05 / 17 / 06

Sovtek According to the New York Times, the ExpoPul vacuum tube manufacturing facility in Russia is under attack by what owner Mike Matthews call the mob. Mr. Matthews purchased the tube manufacturing facility years ago and sales have steadily grown from 40,000 tubes a month in 1999 to 170,000 in 2005. During a telephone interview, Mr. Matthews has said “It’s rock ‘n’ roll versus the mob. I will not give in to racketeers.” With stories of the mod, shady Russian police wearing masks to hide their identity, and bribes that can reach all the way up the Russian judicial system, it makes one wonder who actually controls Russia. Yuri Alekseyev, a chief ministry investigator was quoted by the Interfax news agency, said “Dozens of major deals for the purchase and sale of companies take place in Russia every month. The process is ever more frequently accompanied by gross violations of the law.” In typical mafia coercion tactics, Russian Business Estates director Vitaly V. Borin desires purchasing Mr. Matthews’s ExpoPul factory for pennies on the dollar to, in turn, sell to another investor. Of course Mr. Borin also claims to be using only legal tactics to achieve his goal. It appears ExpoPul is now under attack as Mr. Matthews is refusing to sell the factory as reports include the electricity being shut off and invaders using jackhammers raised dust to contaminate the factory’s clean rooms. The situation grows ever more complicated with each passing week. As for world tube production, the Russian facility is said to manufacture well over half of new vacuum tubes worldwide including those under the brand name Sovtek.

In related news, Russia has become a mixed place to conduct business, including the high-end audio industry where there has been mixed reaction worldwide between the two major importers that have caused a single yearly major show to become two separate shows. Taking sides with either show can be quite a decision on various levels, with some manufactures and press members choosing to not attend either show due to various concerns and fear.

That looks authentic to me. I have an autographed poster.

That’s what I’m here for. I’m going to have to write up a page for my EH site on transistors used in Big Muffs.

Slacker

2N5133 and fs36999 are both negative ground. fs37000 is positive ground.

More info on this here: http://electroharmonix.ronsound.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19&Itemid=45

I also use the EH pedal bag for my bass setup and it’s worked very well so far. Rather than mount my pedals directly to the bag, I cut a board to fit and covered it with carpet. I have a mixture of pedal brands I use and all are secured to the carpeted board with velcro. Definitely makes an easy and inexpensive way to transport my pedals.