Why aren't new vacuum tubes as good as or better than old ones? Don't we have purer metals? Precision equipment? Why isn't anyone making the highly regarded 7316s?
Simple and short answer...The demand for vacuum tubes is not great enough for a manufacturer to lay out big bucks for production.Just my opinion,others will disagree and that's fine.
Tpreaves is right. There are places like Groove Tubes that caters to musicians, but all my favorite tubes come from WWII era contractors. Technology based on tubes was ubiquitous then, but now there simply is no need for them.
Hi all ! A tube guy once told me the reason the older tubes sound better than the new tubes is back in the day they could use " nasty chemicals " . Apparently those chemicals make a better tube . Dont really know if this is true or not .
I have always thought it was quality control. I know that Chinese tubes are sorted by quality and sold at different prices. I suspect that many tubes in an earlier era were merely discarded. I remember radio stations buying tubes in big boxes and plugging them in side by side. Those that didn't glow were quickly discarded.
I also expect that the women who made them became quite skilled and consistent. I doubt if that level of skill is available today.
One thing is for certain the old NOS tubes of even the 1970s are become rare as hen's teeth.
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