Its very simple. POWER sells. Sweep tubes have that extra output for the
bigger price tag. A $9.00 sweep tube in the 70's cost a dealer $3.00. Cant
imagine what the low cost would be to a manufacturer. Bottom line for all
companies......PROFIT.......PROFIT........PROFIT.

--
Regards,
Gary...
"RadioGuy" wrote in message
...
The thought came to me the other day whle thinking about the cost of
6JB6's
nearly $100 for a set; I paid $18.00 for a matched set of three at AES
back
in the 1970's and I got plenty of spares. Why did Drake use those cheap
ass
sweep tubes in their final instead of the old standard 6146 to begin with?

Sure, back then it seemed in vogue to use sweep tubes in amateur gear
(yea,
sure, Swan gear...) but as I recall, we thought that Drake was kinda
cheesy
to use those tubes anyway. I gonna stick my neck out and say Drake
engineering wasn't the end all that the youngsters think nowadays.

(Yes... I have a complete Drake station (including amplifier)---the whole
line-up in pristine, vitrually unused condition in crisp factory cartons
including accessories, catalogs and a handful of the right-angle
Switchcraft
microphone (black cap) and key (red cap) plugs that Drake originally
supplied not that PL-whatever. Original owner---me---so it's not sour
grapes.)

RG