Elrog 300B vs Takatsuki 300B tubes

It is unfortunate if the Elrogs turn out to be unreliable and the problem is never fully cured. I would certainly only buy this tube from a very reliable source, such as George Lenz of TubesUSA.

The vintage Western Electrics as well as the more modern ones that were made up through the 1990s were extremely reliable and very long lived. I know a of a lot of people who have used them for MANY years without a failure or the tubes growing weak (the only problem with the newer tubes that I saw myself had to do with poor gluing of the tube to the base (easily repaired). It is quite unfortunate that production has not resumed on this tube.

A local dealer, who has an exclusive custom builder building his house brand of electronics, insists that the older Western Electric 300Bs with "engraved base" are the best 300Bs. He actually puts them into working amps (not kept as museum pieces), but, the price of these tubes are really prohibitively high for all but the craziest and wealthiest fans of the tube. He even has a 59A amp that uses a tube that is similar to the 300B (a 252) that is unbelievably rare--the amp is fantastic sounding.

Tmmvinyl, I certainly agree that one should get more than 6 mo out of a new set of tubes, especially at these prices. In fact, the longevity (or lack thereof) is worse than it appears, because for at least 2 of the 6 months I had very little listening time. Its not likely these tubes had 250 hours on them. Preliminarily, I don't think the amp was damaged. I replaced the tube with my spare Psvane T, and the amp seemed to be ok.

Elrog addressed the issue for Charles, providing him with tubes suitable for the Frankensteins. I expect the same customer service, or I am not going to be pleased.

The tubes deliver superb sonics, but I'm not spending 2K a year for tubes. I asked Matthais in this forum on 7/7/15 if, since Elrog knew there was a problem with their tubes in the Frankensteins, they would allow me to return the tubes for ones that were a suitable match for the amps. He chose not to respond to my question. Too bad.

I guess we will have to see what Elrog intends to do. Matthais, any comments?

George Lenz sure stood by me and other customers concerning the Elrog 300b. Bill did you get yours via True Audiophile? Well I hope who ever your vendor, they treat you appropriately. As you correctly acknowledge this is a superb sounding tube. I'm rooting for Elrog to get this tube right with the replacements such as mine. Larry, the Western Electric 300b reissues were very disappointing in my amplifier. EML XLS and Takatsuki were far superior sounding.
Charles,
Charles,

Charles, I initiated contact with the dealer (and alerted them to this thread) back when your tube failed and your dialogue with Matthais was initiated. I contacted the vendor immediately after my tube failed and I received a response within about 5 minutes. I am confident they will stand behind me on their end. However, I do want to ensure that I receive replacements that are suitable for the Frankenstein amps.

As I have said previously, the audiophile community needs to be supportive of companies like Elrog who are taking risks trying to enable manufacture of tubes that meet or exceed the standards of the vacuum state glory days. That support involves some risk on our part, too. But In all fairness to the AG community, I think folks who might be potential customers need to be aware of the Elrog failure rate and observe Elrog's response to the problem. Premature tube failure is bad enough, but Tmm's experience with substantial damage to his Dragons is another. If my amp had (or is) damaged, or if Elrog fails to provide a suitable replacement, you can be sure I will not be pleased.

Almost all of the newer tube makers have had problems, at least initially, with quality control and reliability. In time, if they are any good at it, these problems abate (e.g., EML had early problems, but, they appear to be reliable now.

In the various amps I've heard, the Western Electric reissues were okay sounding, but, I generally preferred the sound of the EMLs and Krons to the Western Electics. But, I did mention them because they demonstrate that it is possible for someone to make a very reliable and long-lived tube of this type.