[Amps] KAPUT 8877'S -DISPOSAL

[Jim Thomson]

Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2017 09:01:01 -0400
From: Jeff Breitner <lists at rudn.com>
Cc: amps at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [Amps] KAPUT 8877'S -DISPOSAL

On Wed, Mar 22, 2017 at 9:22 PM, Joe <nss at mwt.net> wrote:

> What do you mean
>
> Econco is gone?
>
> Joe WB9SBD
>
>
>

Perhaps absorbed?

http://www.cpii.com/product.cfm/11/23/74

Never used their rebuilds, but I did ship a lot of old tubes to them.

##  Econco is alive and well.  Econco was bought out by Eimac several years ago.
At the time, both Eimac + Econco were in the tube re-building business.  Eimac
bought them out, but retained the Econco name. Eimac got out of the tube rebuilding business,
and left that part to the Econco division.  At the time, Eimac would rebuild a tube for 60%
of  the cost of a new tube.  Econco would rebuild the same tube for 50% of the cost of a new
tube.  Dunno how much Econco charges these days.  Part of it depends on whether you are sending 
in a tube to be rebuilt, or buying a re-built tube from econco.   Econco will also pay for dud tubes,
as they  rebuild them, then re-sell them as  rebuilt.    Rebuilt tubes were always stamped with an R,
and came with a full warranty, same as a new tube.  

##  Along came Svetlana, with slightly lower prices for a new tube vs Eimac.   EG: an Eimac
3CX-3000A7 was $710.00  at the time, and a Svetlana 3CX-3000A7 was $640.00. The
Svetlana cane with a  3 year, 12K hour warranty.  Problem is, nobody can rebuild a Svetalana
tube, including Svetlana.   I know several broadcasters who ended up with a pile of Svetlana
tubes, that they thought for sure, somebody would eventually figure out how to rebuild. Never happened.   

##  Dunno if any of the chinese tubes can be re-built.  But they are so cheap to begin with, my guess is
the Econco rebuild price is  aprx the same as a new Chinese tube.   Also factor in shipping both ways
for the rebuilt tube you sent in, vs  shipping just one way for the chinese tube. 

##  baffles me why Eimacs prices have gone through the stratosphere, probably has to do with
Richardsons.  I will defer to Carl on that one.  Its all a scam anyway. Back when Svetlana started
selling tubes in NA, I was told the manufacturing cost for a new 3CX-3000A7 was just $89.00  
The factory then doubled the price to the  importer in Huntsville Ala.... who jacked the price up to
$460.00  to the retailer.... who jacked the price up to $640.00  for the end user. 

## Either way, you want adequate protection for your expensive tubes. 

Jim  VE7RF