# Electro Home/Rogers tubes - info?



## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

I just scored the tubes from an old stereo that was heading to the dump. They are mostly made in Canada Electrohome and Rogers tubes. 2 el84s, 2 12ax7s a 12au7 and a bunch I've never seen before. So, are these good? Are they worth anything? Anyone want the oddballs, one is a 6BL8 mullard (I think, it's made in England). I can read the numbers off the rest of them if you're a tube stereo person.

Thanks in advance for any input.

Matt


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## dcole (Oct 8, 2008)

Worth checking into. I believe Rogers was a re-brander of tubes. I have a few Rogers rectifier tubes that are re-branded Mullards. Can you identify any of the markings on it as production codes?


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## dtsaudio (Apr 15, 2009)

Rogers was a re-brander. Their tubes came from various manufacturers including Mullard, Amperex and even Westinghouse here in Hamilton.
FYI that is the same Rogers as today's cell phone company


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## nonreverb (Sep 19, 2006)

Indeed, many Rogers tubes are Mullard. Electrohome, or at least the one's I've seen, have been Canadian and USA exclusively.



dtsaudio said:


> Rogers was a re-brander. Their tubes came from various manufacturers including Mullard, Amperex and even Westinghouse here in Hamilton.
> FYI that is the same Rogers as today's cell phone company


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## dcole (Oct 8, 2008)

dtsaudio said:


> Rogers was a re-brander. Their tubes came from various manufacturers including Mullard, Amperex and even Westinghouse here in Hamilton.
> FYI that is the same Rogers as today's cell phone company


Not to take this to far off topic but Westinghouse actually had a tube manufacturing plant in Hamilton?


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

dcole said:


> Not to take this to far off topic but Westinghouse actually had a tube manufacturing plant in Hamilton?


Absolutely! It was on Longwood Rd. Employed about 3500 people

Manufacturing was shut down in the late 70's. The factory was taken over by Camco to build stoves and stuff. Now it is a Medical research centre.

I worked for the tail end of that operation. In the late 80's it was a warehouse in Stoney Creek, with a half dozen or so old folks desperately hoping they could last long enough to get their pensions. I was hired through a brief hole in the hiriing freeze. They bought tubes on the surplus market and rebranded them.

This was a huge comedown from the "glory years", where tubes were the standard technology. In those days the factory might crank out 5-10 thousand 12AX7s a month! Similar quantities of tubes for television sets and radios were also produced.

At the end we might have averaged 500 12AX7s per month and ZERO tubes for televisions or radios. The world had gone solid state.

Still, it was a fabulous experience for me! I learned so much from those old folks, especially the engineers.

One day I got a call from an audiophile. He wanted to know if I could supply him 12AX7s made by Mullard. Our policy was to rebrand ALL tubes as Westinghouse, no matter where we had gotten them. He was insistent so I went and asked an engineer if we could do this and if there really was a difference.

He looked at me for a moment as if I had grown a second head and then burst out laughing! He said that there were people out there spreading this malarkey that had no more science to it than astrology and that we would NOT play that game!

I went back to the customer on the phone and politely explained our policy. I also told him that our engineers did not ascribe to the theory that different tubes of the same model had different tone. He refused to believe our engineer and called someone else.

What can you do? I always admired that engineer for his integrity but the myth has spread too wide and to strong to fight with many people.

Meanwhile, a lot of tube sellers use that mojo to fleece a lot of people...

Wild Bill/Busen Amps


I worked for the tail end of that factory. In the late


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## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

I have driven by that old place so many times, never knew it was once a tube factory.


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

Well the Rogers tubes say "Made in Canada" on them, so I don't know what the story is. I can say they and the Electrohome el84s sound glorious! Luckiest find I've ever made.


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

mrmatt1972 said:


> Well the Rogers tubes say "Made in Canada" on them, so I don't know what the story is. I can say they and the Electrohome el84s sound glorious! Luckiest find I've ever made.


If you had time you should have pulled the whole amp section out of it. Sounds like it was fairly recent unit as far as tube stereo's go. Would have made a good guitar amp

I scored an old cabinet radio today. 1946 Phonola - the company that became Electrohome Canada. All Westinghouse "made in Canada" tubes in it though. It's a beauty


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## dcole (Oct 8, 2008)

Wild Bill, that must have been a great experience. I unfortunately missed the tube era being born in 1983. I have had to spend most of my time learning vacuum tubes on my own. At least I got an electronics technologist diploma to help me out.


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## Davestp1 (Apr 25, 2006)

I have 3 or 4 NOS/NIB Rogers 12ax7's that have Heerlan (Netherlands) etched codes and a few pulls that have the small "r" etched code indicative on an Ontario (Hamilton) made tube. If yours are either one of these they would be a good, rugged well made tubes


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