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Ah yes, the famous Western Electric 300b tubes. First manufactured as the 300A tube (the precursor to the 300b) in 1933 by Western Electric, the first WE 300B tube was released in 1938 and ran a full 50 years before the last ones were produced in 1988. Early in 1997, Westrex Corporation (the company which owns the Western Electric 300B production equipment) began production of reissued 300b's until around 2009 when production stopped for the purposes of moving the facility.
In addition to the well known sonic characteristics, including low distortion, of the WE 300b, the Western Electric 300b's had tremendous life, averaging over 40,000 hours.
As many know, the price for original and reissue WE 300b's continues to arrive. Originals can go for $6000 to $10,000 a pair depending on condition and reissues can go upwards of $3000 for a matching pair.
So I got to thinking about this entire situation the other day as I watched prices of WE 300b's climb and climb and climb. So, as we understand it, the production facility was shut down in 2009 due to a move (source: www.thetubestore.com - Western Electric 300B Audio Tubes). Well, that was 5 years ago. Surely the facility has been moved. Now what? Has anyone bothered to call Western Electric and find out what the hell is going on? Well I did.
I was told today by the person responsible at WE (and confirmed through followup via email) that Western Electric is due to "begin production again on the WE300b late this winter, early next year."
So, if you were thinking of taking the plunge on some very expensive WE 300b's....you might just want to hold off a little and see what the new year brings....it looks like the boss is coming back to town.
In addition to the well known sonic characteristics, including low distortion, of the WE 300b, the Western Electric 300b's had tremendous life, averaging over 40,000 hours.
As many know, the price for original and reissue WE 300b's continues to arrive. Originals can go for $6000 to $10,000 a pair depending on condition and reissues can go upwards of $3000 for a matching pair.
So I got to thinking about this entire situation the other day as I watched prices of WE 300b's climb and climb and climb. So, as we understand it, the production facility was shut down in 2009 due to a move (source: www.thetubestore.com - Western Electric 300B Audio Tubes). Well, that was 5 years ago. Surely the facility has been moved. Now what? Has anyone bothered to call Western Electric and find out what the hell is going on? Well I did.
I was told today by the person responsible at WE (and confirmed through followup via email) that Western Electric is due to "begin production again on the WE300b late this winter, early next year."
So, if you were thinking of taking the plunge on some very expensive WE 300b's....you might just want to hold off a little and see what the new year brings....it looks like the boss is coming back to town.
