Electro-Harmonix has been making electronic sound processors and guitar effect pedals since 1968 when the company was founded by Mike Matthews in NYC.  But another side of Electro-Harmonix is their vacuum tube manufacturing.

Electro-Harmonix, one of the largest manufacturer and distributor of vacuum tubes in the world, saved the vacuum tube from eventual extinction when in 1998 they purchased ExpoPul, a Russian factory located in Saratov, Russia.  The ExpoPul factory accounts for two-thirds of the world’s production of vacuum tubes and in 2006 Samara Business World sued Electro-Harmonix in a Russian court to try and grab control of the factory.  Full Story…

12AY7 Tube

ExpoPul originally open in 1953 and is one of the few Russian electronics companies that remains.  As we all know the vacuum tube is an essential ingredient to the much venerated tube amp sound.  Outside of tube amps and high-end stereos there isn’t much demand for the vacuum tube.  But ExpoPul has been thriving over the past decade as demand has increased, driven by companies like Fender, Marshall, Ampeg, Vox, Mesa Boogie and a boat-load of your favorite boutique amp builders.  These amp builders all buy tubes through Electro-Harmonix, the distributor of the Russian-made vacuum tubes.

In 2006 Electro-Harmonix founder Mike Matthews was made an offer he could easily refuse - $400,000 for a factory that produced a turnover of $600,000 a month.  But after declining the offer he began to receive threats and started having trouble at the factory.  Electricity was cut-off and intruders used jack-hammers to create dust in clean rooms.

Here’s a 2006 video about the case:

The case went to trial in Russia.  According to the Electro-Harmonix website “Samara Business World (SBW), wanted to use the Russian court to force us to hand over the property upon which our tube factory stands.”  As an indication of the types of tactics SBW used at one point in the trial SBW produced a forged letter that characterized Mike Matthews as a spy for the US government.  Unfortunately the forged letter that used US Ambassador William Burns as the author was dated from a time that Mr. Burns didn’t work as a US ambassador and the case has been throw out of court.  Unfortunately SBW has filed new claims, but for now our beloved vacuum tubes from Russia are saved.

Source: Electro-Harmonix Blog