What is this 'tube' in a 65 Amp London Pro?

[martin manning]

These things have been discussed before, I think, and they have been around for a number of years. Decent preamp tubes are available as new production, and in general they are not a problem in cost or reliability, so I don't see the attraction. You can google around and find user reports that describe mixed results. I wonder what the "anode" curves look like?

[tubetek]

In a notoriously difficult V1 (think BOOGIE MKllb where they used a FETRON) it "could" be just the ticket; sound quality (subjective) is another issue... I'm currently running one in an original MKllb; still searching for a real tube that's both quiet enough AND toneful. I keep a couple in the bag for repairs, tests, etc.

[xtian]

Ha. I just received my $20 Cheerson CX-10 micro quad copter. It's a blast! But no replacement for my all-tube quadcopter.

[JMFahey]

guitarmike2107 wrote:
Nice engineering but I would like to see there market research that said this is a product that the masses want, most people I know are trying to get more valves in, not take them out, surely the only reason to have them is as a backup in the toolbox?

The masses want what's "common knowledge" which more often than not is what has been spoon fed them by massive publicity.
Tubes came back from the grave basically because they became cheap and plentiful thanks to Communist Countries spewing them out by the millions in exchange of a couple bucks ... literally.
Sound aside, if they cost $30/60/120 (inflation adjusted prices) like 30 years ago, you'd see them only at Museums, plain Economics 101.
Just see what's happening with that tube factory recently reopened in USA ... 120$ a tube?

I was thinking the exact same thing, kind of backwards marketing. Most people even kids with something ss dream of a tube amp.

See above.

Never ever met anyone with a tube amp that dreamed of ss.

Well, I did
In the 70's a tube amp was what old players used, always humming or buzzing, often farting or broken sounding, way too large and heavy for power output, Musicians were fed up with tubes.
Poor maintenance had a lot to do with it: tubes (which were expensive) were replaced only when they failed to lit up, dry caps were behind hum/buzz/instability and leaky PIO caps shifted bias horribly, leading to mushy or farty sound (think poorly set up noise gate).
Of course, you need a greybeard like (62 y.o.) me to remember that.
There's a reason (SS) Peavey or Acoustic were all over the place , selling tons of amps: loud, clean, reliable, inexpensive, lightweight.

EDIT:
tubes are killer doing certain things, no doubt about that, but Tube sillyness got so overblown that things like this happen: it's a cheaply made 5.1 Home Theater system, offered by scammers as if it were sky high quality stuff worth thousands of $ ; truth is it's hardly worth more than $150 or $200.

What does it display prominently so "the masses" instantly know it's high quality?

Why, *tubes* of course.
3 of them , count'em .
At the end, the naked truth, the PCB carrying those tubes ... notice anything unusual?
I mean, besides the blue Leds lighting them from below.

EDIT 2:
Oh well, Forum software inverts the picture order.
No big deal, just start from the last one up.