Vacuum Tube-Making on the Comeback in the US

American-made vacuum tubes are poised to make a comeback onto the market this summer.

As the rising cost of vacuum tubes manufactured mostly in China and Russia increasingly cramps audiophiles, musicians and others seeking a particular audio quality, one factory in the US southeast is preparing to bring tube-manufacturing back home.

With assembly line workers getting down to business inside his Western Electric plant in Rossville, Georgia, entrepreneur Charles Whitener expects to restore American-made vacuum tubes to the worldwide market in just a few months. According to reports on such websites as wired.com and audioexpress.com, Whitener's goal is to resume production of the single-ended triode tube known as the 300B, a design that dates back to 1938. His plant, known as the Rossville Works, is home to the Western Electric vacuum tube brand which Whitener bought in 1995 from AT&T.

This summer he expects to introduce a reimagined version of the audio vacuum tube known as the 12AX7, a dual triode tube commonly found in amplifiers for guitars. According to Wired.com, it will be the first US-made tube in decades and it is expected to be followed by numerous other US-made models.