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  • February 20, 2009 at 2:36 am #77775
    21stCenturyAnalogBoy
    Participant

    With all the economic strife and political BS going on in the rest of the world, why not manufacture vacuum tubes here in the United States? Our manufacturing industry has gone to the crapper and doing so would help jobs here. I’d be more than happy to make the same crappy wage I make now working in an auto parts store, only turning out cool gear for EHX.

    February 20, 2009 at 2:42 am #93641
    julian
    Moderator

    It’s illegal.

    February 20, 2009 at 3:01 am #93642
    21stCenturyAnalogBoy
    Participant

    I won’t even ask why. If that’s true, just chalk up another victory for the industry hating environmental whack-job anti-capitalist cock smokers who are now fully in control.

    February 20, 2009 at 3:17 am #93643
    JordanLikesToRock
    Member
    Quote:
    I won’t even ask why. If that’s true, just chalk up another victory for the industry hating environmental whack-job anti-capitalist cock smokers who are now fully in control.

    :clap:

    February 20, 2009 at 6:02 am #93655
    julian
    Moderator
    Quote:
    I won’t even ask why. If that’s true, just chalk up another victory for the industry hating environmental whack-job anti-capitalist cock smokers who are now fully in control.

    The illegalization of it was a communist plot!

    Nah. Hey, I’m an environmentalist whack job! I compost and stuff. I don’t have a hybrid car yet, I can’t afford one. Nor can I afford to put a mill or solar paneling in my backyard.

    But those are all things that should be done before halting tube production! It’s one pollutant that I can live with. Though I’m not sure if it really is illegal, maybe it’s just costly because of taxes based on the waste.

    If it is a simple matter of legality, I’d think that maybe it was a problem when tubes were used in a lot more electronics, but now I’d think it’s such a small market compared to what it was before that the environmental impact wouldn’t be too big. Plus regardless of impact tubes are going to made anyways in some country that allows it.

    Shrug.

    February 20, 2009 at 7:04 am #93660
    DiscoFreq
    Member

    Plus the market for tubes is much smaller, so a lot of companies just went bankrupt and machines were sold.

    Even if it was economically interesting to bring the production of a certain brand/plant to the US, it would be very difficult to find people who have the right skills/experience to do it. The people in the Sovtek factory did this for years.

    It’s not like bringing back an outsourced job (like all those IT jobs), it always was a Russian factory.

    There’s probably more future for the Western economy in innovation than in making tubes again. A big part of the trouble for US car makers is that they didn’t innovate enough. A few years ago someone who did some repairs for me (synths, effects) bought an AMC AMX from 1969. He said it was cheap to find parts: a lot of parts (like the motor block) were still made and used in American cars that are still in production, while that AMX is 40 years old!

    Other countries also made smaller and “greener” cars for a long time already, not just for the environment, also because fuel costs more in other countries (taxes), so it’s important for buyers (like it probably is for American buyers now).

    February 20, 2009 at 8:02 am #93663
    julian
    Moderator

    Every time people talk about European cars I think of this:

    [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/85/Trabant_601_Mulhouse_FRA_001.JPG/800px-Trabant_601_Mulhouse_FRA_001.JPG[/img]

    February 20, 2009 at 8:46 am #93665
    DiscoFreq
    Member

    You could also think about Ferrari, Porsche, Bugatti,… ;)

    But I always loved the retro look of those Trabants :D

    When I went to Hungary in 1990 with my parents, you still saw them everywhere (and trains full of Russian tanks going back to Russia). I went to several auto parts shops there to find a Trabant logo, but I didn’t find one (my father found a very good (solid!) and cheap pump for car tires.

    When I think about American cars…

    800px-1975_AMC_Pacer_base_model_frontrightside.jpg

    Not really of course ;)

    I remember a huge discussion on IRC (about 10 years ago) with an American guy who said the car was an American invention by Henry Ford :D

    There was even a Hydrogen-powered car made by a Belgian guy in 1863 (the year Henri Ford was born): the Hippomobile (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippomobile)

    February 20, 2009 at 9:01 am #93666
    julian
    Moderator

    AMC made some cool cars didn’t they?

    [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/30/1958_Ambassador_4-d_hardtop_wagon_1.JPG/800px-1958_Ambassador_4-d_hardtop_wagon_1.JPG[/img]

    February 20, 2009 at 9:13 am #93667
    DiscoFreq
    Member

    Wow, nice one :)

    I love oldtimers, but it’s probably a bit too expensive to own one, so I’ll just collect pedals for now ;)

    February 20, 2009 at 9:13 am #93668
    electro-melx
    Moderator

    I can’t even begin to imagine how expensive USA made tubes would be……no thanks.

    February 20, 2009 at 5:24 pm #93699
    21stCenturyAnalogBoy
    Participant

    I can definitely see where a vastly decreased market for vacuum tubes would/could cause us to look elsewhere for vacuum tube (valves!) manufacturing than just being plain old illegal. That makes more sense. I’ve had this ridiculous notion/dream of manufacturing premium power amps and even clock/radios, stereos, etc. in the USA that used vacuum tube amplifiers just because of my passion for vacuum tube tones but the realist in me says there isn’t a market big enough to support it. How ’bout a vacuum tube iPod? :)

    February 26, 2009 at 4:32 pm #93995
    FingersEverling
    Member

    A vacuum tube ipod would be an excellent hand warmer in the winter.

    February 26, 2009 at 6:57 pm #93999
    imalways
    Member
    Quote:
    A vacuum tube ipod would be an excellent hand warmer in the winter.

    Interesting idea.
    Might be redundant driving a digital medium through a tube.

    But then again, even if the sound isn’t warm; at least your hands will be!

    February 26, 2009 at 6:59 pm #94000
    imalways
    Member
    Quote:
    I can’t even begin to imagine how expensive USA made tubes would be……no thanks.

    Word to that!
    I’ll stick with chinese and NOS.

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