How It's Made - vacuum tubes
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- čas přidán 22. 12. 2011
- For some reason, I LOVE the show "How It's Made" and this segment is a beautifully shot piece on how vacuum tubes are made. These tubes are being made in the Czech Republic for audio gear and it's amazing how much hand work goes into their creation. They almost look like sculpture.
- Věda a technologie
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The fact they're still being made, is just astonishing.
I am glad they still make these. And am also glad How It's Made did a segment on them. A masterpiece right here.
when i was in the u.s. air force 50 yrs ago i was a ground radio repairman and repaired and maintained radio transmitters up to 50kw in power. the vacuum tubes in the power amplifier were about 3 ft. long and weighed about 20 pounds, they were huge.
wow awesome
That amp at the beginning is nearly $17k... amazing.
Thats some big tubes
@@Rainbow__cookie tbh its a really stupid design. If that falls over those tubes are _done_
@@qwertykeyboard5901 Yea but there's a simple solution to that problem, DON'T LET IT FALL OVER STUPID
Any chance you know what those huge tubes are called? Just curious
@@rianvanrensburg9960 Triodes, mainly.
As a cinematographer who used to build vacuum tube amplifiers in the last century, this video was a lot of eye candy. It also unveiled a few mysteries, like how the getter is fired when it's sealed inside the tube. Great content, and nicely portrayed!
Vaccum tubes are still a thing, I ❤ it!
gorgeous works of art
tubes were used in most electronics back then. radios, tv's, phones, even computers. since then theyve been outdated. but for things like jukeboxes and turntables, soundsystems, and especially guitar amplifiers, tubes are still the best. they sound soo much better than digital and solid state
Whoever did this how its made, went to the right people. KR audio makes some DAMN good tubes, they're all handmade, and they perform excellently. Its worth the price of getting one compared to one that was machined.
Just like the music they amplify, making a vacuum tube is like art. It is perfected with practice and the masters make the best ones. Goes to show no amount of automation can replace human skill.
For anyone watching, These are high end "handmade" tubes. Back in the "day" when vacuum tube electronics were common (1920's - 1970's), Most of these processes were done by automated equipment. There's plenty of contemporary to the time video on CZcams showing the MASS production of vacuum tubes (Mostly from the1940s and 50s). If tubes were all made THIS way "back in the day" only the rich would have had radios or TVs at all until 1978, lol.
I was under the same impression. I now have a whole new respect for the art of the making of these tubes!
Amazing! I've done neon sign-type glasswork, and I've got a lot of respect for these guys. This technology is interesting - no matter whether one likes the result or doesn't - and, as with other archaic sound tech such as phonograph records, it's nice to see there's still a desire to have it available.
Have you ever worked on nixie tubes (or any of the old tube displays for that matter) or know anyone who has made them before? I still get them from my friends, but it makes me sad they aren't produced anymore.
spieagentl
Vacuum tubes of that type require an entirely different skillset, different equipment, and different processing. Nixie tubes do typically use neon gas. I think most Nixies were machine-made, and I'm not sure whether new ones are being produced and, if so, what the process is like. Cathode ray tubes are based on Sir William Crookes' work, and several tubes he designed are still produced for both physics demo purposes (properties of electrons) and decorative use (fluorescent flowers, minerals, etc.) and these use a different process, too; neon signs' closest cousin are the decorative Geissler Tubes first produced by Heinrich Geissler, who invented the diffusion pump still used (with silicone oil, rather than Geissler's mercury) in neon sign production, now boosted by a mechanical pump.
Jonas Clark Wow, thank you very much for the informative reply! I'm sorry I didn't know, but the little history lesson, and now I have names to do research on! Have a nice day!
spieagentl Geissler Tubes are fascinating things; they were made in thousands of designs, from simple squiggles, spirals, coils and loops to words and monograms (looking forward to the role neon would play), animals, spouting fountains, flowers, religious symbols, people, and magnificent objects such as royal crowns, some of which were even worn onstage in plays. Some used fluorescent uranium-oxide and iron-oxide glass or had outer chambers containing fluorescent liquids. Two glassblowers, Lutz Neumann and Wolfgang Linschmann, are the last true masters of decorative Geissler and Crookes tubes, and Neumann has made several fantasy tubes I created on paper such as a fancy Cross, as well as replicating the incredible crown with fluorescent gems held in a museum in Europe. Linschmann trained at the Pressler factory, the last scientific glassware factory in Germany. They also make many decorative Crookes tubes, which use cathode rays (electrons) to excite fluorescent-painted metal sculptures or clusters of minerals. Happy learning!
I admire the work of these artisans and highly appreciate their work.
Beautiful craftsmanship!
Beautiful...amazing craftmanship
Absolute works of art. I want a pair for the living room.
Tubes are so pretty and sound really good!
This is the best vacuum tube assembly video I've seen. It shows the detail of each piece of glass and how they are fused together. Great photos of the grid assembly as well.
Stunning looking tubes
Thank You so much for uploading this! As a Hi-Fi enthusiast, this was a blast to watch!
Very fascinating stuff indeed. I never even knew they were handmade! Damn!
Beautiful work
KR audio - these are extremely pricey tubes, and this video gives a clue why: they are totally handmade. Other manufacturers run a mass-production on a conveyor, so they are quite cheap compared to these.
That makes more sense. I was feeling bad for these guys for charging so little for such beautiful work, and getting crapped on for being "new production".
I'm glad some are made on a conveyor belt. They go into my guitar amps anyway.
WoW.... Great video thanks for posting
This my friends, is an art in itself !
It's like the halfway point between electrical engineering and blacksmithing.
This is a fascinating video but boy oh boy was their technical writing off.
What do you mean? Can you say more?
Nice impression of Chech Artwork. Hope they will continue producing these fantastic tubes for many years. The KR tubes match perfect with VSA speakers for play back music at a very high and realistic level.
I know this for more than 15 years now.
Enjoy, Cor
Old world skills still at work... Great to see...
So cool... so intriguing.
I wish this was my job.
WOW!!! That is some awesome skill! No wonder these cost so much.
There you go, one valve made.
That's amazing. I love my valve amp.
awesome stuff man
waow these are pieces of art, cannot believe the process is the same for industrial production
Great video! This is a very labor intensive process! I imagine, back when RCA, GE, and others made tubes domestically, it was considerably more automated. I used to pay about 5.00 for a 6L6 GC in the late 60's! Now, good quality 6L6's are uber expensive. Don't have any tube gear at the moment, but plan on getting an old Fisher 500 A or B. 7591 outputs in that one, and very difficult to locate, but well worth it! Cheers!
wow, everything handmade, not cheap for sure
so cool! thaks for the video, and wish you a nice day.
Wonderful to watch
Thanks for posting this video!!
You're welcome!
so amazing and complex
Beautiful.
Interesting video.
I thought the EL34's in my guitar amp were big, but some of these valves were massive!
Those are some high end tubes!
they look so futuristic
That's pretty badass! Interesting how people figure this shit out.
Great!!! In my childhood i loved to colect those tubes... 40 yeaers ago slways intersting!!!
I will never complain about the price of tubes again
Nice , im going to play my line 6 spider to hear that juicy tube tone..
Best show ever. period.
these How it's made videos are going to be really useful when the apocalypse is finally upon us.
no wonder tubes are expensive, they take a lot of work to make 1. nice video.
This middle school when I first started craziest crazy with audio and one item I love is this
Well, I'd never change my 10W double single ended tube guitar amp to a similar spec transistor amp. The sounds is just awesome, and it runs cool and clean.
Are these tubes still manufectured... Wao... Amazingly i am surprised... Good
Spot on.
Oh god the amount of work is insane!
That's why they cost a lot! But if you got the money, then by all means... I get why musicians want tube amps for quality sound- I just don't think it's worth having a tube-based sound system in your house. A solid state works just as fine and most people can't tell the difference. But stereo amps, yeah they're loud but the quality sucks.
Tuber have warmer sound, they are better. I have heard tube sound before
Andrey- sound.stackexchange.com/questions/29926/what-does-warm-mean like that?
I would describe warmer as kinda more natural and clear with slower response. It's hard to describe it. The best way is to A/B switch tubeamp and solid state.
The glass work blew my mind
making valves/tubes, making guitar strings, making drum heads, making speakers, making amps ... mostly horrible boring factory work ... Take a minute to pay some respect to these people who are keeping us playing music...
wow there's a lot of processes to make valves. Mind you it's worth it with the audio results you get with valve amplifiers.
Coolness level: Beyond galaxy.
Beautiful video presentation... BTW where we can buy this vacum tubes.....? Do you have more detail information....?
I never knew vacuum tubes were so labor intensive. I just assumed it was all machine made.
Now that's artisan hand crafting!
These giant tubes are used in the KR Audio Kronzilla SXI. They are custom made for KR Audio.
I'd sooooo love to work there and learn the craft. Who knows, maybe I will?
Modelling vacuum tubes, especially with their distortion characteristics in mind, is actually much more involved than a simple EQ preset. Vacuum tubes are highly nonlinear devices, so not only do you have to use piece-wise-linear functions to determine output as a function of the instantaneous input, but you also have to model the transient characteristics involved if you want to impress professionals.
Great info. man
As a sound engineer and guitar player this just brings a big grin to my face.... sorry modern digital guitar guys but tube amps will always be king.
There is a video I saw of a factory tour of the Mullard tube plant in England from the 1960s, they were making an ECC82 as a sample. It was very similar to how light bulbs are made using a button and stem method, but with more elements of course. Valvo would have used very similar techniques, Valvo, Mullard, Phillips, and Rogers were all owned by Phillips in that era.
The thing I love in tube guitar amps, is the simplicity. With a very simple device, I can get a very pleasing tone out of the amp. I built an amp myself, and I think I would have ever achieved this by using transistors or digital components. I didn't need any PCB boards and fragile components, just a simple turret board which should hold up for decades of repairs and modification, and robust big parts.
For me, that's why tubes are being made ;)
Tubes are still being used today in several areas such as xray machines, in space like satellites orbiting earth and ISS, high power radio station broadcast amplifiers and in military equipment.
wow I have so much more respect for tubes now!
Decades ago, guitar amplifiers were made from tubes, and by dumb luck, the straightforward circuits borrowed from radio sounded great! With a few simple tone controls added to them, they complemented the tonal profile of the passive pickup perfectly. Later, rock and roll came along, and it was found that overdriven tubes sound great. By an amazing coincidence, some of the things that tubes do in circuits that are nearly obvious and not contrived for guitar, happen to work well for guitar.
Vacuum tubes work great in hearing aids as well. The music Beethoven heard in his mind likely came through a vacuum tube first. Broken glass is great for dogs to step on?
Can't beat transitors.
I've never seen vacuum tubes THAT big.
I just wanna see the valvestate stack amps they put those in for testing and I'll be happier than I already am!!!
Very boutique indeed!
I've pondered if it was possible to take the guts of certain vintage tubes and glass blow new envelopes for them. I have a few NOS tubes that have cracked and lost vacuum. For a new high-end rare vintage tube such as RCA 8417's it might be worthy effort?? Hobbyist blow neon.... Could be done?
Vacuum tubes were very automated in the USA when in full swing, thousands of tubes an hour per line.
Now the transistor is king, and produced by the thousands per second!
But tubes are now a Boutique item, produced in limited numbers for a niche market.
Also the anode and cathode have different voltages because they are hooked up to different voltages produced in the power supply. And they are higher than the input because the input is applied to the grid and that small voltage can control whether the current can pass from the cathode to the anode by repelling or passing electrons streaming from the hot cathode to the anode.
Thanks for the reply....
The 6L6 is an oxide coated cathode vacuum tube, the tubes built by KR audio in this video are tungsten filament tubes... Which is the best ? in terms of audio quality, durability and reliability ? Pure tungsten, thoriated tungsten or oxide coated ?
Thank you.
The reason for the difference between tube and transistors, is that transistor amplifiers are designed to be high fidelity, reproducing the output sound exactly as input. Tube amplifiers distort the sound in such a way that some people think sounds better, maybe because they are so used to hearing that distortion they have grown to like it.
1:20 The Anode's "top secret" black coating? It's essentially a carbon coating applied to the steel anode (plate) at high temperature during the manufacturing process. It was done to reduce secondary emissions.
The secondary emission problem was only present in tetrodes and It may have been top secret the at the time it was discovered that the coating increased the efficiency of the tube's amplification factor but quickly became common knowledge among tube manufacturers as it is today. Not so "Top Secret"
amazing
nice one!
On issue about heat and current, (heat and light), I agree apsolutely. That is why is that piece of hardvare hardly usable in other then you mentioned applications. Besides, it gives transients, (distortion), but these distorsions are mostly even, so this setup sounds "warm" and "silky". Transistor, (as counterpart to the tube), is moslty odd transient inklined sounding, thus, a bit less "soft".
Amazing... Time to go play my ENGL amp
I read an article a while back how the "tube sound" is associated with tube distortion going through low quality speakers which had a poor frequency range. Basically now in amps/cabs they have to use speakers with a heavily restricted top-end to get a similar sound and prevent high freq. harmonics from oozing out. All I am saying is there is a lot of factors that go into the sound you and so many others love. In many ways tube amplification is much less precise, but we seem to like it that way.
Very cool
it would be nice to see how tubes like Telefunken, Mullard , Valvo etc were made in the golden era of tube manufacture, back when tubes didn't cost $1000 a pair like these ones
They should make new magic eye tubes too I love those green glowing indicator tubes.
You forgot about the other holy grail - European tubes, Telefunken, Mullard, Amprex, and a few others did make some amazing tubes.
This is how you make a once commonplace electrical component transcend into art.
very nice
Tubes still are the best amps for guitar. Transistors are either on or off. They can't easily replicate the waveform of the sound. Plus, tubes sound good when you push them, unlike transistors.
true. It can mostly be noticed in a live setting. Try and play a scorching solo over a rock band with a solid state amp, then a tube amp. The tube amp pushes through and sings, where the transistor amp ends up sounding buzzy and thin. That is how I have been able to show the difference easily. But tubes are also reactive compared to solid state, and can be much much more expressive...but that's a whole other thing. :)
Wow, I'm surprised they don't cost ten times what they do. Wonder how many decades we have before no one's left making these...
Any glass-blowing hobbyist with a glass lathe can make this... But seriously how many of those are there, really? (Sarcasm)
The CRT have always been powered by vacuum tubes long before the 70s.
Global feedback and negative feedback are basically the same thing.. Most of these negative feedback amps have a passive feedback control loop. The amplifier compares the input and output signal (e.g., around a transformer) and generates a 'correction signal' to adjust the latter to look more like the former. This also cause artifacts and even oscillation in some designs.
absolute craft,