Western Electric Returns (yes, the 300b too)

Western Electric is like the Phoenix that keeps rising from the ashes. It took them forever to put the 300B back into production the last time they attempted it and the word on the street was they were not as good as the original production WE 300B tubes. I hope they remember all of the painful lessons they learned from when they tried to put the 300B back into production the last time. Remember when they were going to release a killer version of the KT-88?
 
WOW price of amp over 50K, and it takes 8 WE 300B per Channel;$$$$ what am i smoking?
 
mep said:
Western Electric is like the Phoenix that keeps rising from the ashes. It took them forever to put the 300B back into production the last time they attempted it and the word on the street was they were not as good as the original production WE 300B tubes. I hope they remember all of the painful lessons they learned from when they tried to put the 300B back into production the last time. Remember when they were going to release a killer version of the KT-88?
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More audio folklore I suspect. I have two original WE300B’s and 5 reissues. Using my Triode amps, I heard no difference between the 1990’s reissues and my 1950s originals. It will be fun to try the new new reissues.

300b’s last 50,000+ hours. In fact, I can’t find anyone who’s had one die yet. Even the ones from 70 years ago.

The new WE amps with a total of 16 300b amps look sick. So does the price tag.
 
I wonder how many WE 300B tubes are still buried on the bottom of the ocean from the U.S. to Europe?
 
Mike, how do you characterize the sound of WE 300B as compared to new AR Tube?,I know it is a different design

Sami
 
the professor said:
Exciting if they do it right.
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What happened the first time WE brought the 300B back into production was telling and not surprising. Even though WE had the original "recipe" for the 300B and all of the original machinery used in their production, they didn't have the original people involved in the manufacturing of the 300B so they were starting with zero tribal knowledge. There is a reason the government hates to shut down any production line that is manufacturing goods for the military even temporarily. What happens normally when you shut down a production line for any period of time is that the workers are moved over to other areas and they don't all make it back when the line is restarted. There are usually always problems when you restart a production line. Sometimes companies even lose the recipe to manufacturer a product even when there is no break in production. This normally happens because some bean counter substituted parts from another manufacturer because they were cheaper and were supposed to be identical.

Bottom line is that this is no small feat to pull this off with yet another big break in production and the move to another facility in another state.
 
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