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Vacuum Tubes for Amps
Relabeling
I get lots of questions on this, this is an answer given to one customer
regarding this subject:
In a message dated 97-03-23 18:55:15 EST, you write:
> And thanks for the information. Interestingly I've seen RCA 5AR4's
>labeled "Great Britian" that appear to be japanese in construction, as well
>as others that look like Mullards. Cross labeling was pretty rampant!
RCA never made 5AR4, they just bought from whoever was
convienient. (same goes for GE). Crosslabelling not just
rampant, it was "business as usual" for years, often they swapped
internal parts as well, or bought internal stampings,parts &
bulbs from same suppliers. eg, I vistied ex-GE tube factory, they
had cases of bulbs from Sylvania. No kidding.
We've seen Russian 5V4-GT relabelled with major-brand
US names, there's apparently some really phoney stuff coming out of Asia,
and possibly Great Britain as well.
On the other hand, one can find super bargains if you know
what you're looking at: OEM's (Magnavox, Zenith, Motorola, et al)
and retail/wholesale relabeller/distributors (Sears, Monkey Wards,
Zaerix, Ultron, Radio Shack, Allied, etc ad nauseum)
often bought tubes from major manufacturers (including but not
limited to GE, RCA, Telefunken, Mullard, etc, as well as Japan, Korea
and Eastern Europe) and stuck pedestrian brand names on them.
Other major-brand names (Mullard,Amperex and Canadian Sylvania
come to mind) were sold off to third parties who have legal rights to
plaster those names on anything they like.
Note that anyone with the right kind of equipment (mandrel or pad
silk-screen printer) can stick any name on tubes that they like,
altho not always legally.
Maybe next time I'll go off on a tangent about tube grading
& selecting....
Ned, Triode Electronics
Ned Carlson, Triode Electronics, Chicago
Ph 773-871-7459 aft 1230CT (1830 UTC)
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