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United Electronic Tube?

tcdriver

tcdriver

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
I bought these tubes about twenty years ago. They seem to be tubes that were originally manufactured by RCA, GE, Sylvania and possibly others and then later relabeled “United Electron made in U.S.A.”

I am wondering if anyone knows the true story behind this United Electronic Tube company?

United5751.jpg
 
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Even the boxes bear a striking resemblance to GE. Do the tubes have the "etched dots" that we see on so many GE varieties? Those are awfully pretty and I bet they sound good as well.:music:


Is that a Heathkit 151 there?
 
The United Electronics Tube company was headquartered in Newark NJ, founded in 1934, and was one of the first six or seven original producers of transmitting power tubes. They became part of Ling Electronics in 1958, and may have 'farmed out' much of its tube production (and expanded the types made available) to many different manufacturers at that point.

Their tubes are generally marked 'UNITED ELECTRON Made In U.S.A.' or 'UNITED ELECTRON Made In England'. I've also seen them labeled 'UNITED NATIONAL Made In England'

I'm not 100% certain of the true manufacturer of certain type tubes, but it was most likely GE, RCA, Sylvania, and Mullard. (and possibly Westinghouse)

That's all I have on them.

. . Falcon
 
The real thing

jaymanaa said:
Even the boxes bear a striking resemblance to GE. Do the tubes have the "etched dots" that we see on so many GE varieties? Those are awfully pretty and I bet they sound good as well.:music:
Click to expand...
I think that the similarities between the United Electronic Tube (UET) box and the GE box are no accident. Some of the actual tubes in the boxes are indeed GE as evidenced by the presence of the date code dots. However, some of the tubes clearly are (were) RCA or Sylvania.

Below is a photo of some real GE tube boxes with the wanabe in between.
RealGE.jpg


jaymanaa said:
Is that a Heathkit 151 there?
Click to expand...
Yes, that is the backside view of my AA-151.
 
FalconEddy,

Thanks for the information. The United Electronic Tube may be the last vestiges of the United Electronics Tube company that you referred to. I am pretty sure the tubes I have are rebranded. That is, they were originally branded by GE, RCA, Sylvania or others and then at some point “cleaned” and painted with the United Electron brand and then boxed in the United Electronic tube boxes.

tc
 
tcdriver said:
FalconEddy,

Thanks for the information. The United Electronic Tube may be the last vestiges of the United Electronics Tube company that you referred to. I am pretty sure the tubes I have are rebranded. That is, they were originally branded by GE, RCA, Sylvania or others and then at some point “cleaned” and painted with the United Electron brand and then boxed in the United Electronic tube boxes.

tc
Click to expand...

I can't quite make out the type and color of plates on that tube in your photo, but, it also appears to have two mica spacers and not three.

Is that correct?

And what shape are the getters??
 
Correction: The original tube pictured did indeed have three levels of micas. In the new picture below it is tube number 5.

Here is a poor photo of six 5751 tubes marked United Electron. These are a representative sample of the types of tubes I see when I open the boxes.
Six5751.jpg


Let me describe the tubes starting from left to right:

1. Grey plates, three levels of micas, the getter frame is obscured by the getter. The micas from top to bottom are single, 3X and 2X thickness. This tube was originally branded Sylvania. The original etched 5751 are stencil numbers.
2. Grey plates, three levels of micas, the getter frame is a round halo. The micas from top to bottom are single, 3X and 2Xthickness. The original etched 5751 is non-stenciled type with USA underneath.
3. Grey plates, two levels of micas, the getter frame is a round halo. The micas from top to bottom are 3X and 2X thickness. The original 5751 is stencil type with USA followed by a triangle underneath and a series of dots underneath the USA.
4. Grey plates, two levels of micas, the getter frame is a round halo. The micas from top to bottom are 2X and 2X thickness. The original 5751 is stencil type with USA followed by a series of dots underneath.
5. Black plates, three levels of micas, the getter frame is not visible. The micas from top to bottom are equal thickness. There is no original etched numbers on this tube.
6. Black plates, three levels of micas, the getter frame is a rectangle. The micas from top to bottom are single, 2X and 2X thickness. There is no original etched numbers on this tube.
 
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Excellent close-up photos!

They all appear to have been relabeled in 1987; and with the exception of one tube, look like GE manufactured 5751's.

Nice tubes.

. . Falcon
 
In order: GE, Sylvania, GE, GE, GE, GE. By the time this company was re-branding tubes in the 80's, it was more than likely seconds and returns. That explains the mix of vintages. The close resemblance to GE boxes was probably a ruse to confuse buyers, playing on their familiarity with GE labeling. These, like a lot of "Standard Brand" tubes are likely to be noisy or to have other defects like severely mismatched sections. On the other hand, they could be perfectly fine re-branded surplus, bought up after the vacuum tube was thought to be just about totally extinct. I have some standard brand tubes that were re-labeled Telefunkens and Amperex Bugle Boys. Evidently the washer wasn't working, a generic 12AX7 appears right over top of the Telefunken label. These hiss pretty bad. The Bugle Boy 6BQ5's are fine, but tested low right from the box.
 
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Thank you audiodyssey and FalconEddy for the additional information. My next step may be to figure out how to test / sort these tubes.
 
United Electron 6V6GT

I am resurrecting this old thread in hopes that someone can tell me what manufacturer made the United Electron "made in England" 6V6GT tubes for that company.

Anyone with any ideas on this??

Thanks in advance!
 
audiodyssey said:
In order: GE, Sylvania, GE, GE, GE, GE. By the time this company was re-branding tubes in the 80's, it was more than likely seconds and returns. That explains the mix of vintages. The close resemblance to GE boxes was probably a ruse to confuse buyers, playing on their familiarity with GE labeling. These, like a lot of "Standard Brand" tubes are likely to be noisy or to have other defects like severely mismatched sections. On the other hand, they could be perfectly fine re-branded surplus, bought up after the vacuum tube was thought to be just about totally extinct. I have some standard brand tubes that were re-labeled Telefunkens and Amperex Bugle Boys. Evidently the washer wasn't working, a generic 12AX7 appears right over top of the Telefunken label. These hiss pretty bad. The Bugle Boy 6BQ5's are fine, but tested low right from the box.
Click to expand...

They really do look like GE and Sylvania tubes,but I'm puzzled by something. By the 1980s,companies like GE or Sylvania would have pretty much gotten out of tubes entirely,wouldn't they?It would seem to me that these tubes may well have been the complete stock of everything the companies had,and were dumping them on a third party company,just to get rid of them.
 
Big Mac said:
I am resurrecting this old thread in hopes that someone can tell me what manufacturer made the United Electron "made in England" 6V6GT tubes for that company.

Anyone with any ideas on this??

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

"England" is typical of Brimar tubes, possibly GEC. Philips/Mullard tubes generally say "Gt. Britain" or some variation thereof. Post some pictures of the tubes and markings for greater clarification. :thmbsp:
 
While there appears to have been a time when United rebranded tubes, like Realistic/Lifetime, I believe these grey and orange "United" tube boxes are now being reproduced to deceitfully sell chinese and russian junk.

If the OP's tubes are over 20 years old, his USA-branded United tubes are most likely legitimate. And the photo of the tube itself looks legitimately USA, too.

But just like the light blue "International Servicemaster" boxes, older red and black "Standard Brand", and the purple/red/white "Pro/Comm" boxes, this style of "United" box is seemingly ever-more common and frequently packed with recent-production Chinese and Russian tubes, pawned off as "Made in England" and "Made in USA".

I recommend inspecting any "United" tube very closely before buying.
 
Regarding the "United Electron 6V6"...

I can't post a picture but I can describe it...

Black base and black glass, except for the top of the glass which is clear..

Around the black base is: United 81-28 6V6GT
Electron (all writing in yellow)
Made in England

Any ideas about this critter??
 
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