Tubes, old and new

I sat down next to Tim Pavaracini in a room at T.H.E. Show in Irvine weekend before last, and listened to him talk about tubes. He told me that in the 50's and 60's the various tube companies would swap tubes amongst themselves when they ran low of a certain model, putting their own logo on the glass of a competitors tube. It would therefore behoove tube enthusiasts to learn the internal physical characteristics specific to each make, especially when spending big money on them. Tim's personal favorites are Mullards. He had nothing good to say about ANY tubes being manufactured today, feeling the guys and gals on the tube assembly lines have not apprenticed long enough to learn the skills necessary to build a quality tube, that they are not career professionals, but merely temporary employees. Buy your tubes from an honest, knowledgeable tube vendor!