Tube or Trasistor

The median income for musicians or anyone has nothing whatsoever to do with the continuing production of tubes. Sure it's a specialist market but demand continues to grow not decline. And tubes themselves, particularly current production tubes, are not especially expensive. And there is a wealth of affordable tubed gear out there as well as a robust secondhand market.

Tubes reflect their Neo-Victorian vintage (1904); they’re just not high precision parts. Why not? Well, to start, the tube manufacturers identify vacuum tube operating parameters only by listing “average” or “typical” characteristics.

That's funny! Obviously you've not tried to put together an amp from solid state devices or you would know they have quite a bit of variance too.

The point is that there are NOT many vacuum tube products now being manufactured.

Interesting fact: in the US, there are more manufacturers of tube-based audio products than there were in 1956....

Few musicians are rock stars, and few can pay the premium for tube equipment. Tube gear pricing is prohibitive for most consumers, and the replacement costs are endless.

 The above statement is false. The guitar amp market plays a huge role in the production of tubes worldwide. The ex-Vice prez of Fender is a personal friend...

cleeds---when I last attempted to determine the remaining manufacturers of (receiving type) vacuum tubes some 18 months ago, there were zero based in the USA. That's fact.

What is a fact is that you missed a few:
located in Nevada, RCH Labs.
(You may have also missed Korg, who has a new tube technology._
Western Electric is making tubes in Georgia. 

atmosphere--- Let's slow down here and try to work together. I could have expressed myself better on some points, so...

On tubes vs. solid state specifications: Yes, all active devices do have variances, and, having built numerous of my own preamps, power amplifiers, voltage regulated supplies, and unity gain buffers, I'm well aware of those pesky variables. But there's a critical distinction between electron tubes and solid state devices. The classic tube manufacturers (RCA/GE/Sylvania/Tung-Sol/Raytheon/Mullard/Amperex/Telefunken, et al) did not ever test or deliver their products with absolute min/max control limits. Instead, they simply stated "typical" performance criteria. Check any receiving-type tube data sheet, and you will see that no guaranteed min/max performance control is applied, other than for the usual destructive ("do not exceed") limitations.

Solid-state devices are entirely different---there are lots of guaranteed min/max limits provided for many operating parameters, and they're all listed on the related data sheet. So, in comparison, there is really an important difference between the way tubes and solid-state devices are made---and sold. Tubes come with uncontrolled performance variables, whereas solid-state devices vary, but only within specified limits. That's a real distinction.

Regarding audio products using vacuum tubes: Yes, there are now many small companies making products that use tubes. In the '50s and '60s there were many LARGE and small companies making products with tubes. Solid-state never got traction until the mid-70s. And the small companies of today that supply tube audio products import virtually all of the tubes that they need.

Re. the guitar market, yes, agreed. It represents the dominant demand for receiving type vacuum tubes. The audiophile market alone would probably be insufficient to justify viable vacuum tube business. Of course, the guitar + audiophile market in sum is just a tiny blip in the overall sphere of consumer electronics, so we'll never see the return of the big corporate tube producers like those that I reference above.

Re. domestic tube manufacturing: Hey, right! Welcome to RCH Labs. Hope that they do well! They started up in late 2016 and they're making 6L6 output tubes. Looks dicey to me. Korg doesn't actually make any conventional receiving tubes, just some experimental nuvistors, an extension of the old RCA technology. The Western Electric tube facility is actually in Kansas City rather than GA; the latter is corporate home.  My information is that there is no true commercial production ongoing at this time. I could be wrong.

There will always be common octal tubes like EL34, KT88, 6L6, and EL84.  There will also be 12A*7 tubes in ample supply.

No wonder poor old davey has'nt got back, the threads disintegrated into median wages for USA etc.

ADD anyone?