Blackburn (aka Mullard) tube manufacture

[Jim Alfredson]

This is a quite long (over 30 minutes), but fascinating look at how they used to manufacture tubes at the Blackburn plant in England. The first three minutes are pretty boring, but after that it gets interesting. The machines, all pre-computer controlled, are amazing!

http://www.techtubevalves.com/about_us/film_reels.php

[sidewinder]

Still got one of their antique valves - pentode I think. A monster specimen that was a spare part for a naval gunnery fire control system !

Bigger version of this one:

[porcy62]

Yep, and you'd be surprised how good that druidic technology could sound in today's amps .

[Jim Alfredson]

Supposedly this TechTube company has risen out of the ashes of Blackburn and are making tubes... er valves again.

Mullards are some amazing sounding devices.

[Ted O'Reilly]

Mullards are some amazing sounding devices.

Mallards, on the other hand, not so nice...

[AllenLowe]

I've been buying tubes for about 5 years now and I'm swimming in the things: mostly 6v6s, 6L6s, 12ax7s, 5v4, 5y3, 5u4 - one of the few things did right in my life was to start buying old tubes when they were still affordable - the difference in a tube amp is substantial, though there are finally a few new production tubes that make the great - primarily Tad 6v6s and 6L6s - still, a a lot the old stuff is affordable on ebay (Mullards NOT included) bt you do fine with GE, Sylvania, Raytheon, Scott - it's a brave old tube world out there - just got an amp with 6sl7s and 6sn7s so that's my latest obsession -

[Jim Alfredson]

Depends on the tube type: 12AT7s are still fairly reasonable. 12AX7s? Not so much.

[AllenLowe]

if you find a reliable dealer - and I know three in particular - you can get solid used old American 12ax7s - the key is to buy from a dealer who has a good tester that show emissions as well as general strength - usually a Hickock or B&K -