Can someone shed some light on this piece of insanity?

[eleventeen]

What is it about Western Electric stuff? Here's the fabled WE-274B rectifier tube. Now obviously you wouldn't use this in your Sooper Reverb, but in your zirconium-plated chassis ultra rare Hyper-linear output stage dual monobloc 12 watt suspended triode amps, why go cheap with your full-wave rectifier and use a $8 5U4GB? Unthinkable! The 2% difference in performance between a $600 WE-274B and an ordinary 5U4 is gonna stand out like a sore thumb whenever the oboe section plays B-flat!

[tubeswell]

Wow! I got some western electric 12AX7s from a 2nd-hand shop down the road about 6 months back. $20 for 2 (Also got a telefunken 12AX7 from the same shop ($20)) Hmmm... eBay here I come

[eleventeen]

W-E also made power amps, typically great big theatre-sized affairs w/2A3, 811, 807's, and they go for huge money. And if you have a PAIR of them, stand back! I saw a pair, each with external power supply chassis, definitely nice looking, clean, looked like grey Navy gear circa 1955. Probably 12" x 19" each amp and each p/s. They went for about $2500 plus about $200 shipping.

I mean, I'm pretty taken aback by GZ34/5AR4 in Mullard going for $150+, but with those, you are at least paying for some some specific piece of performance; the contolled warmup & very low drop across the tube. Not that you can't get that w/5V4 which *still* command a fairly steep price....

But performance-wise these W-E 274B (octal base) are practically indistinguishable from a dumb, stupid 5U4, perhaps the most common rectifier tube in existence. I don't get it.

The 274"A" has a 4 or 5-pin older style base. Oooooooooooooooohhhhh......!!

[mresistor]

LOL  LOL      

just thought it was funny man.... sorry./....

[RicharD]

Western Electric used to destroy their gear when pulled from service.  This is what makes it so rare.  Western electric wrote the book which all others copied.  I recently parted with a pair of 121A line amplifiers.  I didn't want to but let's just say it covered my daughter's college tuition, a noble cause IMO.  It sold for a lot more than I'm going to mention because it was fully functional.  The guy who brokered the deal also put it through it's paces.  His exact quote was, "It sounded fine but the mother-ship didn't land."  It went to a collector of WE gear which is a better place than my garage + my daughter stays in school. 

[bluesbear]

"let's just say it covered my daughter's college tuition"

Definitely a worthy cause! I sold an old Martin and an early '60's ES335 for the same reason. She's a college professor now so I guess I can say it was worth it.... and she actually still appreciates it!
Dave

[eleventeen]

Bwahahahahahhahahahahahahhahahahahaha

No sleazy octal "B" version here, kids, this is the fabled "A" version with a 4-pin base that, when compared to all other tube rectifiers, is like listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir compared to the Chipmunks! The secret is, those extra unused pins suck the vitality right out of your music, leaving you dissatisfied and wanting more. 

[The_Gaz]

My friend sitting next to me just cracked up at OP  - he recently sold an engraved base version of this tube (slightly earlier model) for $1300.00!! Long story short: the guy burned up the tube, and Ebay took the money back from my friend! Imagine trying to explain to an Ebay claims employee that the tube tested good on your calibrated Hicock 533  They both ended getting their money back in the end. Sure enough when my friend received the tube back in the mail the filament was clearly fried. He thinks the guy either tested it in his own tester on the wrong setting, or simply put it in the wrong circuit. Neither my friend or I can believe that people may this much money for antique tubes, but he's glad they do because it happens to be his livelyhood