
@@GuitarChimp it totally rocks. The Tube Depot is currently offline. The site says they are swamped with orders. That didn’t take long to become an issue! 🤣
@@robertshamansky1912 Wow. That’s crazy. Hopefully this doesn’t last long but who knows 🤷🏻♂️
My axe FX3 is a glorified FX box. I never use it for the amp/cab sims… just 4CM with my amps. That being said it’s the best of the digital options that I’ve played.
This so called tube shortage is really mostly hype. People need to calm down.
All my amps are tube amps.
I got a lot too!! -Jerald
If there's a serious enough demand a new manufacturer will emerge.