Truth or fiction...

[marshman]

I founs this artice as I was wandering the wierd world web thingy...anyone know if it is accurate, or if perhaps it was in the not so distant past?

I'm really just curious.

http://www.vacuumtube.com/Mfg.htm

[markh]

Much if not all of the manufacturer info there was accurate as of the end of 2005. I suspect things have a changed a bit since then in terms of who is still making what. The Sovtek "Mullard" and "Tung-Sol" branded tubes come to mind.

In terms of growth, that's a tough call. I suspect the demand is fairly constant at least, but I suspect the 10-20% annual growth numbers. VTV of course wants tubes to be popular, so I would season their projections with a grain of salt.

--mark

[marshman]

Their growth predictions didn't really matter much to me, and I would have to concede to your assessment that growth in audio tube sales are probably fairly stable.

I was just curious as to the number of tube manufacturers still functioning out there. I'd heard numbers as low as 3 regarding the number of factories making tubes, which if you count only those making tubes of use to us guitar nuts, isn't that far off.

Do you reckon that M.M. actually sells more tubes with all these different names, or is just losing sales of his EH business to pay the Mullard one?

[markh]

I think EH probably sells marginally more tubes with their new branding scheme, particularly since some have been getting good reviews (the Tung-Sol branded ones, mostly).

--mark

[marshman]

I just thought that he'd probably be selling a lot less Sovteks due to the other lines...you know, folks that used to buy EH now buying the 'mullards' or former Sovtek folks trying the new TS stuff. Even if he was selling the exact same number of tubes, he's losing money having to print 5 or 6 different labelled boxes.

Anyway, thanks for the input.