Western Electric surveying market for (domestic?) mfg. of other tube types?

@Dweller said: "I put this bug in their ear a few years ago. Asked why they wouldn’t produce other kinds of tubes. Hope they listened. I’d like to see them make a Russian military-grade 6H30-DR tube."

I made the same request. I use old stock DR variants, currently a quad made in the late ’70s. Given the fairly common use of this tube in ARC, BAT, I would think there should be more options. True old DR 6H30s are not only expensive but hard to find. I have the Veloce 2.0 line stage with all the current upgrades- I hear a considerable difference between these old tubes and current Russian production.

This is not something that is going to happen overnight, but long run, would be nice.

I gather some folks that use the tube do not hear as pronounced a difference, but it may be how it is deployed in the circuit.

ibmjunkman- Outside of audio gear what is the market for tube?

Instrument amps. For gee-tars, basses (not to be confused with the fish), keyboards and other instruments that are "electric" (pedal steel?).

:)

The musicians look for robustness (getting banged around in a van) and long life.

Audiophiles may have different priorities. I’ve found that tube selection is very dependent on system voicing- that is, I have very recherché vintage tubes, NIB, that I don’t use, simply because others sound better in my system. Is it that those are a "better" tube? Not necessary. A metal base Mullard GZ 34 - a grail tube-- does not sound as good in my system as a GEC u52. But that does not mean the metal base Mullard (really a Philips/Miniwatt) is a lesser tube. It comes down to particulars in tonality and balance of the system.