Ask Slashdot: How Do You Build Your Own Vacuum Tubes?

Could you beat wireless headphones by creating your own DIY home audio system? Two weeks ago one Slashdot commenter argued, "to have good audio that is truly yours and something to be proud of, you need to make your own vacuum tube amplifier and then use it to power real electrostatic headphones over a wire." And now long-time Slashdot reader mallyn is stepping up to the challenge: I want to try to make my own vacuum tubes. Is there anyone here who has tried DIY vacuum tubes (or valves, to you Europeans)? I need help getting started -- how to put together the vacuum plumbing system; how to make a glass lathe; what metals to use for the elements (grid, plate, etc). If this is not the correct forum, can anyone please gently shove me into the correct direction? It needs to be online as my physical location (Bellingham, Washington) is too far away from the university labs where this type of work is likely to be done.
Slashdot's covered the "tubes vs. transistors" debate before, but has anyone actually tried to homebrew their own? Leave your best answers in the comments. How do you build your own vacuum tubes?

Comments

No no no.

[fyngyrz]

You don't need vacuum tubes. That's such a horrible audio myth. They glow in the dark and look nice. Aside from that, they produce more distortion, more noise, use more power, are more fragile, and have shorter lifetimes than solid state electronics. They do not sound better, given $X spent on whatever, presuming some reasonable amount of tech is returned per dollar.

OTOH, if you just want to make vacuum tubes because.... you want to make vacuum tunes... have at it :)

Re:No no no.

[TechyImmigrant]

The reason real guitarists prefer tubes is because of the distortion. Solid state just doesn't compare.

Well these days they do compare. Humans can't distinguish between an amp modeled on (for example) a Kemper modeling amp and the tube amp it modeled.
A few years ago it was not the case, but DSP always wins in the end.

Re:Yeah, no

[FaxeTheCat]

There are a few videos on Youtube where some pretty experienced people try to find what is a real tube amp and what is a Kemper emulated amp. They fail. Not just fail. They FAIL. And admit it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Re:Yeah, no

[judoguy]

And I would give the room more emphasis. I spent a lot of time building out my listening room. I have decent but fairly modest equipment but a kick ass room acoustically. I've been to friends homes with $40,000 worth of two channel stereo equipment in a living room and it was largely wasted. The sad fact is that it's usually way easier to spend money on equipment than to build out a room. I was very fortunate in that I was building a new house so I could design a space. Very few people have that luxury.