Electron Vacuum Tubes
Vacuum tubes, or valves, are the glass amplification devices that are the heart of tube-based audio equipment. Different types of tubes, such as the 12AX7 in preamps or the EL34 in power amps, have distinct sonic signatures and are chosen by designers and users to shape the final sound. As user-replaceable parts, they offer a direct way to tune and maintain your gear. This page is an index of current and “New Old Stock” (NOS) tube manufacturers and suppliers.
Hi-Fi brands in the category
Summary information and image
Direct links to official websites
Audio Note
Audio Note (UK) builds complete valve-based playback systems, from cartridges and digital sources to amplifiers, cables and loudspeakers. The UK company led by Peter Qvortrup introduced the OTO PP integrated amplifier in 1991, and that long-lived model still captures its preference for simple circuits and serviceable products. Single-ended triode amplifiers, custom output transformers and internally developed resistors, capacitors and wiring are central to the range. Its DACs deliberately avoid oversampling, digital filtering and conventional reconstruction filters, pursuing timing and musical continuity through a different engineering route. Products are organised by levels from Zero to Five, with models such as Meishu and Ongaku showing how parts quality and transformer design are progressively developed. The name here refers specifically to Audio Note (UK), not Kondo Audio Note Japan.
Audion
Audion brought single-ended triode amplification to a wider European audience before the modern valve revival was fully established. David Chessell and Swedish designer Erik Andersson founded the British company in 1987 after working together at Audio Innovations. Their early triode amplifiers led to the Silver Night monoblocks, developed around the newly available 300B tube in 1992 and built without global feedback. The present catalogue includes Sterling, Silver Night, Golden Night and Golden Dream power amplifiers, plus line and phono preamplifiers, with 300B, 2A3 and other output-valve options serving different loudspeakers and power requirements. Graeme Holland has owned the company since 2000, while Andersson has continued to contribute designs. Hand wiring, transformer quality and deliberately direct circuits are the technical core of Audion’s identity.
EAT
European Audio Team, or E.A.T., is a Slovak high-end analogue brand founded by Jozefina Lichtenegger, with production links spanning Slovakia, Prague and Austria. Its story began with vacuum tubes rather than turntables: after work connected with VAIC, Lichtenegger commissioned 300B and KT88 valves from the former Tesla operation in Prague and established E.A.T. around 2003. She later acquired the tube-making assets, preserving specialist tooling and knowledge that few modern audio firms possess. The first E.A.T. turntable, the substantial Forte, followed in 2009 and set the direction for a range that now includes Fortissimo, F-Dur, Forte, C-Sharp, C-Major and B-Sharp decks, alongside proprietary tonearms, cartridges, phono stages, record accessories and valves. Designs use high-mass platters, isolated motors, carbon-fibre structures and carefully controlled bearings in different combinations rather than repeating one platform cosmetically. The company also develops E-Glo valve phono electronics, connecting its original tube expertise with vinyl replay. E.A.T.’s real individuality lies in that continuity: a founder-led analogue company whose knowledge runs from the cartridge and arm through the deck, phono stage and vacuum tube.
ELROG Tubes
ELROG is a German vacuum-tube marque whose lineage combines specialist electron-tube manufacture with modern high-end audio triodes. The original ELROG company was founded in Lüneburg in 1986 by Dr Matthias Schaffernicht, drawing on experience connected to Telefunken’s Ulm tube works; it later adapted its production knowledge to audio types including the ER211, ER845 and a thoriated-tungsten ER300B. After insolvency in 2016, amplifier designer Thomas Mayer acquired the brand, machinery and know-how and founded Deutsche Elektronenröhren Manufaktur GmbH, rebuilding the production line in Hagenow and redesigning tubes for improved consistency and durability. The 2016 date therefore marks the successor manufacturer, not the origin of ELROG. These are hand-built directly heated triodes for single-ended and specialist valve amplifiers, with filament material, electrode geometry, vacuum processing and individual testing central to performance. A critical current fact must also be stated: ELROG has announced that tube production has been permanently discontinued, with the company due to be dissolved at the end of 2026; remaining stock is being sold with warranty support. This is now a finite-production brand, not an active expanding catalogue.
JJ Electronic
JJ Electronic is one of the relatively few European companies still manufacturing a broad range of new-production vacuum tubes. Jan Jurco founded the business in Čadca, Slovakia, in 1993, building on regional knowledge and machinery associated with the former Tesla tube industry. Its catalogue covers small-signal valves such as ECC83/12AX7 types, power tubes including EL34, EL84, 6L6 and KT families, and rectifiers used in guitar amplifiers and hi-fi equipment. JJ also produces electrolytic capacitors and complete valve amplifiers, giving the company experience beyond simply relabelling imported tubes. Development, glass and electrode assembly, evacuation, testing and matching are handled within its manufacturing operation, although individual product specifications and recommended operating points still need to be followed by equipment designers. Musicians know JJ as a practical source of replacement output and preamp valves; audio enthusiasts encounter selected and matched sets in new and restored amplifiers. Its importance is industrial as much as sonic: JJ maintains specialised production skills for components that modern solid-state factories generally do not make.
Psvane
Psvane is a Chinese specialist in current-production vacuum tubes, established in 2009. Its importance is breadth: it supplies replacement valves for familiar amplifiers and also produces premium versions of directly heated triodes and power tubes used in ambitious single-ended and push-pull designs. The catalogue spans small-signal types such as 12AX7, 12AU7, 6SN7 and 6SL7; output valves including EL34, KT88 and KT120; and classic triodes and rectifiers such as 300B, 2A3, 211, 845 and 274B. Different series allow Psvane to change materials, internal geometry, base construction, testing and cosmetic finish without pretending that every tube bearing the same electrical type is identical. Horizon and Art cover broad replacement and upgrade needs; Treasure and Acme move into more selective premium construction; Legend and Summit include statement versions of key triodes and power valves. Many designs consciously address circuits created around historic Western Electric or European tube types, but they are modern Chinese production rather than original Western Electric valves and should be described that way. Factory burn-in, measurement and pair or quartet matching are particularly important because an amplifier depends on close electrical behaviour across channels and output stages. Psvane states that its operation includes more than 300 production workers and over ten senior engineers and can manufacture roughly 1.6 million tubes annually; those are company figures, not independent performance guarantees. The brand’s genuine value is that it keeps a wide range of valve amplifiers serviceable while continuing to develop higher-grade versions for listeners and designers who want more than basic replacement stock.
Sophia Electric
Sophia Electric specialises in the vacuum tubes and amplifiers that keep directly heated triode audio an active engineering tradition. Its best-known work centres on the 300B, with different tube constructions developed for listeners using single-ended amplifiers. The American company grew from two East Coast custom amplifier businesses. In 2001, Richard Wugang and his family supplied capital and industrial resources, and Wugang brought together additional designers and engineers to expand the range. His interest in vintage amplifiers helped shape a catalogue that connects classic circuit ideas with newly produced components. Mesh-plate 300B tubes were an early signature, followed by Princess and later Classic designs. Rectifiers form another important speciality: the 274B family has progressed through several versions, including the Aqua series. Small-signal tubes such as the 6SN7 and output types including KT66, KT88 and EL84 broaden the applications beyond 300B amplification. Sophia also developed complete amplifiers, including 300B designs drawing on the Western Electric tradition, and its historical catalogue extends to speakers and audio capacitors. The significance of the brand lies in this link between complete equipment and the parts inside it. It serves owners maintaining or developing existing valve systems as well as listeners seeking a finished amplifier. Different tube types and versions have their own electrical requirements, so the range is best understood as a set of specific components for compatible circuits, each with a defined role in the audio chain.
Takatsuki
Takatsuki Electric Industries Co., Ltd. is a Japanese company primarily known for manufacturing high-end vacuum tubes, specifically the TA-300B and TA-274B, which are highly regarded in the audiophile community. While the company’s website doesn’t provide extensive historical details about their audio-specific activities, their long history (since 1946) and specialization in vacuum tube production suggests a deep expertise in this area. The focus on the 300B and 274B, two classic and highly sought-after tube types, indicates a commitment to traditional audio technology and high-fidelity sound reproduction. The lack of other audio products on their website suggests a deliberate focus on perfecting these specific tube models, rather than diversifying into a broader range of audio components.
Tianjin
Tianjin is the Chinese vacuum-tube maker better known internationally through the Full Music and TJ Full Music names. Its factory was established in Tianjin in 1998, and the company—Tianjin Quanzhen Electron Tube Technology—built its reputation by keeping classic audio valves in production while developing distinctive versions of its own. This is not a general electronics label: thermionic tubes for hi-fi amplifiers are the centre of the business.
The catalogue covers directly heated power triodes such as the 300B, 2A3, 211 and 845, rectifiers including the 274B, and smaller signal and driver types. Full Music became especially recognisable for carefully finished 300B variants and mesh-plate constructions, giving amplifier builders and owners alternatives to both scarce old stock and ordinary mass-market replacements. Different plate structures, bottle shapes and premium series are intended for particular electrical and sonic priorities, so the exact tube must always be matched to the amplifier’s operating conditions rather than chosen by appearance alone.
Tianjin’s importance lies in manufacturing a component on which an entire amplifier may depend. Tube consistency requires control of cathode materials, grids, vacuum, alignment and ageing—not merely copying the outline of a historic valve. The Full Music name has therefore earned a place among listeners who use single-ended triode amplifiers and among designers who still create new circuits around century-old tube principles. The brand connects China’s modern specialist manufacturing with one of audio’s most enduring technologies.
Western Electric
Western Electric occupies a rare place where the history of telecommunications and modern high-end audio genuinely meet. Established in 1869, the company became the manufacturing arm of the Bell System and developed tubes, transformers, amplifiers, microphones and cinema sound equipment at a scale that helped define twentieth-century electrical communication. Its most famous audio product is the 300B directly heated triode, introduced in 1938 for dependable service in telephone repeaters. Long life, linearity and carefully controlled manufacture later made the tube a cornerstone of single-ended hi-fi amplification. After the original corporate structure disappeared, entrepreneur Charles Whitener acquired rights and manufacturing assets and re-established Western Electric tube production in 1996. Today’s company operates in Rossville, Georgia, where it manufactures the 300B using specialised tooling, materials and process knowledge recreated from the historic product. The 91E integrated amplifier brings the valve into a contemporary design with patented electronics intended to obtain useful power while preserving single-ended operation; additional tubes and audio products are being developed around the revived factory. The distinction between legacy and continuity matters. Modern Western Electric is not the uninterrupted Bell System manufacturer of 1869, yet it is more than a licensed logo: it has rebuilt American production around the original tube’s drawings, equipment and quality controls. Few brands can connect present-day listening so directly to hardware once engineered for national telephone networks and early cinema sound.