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The tube is now ready to be aged to further activate the cathode. They are placed into ageing racks, where the filaments are brought to voltage and B+ voltage is applied to the anode (plate).
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The light bulbs you see behind the tubes indicate tube healthiness. If a lamp is low or the not on at all, the tube is immediately rejected.
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I thought this process was so cool, I had to get just one more shot. The tube is then taken over to a proprietary computer tester to be fully analyzed. Here Hewlett Packard equipment performs a myriad of tests on the tube to insure its quality. Once the tube passes all tests, the tube is assigned a serial number, packaged with test sheets and placed into inventory.
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Here we have the final product. The finest 300B on the planet.
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The amount of care and attention to detail found at this plant is absolutely amazing. These tubes are actually built better than the older 300Bs. To my surprise, some of the manufacturing processes are greatly improved, making for a more consistent product. The upcoming tubes from Western Electric are the 274B, KT88 (GOLD LION), and 308A among others.
Charles G. Whitener has not only maintained the tradition of quality at Western Electric, but has improved upon it. There is no better 300B anywhere.
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