[Amps] 572B's WARNING

[Osten B Magnusson]

STAY AWAY FROM RICHARDSON ELECTRONICS, ENGLAND      www.rell.com 

572B's are sold here in Europe by different dealers, the tubes are distributed by Richardson Electronics in England, and they claim that it's Cetron tubes manufactured for National. Sorry to tell, but it isn't the truth - it's newly produced Chinese tubes re-badged by Richardsons as National and also have ''Made in USA'' printed on them. So be careful, before buying. I have been offered, not by Richardsons, but by the distributor to get a full refund if sending the tubes back. Richardsons does not even answer e-mails... 

This is part of an e-mail from a serious distributor in England:

     >>Hello Osten,
     >>Taylor is a brand name for RF parts but these can be re-badged any type!
     >>We have National 572B which are badged by Richardsons which is the main
     >>outlet for Eimac, but need not be Eimac !

There are original Cetron NOS 572B's available here in Europe, have a look at   www.clhi-fi.it   It's in Italian, but click on ''Surplus'' and than ''avanti'' to go to page four. There are no prices on the WEB, but in an e-mail they asked 500 ''euros'' for a matched pair, plus postage. That's totally USD 645 for a matched pair!!!   I know that there are also NOS Cetron 572B's available in USA, but unfortunately we have to pay more postage, customs, 25 percent VAT etc. so here we always try to buy from a European Community country, this was no customs and other extra charges to pay.

Probably time to get all ''glass tubes'' amplifiers marked ''junk'' and in the future only get amplifiers with ceramic tubes!

73 de Osten SM5DQC    e-mail:  sm5dqc at algonet.se