[Amps] 3-500zg tubes

[Tom Hix]

I have been reading with much interest the comments about the 3-500z tube 
failures.
I sell 3-500zg tubes. I sell a lot of them. I was very reluctant to start 
carrying the tubes because the only decent wholesale price I could find that 
a small tube retailer like myself could afford was the tubes made in China.
I had so many request for the tubes I finally decided to start carrying the 
3-500zg tubes....even if they were made in China.
I had heard a lot of horror stories about the failure rate on the Chinese 
tubes...and from what I have been able to learn the horror stories were very 
true.....BUT....they were only true for the tubes imported for about the 
first year to 18 months or so.
It seems the Chinese were not acquainted with anything along the lines of 
"QUALITY CONTROL" in these early tubes. They were a real "HORROR STORY" But 
later on as the Chinese became tired of getting case after case of their 
tubes returned because they were "JUNK", they evidently finally decided it 
was much more profitable to build a single good tube than it was to build 
many "JUNK" tubes.
After the first year to 18 months of these "JUNK" tubes, they finally got a 
decent quality control program started in their tube factories, and it 
really paid off for them.
When you sell tubes, or anything for that matter,it is much more profitable 
to sell a product that is going to give your customer a good value for his 
money and has a good history of dependability. Believe me it is a real 
costly hassle to sell a tube that is no good. It kills all your profit and 
it just takes up too much of your time, so no one who sells tubes wants to 
sell a tube he cant depend on, and is likely to be returned causing more 
shipping cost which will eat up the small profit you get these days on a 
tube sale.
I am very glad I was not in the tube business when the Chinese first started 
selling their 3-500z tubes in the USA. I am sure it had many a tube seller 
pulling his hair out with all the failures they were having back then.
I am very pleased to say that the Chinese have really turned their quality 
control problem around and that for the most part I would say the tubes most 
of their plants are making today compare very favorable to the tubes that 
Eimac made during their prime.
I am not saying there are not a couple of Chinese tube manufacturers that 
dont still have some problems, but all in all you will find the 3-500zg 
tubes coming out of China today to be for the most part, excellent tubes.
I am sure there are some folks out there that will say "I bought a Chinese 
3-500zg last year and it failed after 2 days" or "A friend of my 2nd 
cousin's by his 4 wife had a brother who bought one of them Chinese 3-500zg 
tubes and it was a piece of junk" Well all I can say is stuff happens....I 
dont care if you are talking about Eimac, Amprex, or Taylor tubes, there are 
going to be good ones and bad ones right out of the box....but thank 
goodness the Chinese tubes I am seeing these days are very very dependable 
tubes. If they weren't I could not afford to sell them.
That's just my opinion for what it's worth.
73
Tom....W4TH



Tom's Tubes: Specializing in Amateur Radio Amplifier Tubes, Sockets, & G3SEK 
Triode/Tetrode Boards and Kits.   http://www.tomstubes.com

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