Discolored getter flashing (brown or black marks) does not mean that a tube was used. This fiction is believed by both uninformed buyers and seasoned tube jockeys. This myth seems credible because some new tubes have perfect shiny mirror getter flashing; therefore the assumption is that brown or black stains in the getter flashing must indicate a used tube. The myth says that the more brown/black discoloration, the “more used” the tube is. Wrong.

Excerpt from Electronics Magazine

The purpose of the tube getter and flashing is to remove gas inside the tube envelope during manufacture. This discoloration myth can be quickly debunked by reading the article in Electronics magazine, October 1950, entitled “Getter Materials For Electron Tubes”. The article explains that if the getter is vaporized very slowly during the manufacturing process, “the first barium atoms evaporated will absorb the gas present so that the remaining getter is deposited in a very high vacuum, exhibiting a shiny mirror.” If the getter was flashed very rapidly during manufacturing, then “the getter mirror will be discolored due to the dispersion of the barium.” The article then explains that the discoloration “does not mean that the getter is contaminated, but merely that the deposit is finely divided and therefore absorbs light.”

I have taken a numbers of photos to demonstrate this myth, and also provide photos that demonstrate how the flashing looks when a tube is actually used. Let us proceed…

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Occasionally I plan to write about a few of my favorite items from my personal collection. Here is an NOS NIB NEW* genuine Tucker Corporation auto radio, built for the 1948 Tucker Torpedo car.

Tucker Corporation was the company founded by Preston Tucker to sell his revolutionary 1948 Tucker Sedan, known by most people as the Tucker Torpedo. This is the genuine Tucker factory radio for the Torpedo, NOS NIB NEW.

This radio was found from a very elderly man who had “put a down payment on the car” and someone told him that he “had to buy the radio right now” (even though the Tucker Torpedo had not been built yet!)

Obviously, the Tucker Torpedo was never built, so the old fellow was left with a new car radio that he could not use. So, it sat on a garage shelf for more than 50 years until I purchased it from him.

Here are some interesting facts about the radio….

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Special Note for customers in ITALY: In our 10 years on eBay, we have shipped to almost every large country in the world.  More than 5,000 foreign shipments, with almost 1,000 of them to Italy.  The only country where shipments seem to “get lost” is Italy.  We love our Italian friends.  Very friendly, very good people.  Unfortunately, the Italy Customs Office and Postal System has become very unreliable, and shipments to Italy mysteriously “go missing” too often. This does not happen in ANY other country that we ship to, and we ship to Europe and Asia every day.  Some of our new Italian customers do not understand how unreliable the Italian Customs Office and Postal System has become, and they mistakenly blame us when the package does not arrive.

Therefore, starting Jan 01, 2008, all shipments to Italy must be via Express Mail International.  Sorry, but if there was a better solution, we would use it.  We truly value our many friends in Italy — this is not your fault, but we cannot be responsible for the unreliability of the Italian Customs Office & Postal system.

It is quite common to find tubes that have a “brand name” printed on them, but were actually manufactured by a different company. Yes, you can easily find “RCA” tubes made in a Sylvania factory, “GE” or “RCA” tubes manufactured in a Tung-Sol plant, etc.

So how do you know which company actually manufactured your tube? Most tubes have a Factory Code on them, an EIA code (Electronic Industries Association), and that code tells you the answer.

Here are the most common factory code numbers found on tubes:

• 111 = Amperex
• 158 = DuMont
• 188 = GE / KEN-RAD (188-4, 188-5, 188-20, etc.) [info]
• 210 = CBS Hytron [info]
• 247 = National Union [info]
• 274 = RCA [info]
• 280 = Raytheon [info]
• 312 = Sylvania [info]
• 322 = Tung-Sol (USA)
• 323 = United Electronics
• 336 = Western Electric
• 337 = Westinghouse
• 722 = Sylvania-manufactured for OEM equipment makers (Allen Organ…)
• 1022 = Fisher branded Mullard/Telefunken/Amperex
• 1109 = Raytheon (Japan)
• U.S.A.3 (found on the glass envelope) = Tung-Sol
• Xf1,Xf2,Xf3,Xf4 = Mullard
• 8I = Toshiba (Tokyo Shibaura Electric)

Examples:

(1) you have an “Admiral” tube with “188-5″ codes. GE made your tube.

(2) You have an RCA 5881 with “U.S.A.3″ code on the glass. Tung-Sol made your tube.

There are many other “clues” also. For example, many Sylvania 12AX7A tubes have the tube designation printed in white-gray letters, vertically stacking all three designations of “12AX7A ECC83 7025″ (click here for example). Only the Sylvania factory used this exact marking. I recently saw a guy sell a 5-pack of NOS “RCA” 12AX7A tubes on eBay, and all had the clear-as-a-bell Sylvania markings. Hence, they were actually Sylvania manufactured.

When I have more time, I will continue to add more clues here to help you determine who manufactured a tube when it does not have a factory code number.

[Update: May 24, 2008]

A rebuilt ECM solved the problem.  While troubleshooting, I noticed that the ECM would not store the error codes.  This was an obvious sign of a faulty ECM, so I purchased a rebuilt ECM.  Problem solved, and rather cheaply also.  This is the benefit of having skills to troubleshoot your own “equipment.”  Also, it is VERY important to buy a rebuilt computer from a known reliable vendor.  It seems as though a lot of these ECM “rebuilders” are not shipping properly rebuilt units.

After my original post below, I parked the car for the winter (like I do every year, from November to March.)  Once I fired the car up this year, the problem was worse — the symptoms would occur on every drive.  This is when I noticed that the ECM would no longer store any error codes, and would only flash “1, 2″.  Hence, the problem was rather easy to diagnose once this behavior was consistent.

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(Original Summary of problem, posted October 24, 2007)

I have a mint 1993 Corvette, garage-kept, purchased new by me in 1993, with only 10,000 miles, Automatic. It has developed a problem. While driving, it will occasionally flash the Check Engine light, and sometimes (simultaneously) flash the `Service ASR` light, flash “SYS” on the LCD dash.  When the problem occurs, “Service ASR” lights, the car may give a hard jerk, momentarily stall, etc. When this happens, it may be hard to keep the car running, and if it stalls, hard to restart. Let the vehicle sit a little while, maybe 20 minutes, and it will start and drive normally (like no problem ever happened). The problem has not occurred on very short trips (5 minute “trips-to-town”). Typically occurs after 12-15 minutes of driving.

I am currently switching the website to a Blog format.

As part of the changes, in addition to finding quality tube audiophile items for sale, I will add my own commentary. Comments will always be found under the BLOG category, and if the commentary deals with another category (such as Tube Testers, for example), I will post under that category also.

Usually my commentary will discuss vintage electronics — i.e. technical discussions about item servicing, …opinions about vintage items, modern Technology (Home Entertainment, PC’s, etc.), and possibly many other subjects. No holds barred!