gringopig's guitars
I now firmly believe the human race has become addicted to crisis: be it manufactured or massively exaggerated, we seem to crave the sweet sweet thrill of the creeping hand of history.
Maybe it's a quirk of our nervous systems or some foreshadowing of impending mortality - the psychologists can wrestle that particular monkey to the ground but it seems that we need crises for some reason. Never mind that all this shit will be forgotten in 20 years because they will have rolled out an endless train of suitable distractions to avoid us noticing they are milking us and stealing our money.
So here we have another.
After successfully ignoring the deluge of utter shit poured on us daily for the last 2 years and the frankly shocking acceptance of the criminal over-reach of government powers by the gullible morons who I have to share this country with until the mothership turns up to rescue me, I see we now have another fear spasm ongoing.
One which directly affects me damn it.
I could ignore ridiculous masks and I ignored lockdowns (even that word irks me). I worked as normal and switched off the TV, cancelled my licence and actively ignored all dribbling blather related to it but this Uranian crisis involving Pootin and that old guy who keeps on farting and soiling himself in public and can't string a coherent sentence together actually affects me.
Valve supply!
There are only a few manufacturers of valves for hi-fi and guitar amplifiers: China, The Slovak Republic and Russia. Brands like Tung-sol, Electro-Harmonix, Sovtek and the like all come from Russia and Electro-Harmonix have owned these brands for some time, so when Mike Matthews issues a statement of warning about valve availability due to the response of the Russian government to Western sanctions and the suspension of supply for the rest of 2022, we need to take note. Especially since the largest Chinese supplier in ShuGuang has apparently scaled down production. A fire? Rat attack? Who knows.
Now, apparently there is some conflict going on with Neo-Nazis attacking vampires or something. I don't care. It sounds harsh but there you go. I don't care. I can't do anything about it. After 2 years of being lied to, they want me to care now? Fuck off.
However, after seeing utter dicks loading pallets of toilet roll into their Range Rovers at the start of 2020 because the TV told them to, I now have fallen victim myself. Oh the irony.
I ordered loads of Russian valves. loads of them. Maybe this whole Vampire attack crap that's happening is just a ruse to get me to buy valves? Could be true; I've heard more demented things in the last 2 years.
It does raise questions of where guitar amps are going though. Either:
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This is just a lot of nonsense and normal business will resume shortly
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The break from markets will force Russian suppliers to supply only to domestic markets. EHX will sell up.
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Valves will vanish forever.
All sorts of scenarios are possible but prices of valves will surely go up. I see no actual evidence yet and I had no problems securing 6L6GCs, 6V6GT, 12AX7, 12AT7 and GZ34 valves from Sovtek, Tung-sol and EHX.
Think about it though. If you need some valves in the immediate future buy them now. The Range Rovers will be pulling up at the valve merchants shortly and I suppose I am adding to the panic. I could be totally deluded and as idiotic as the rest of them.
However, I recommend HotRox as suppliers. I have had great service from them. Watford Valves are OK too but I have had duff valves from them and the whole Cryo thing is nonsense.
All the brands above are owned by EHX and Mike Matthews. These are used by Fender, Marshall, Orange and all the other brands of guitar amps. I have a Friedman on order and they use Sovtek 5881 power valves because they are reliable. The Russians have been making valves for years and years and they have a track record of producing the best new valves.
I have heard people mentioning Brimar in the UK as an example of new Western production but they don't make valves - they re-brand foreign imports like everyone else. There is no way the west can or would want to start valve manufacturing. There is no market to make this viable and the valves would be shit. The Russians make good valves. They never stopped. So this present crisis might be a passing thing. The vampires might win and it will all be over.
Or it might be a wake up call that the supply of valves is not a given!
A valve binge buy in progress!
Ridiculously, there have been calls for a company called Western Electric to start the USA production of common guitar valves but this is utter bullshit. They make 1 valve: a 300B. Hardly a common guitar amp valve and, get this. It costs:
$699 per valve!
So that's a cool $3099 for a matched quad.
There is no way they will ever start production again in the USA or even the UK. These brands are fake. Western Electric has nothing to do with the original company, just as Brimar in the UK has nothing to do with the original Brimar. They don't even make valves - they just rebrand Chinese and Russian valves.
Russian valves are great! Chinese valves can be good and TAD have invested in the second factory that took over from the first one after it shut subsequent to a fire and JJ Electronic must be making a mint at the moment.
This is what drives longevity. Lots of cash income. Valves will be around in the supply chain for decades even if they stop being made tomorrow which they won't be. The EHX factory will still be up and running and once this fake shit is off the radar soon it will be back to normal business.
