tubes, was Re: [sdiy] digital delay

[john mahoney]

> >another "dead" techonology, like those vacuum tube things. ;-)
>
> AH HAHAHAHAHA funny white person dudes

hee hee! Of course I was joking, with a wink in your general direction,
Uncle Eric. Aside from the Metasonix gear, every music store has lots of new
tube amps, preamps, and effects. It's obvious that tubes are not dead.

In fact, tubes may be reborn at nanoscale. I suppose you've seen the silicon
triode?
    http://www.mrs.org/publications/bulletin/researchnews/jul02/3.html
For photos, see the following PDF. Scroll down a bit for the triode story:
    http://www.heitman.ece.ufl.edu/4514/archive/PhysTodayJul02.pdf


> More than 4 million per year, white boy!

well, lookee here, we've got statistics! Sounds like a lot, although it
pales in comparison to the number of discrete transistors sold every year.
Seems like the market is large enough to stay around for maybe another year
or two. (I'm kidding, people! ;-)

a large number of the audio tubes are obviously 12AX7s. Super popular, I see
them everywhere, and they are Uncle Eric's "favorite" preamp tube:
http://www.metasonix.com/TM5.htm.


> Sorry, white boy....less than half come from China,
> rest from Russia, Serbia and Slovakia.....

sorry, i overstated the Chinese market share. I know about Sovtek from
Russia, just assumed that the Chinese output was now the majority (as with
so many products, nowadays).

i almost commented yesterday that of course tubes are still made, they are
used by guitartists and audiophiles. Which would have resulted in a flood of
e-mails like "ham operators, too!" and "don't forget tube synthesizers!" and
all that.


> Chinese tubes suck ok?

what do you *really* think? ;-)

--john