6L6 versions???

[Bill Turner]

On Fri, 2 Jan 1998 18:36:38 -0400, "Brian Carling" <bry at mnsinc.com>
wrote:

>On 30 Dec 97 at 10:34, Bill wrote: 
>
>> I love tube stuff too, but I'd have to disagree with some of your
>> logic.  True, the 6L6 and it's variants are still selling whereas
>> early transistors are not.  However the 6L6 is not an "early" tube
>> type -- far from it.  A more fair comparison would be to ask if 01As
>> and 45s are still being manufactured today.  Well, maybe they are
>> somewhere, but they're aren't any for sale at Circuit City.
>
>Read again, he said early BEAM POWER TETRODE or something like that!
>
>I don't recall the 01A being a beam power tube!
>
>Nor are they used in BA rigs or Fender Guitar Amps the last time I 
>checked!
My point was that the 6L6 represented more than 30 years of tube
evolution.  It's not fair to compare that to "early" transistors.




>> Also, consider the difficulty of changing a tube design.  A tube like
>> a 6L6 is incredibly intricate.  Ever take one apart? 
>
>Yes. They are not that intricate. Just a tube for goodness sake!
>What does that have to do with it anyway?
Something intricate is that much more difficult to redesign.  See my
next point.



>> It's a miracle
>> that they can be manufactured at all.  By comparison, a transistor is
>> simple.  
>
>It is all in the perception of the beholder though. What do you mean 
>by "simple?"
Count the number of individual pieces in a tube vs a transistor.  I'd
estimate it's a factor of about 100 to one.  That's what I mean by
"simple"  See my next point.



>>That's why even MIL-SPEC transistors can be manufactured and
>> sold for a nickel each.  Try that with a tube.
>
>I have bought tubes for a nickel. I have been given them free.
You never bought a brand new MIL-SPEC tube for a nickel unless perhaps
it was a reject or stolen or obsolete.  When I said MIL-SPEC
transistors for a nickel, I was referring to normal purchase of brand
new merchandise complete with manufacturer's certification sheets from
a reputable distributor.  Again, I challenge you to do that with a
tube for a nickel.  Can't be done.




>> The point is that once
>> a tube is designed, it is a major undertaking to do a redesign.
>
>And the same with a transistor (not that many are being made any 
>more!!)
Huh-uh.  Much easier.  Just re-lay out the photolithograph.






>> Anyway, I'm not trying to knock tubes.  I like radios that glow in the
>> dark too, but transistors have all but replaced them.  Sorry.
>
>Bill you are wrong. I don't know of a single radio manufacturer that 
>uses large numbers of discrete transistors in their manufacturing 
>now.
I never said discrete.  If you use an IC, you're using transistors.
What do you think is in them???



>The single transistor is occasionally used in some OLDER radios
>as a final amplifier stage, or in a linear, but then MOST of those 
>are now MOSFETS rather than JFETS.
Agreed.


>FAR more tubes are used as linear amplifiers still.
You must have had a specific application in mind to make that
statement.  Do you mean "high-power RF linear amplifiers"?  If you
just mean amplifiers that are linear in their characteristics, you are
dead wrong.  Every boom box in town has linear amplifiers in it.  (No
tubes either).



>Sorry but his point stands that 6L6 tubes are still being 
>manufactured and sold, whereas transistors have pretty much gone by 
>the wayside.
So ICs are full of little bitty tubes?  



I see from the callbook that you were born in 1950, so you are hereby
granted some slack.  Sooner or later though, I hope you'll come
around.  Tubes have their place - I have an Alpha 91B that has two
great ones in it.  I also have a Kenwood TS-850S that if it had to
have tubes, it would be as big as a house and VERY unreliable.
There's a place for both.

73, Bill W7TI

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