From what I remember it was a quarterly publication and the size was 5.5x8.5. Might have been SP or could have just been another passing mag.
I am finding out more about Lucas. 🙄 Waiting on email response now...
I do remember hearing something about an audio mag publisher committing suicide back then but it's all a blur.
SP was a full-sized 8.5 x 11. You might be thinking of the "VALVE" newsletter put out by Dan Schmalle prior to and during the early stages of Bottlehead, which started out in that small folded page size. Archives are here:
VALVE the magazine of astounding sound
Later articles are here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20040723101114/http://www.valvediy.com/articles.html
VALVE the magazine of astounding sound
Later articles are here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20040723101114/http://www.valvediy.com/articles.html
There was a thread here discussing the suicide. I can't find it now, maybe removed at the family's request? Financial hardship was mentioned.
I have some copies of VTV around here somewhere. They were a full size magazine and the cover was black, white and one or two colors, not a full 4 color print job.
Read these threads.....
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tube...ers-com.html?highlight=handwound+transformers
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubes-valves/28636-transformers-read-me.html?highlight=
I wrote for VTV back in the day (300B pushpull amplifier design article) and can confirm it was a great magazine, and also recommend Sound Practices (mentioned in VTV) which is available on CDrom from Joe Roberts.
Sound Practices was the seminal magazine in the very early 1990s that got the SE/high efficiency/full range driver movements rolling here in the USA. The articles were mostly written by people one would recognize as influential today including my friend Arthur Loesch. (He died last year)
Charlie's death was a great tragedy, the reasons behind it are complex. I do not know the entire story and will NOT answer questions about it.
Sound Practices was the seminal magazine in the very early 1990s that got the SE/high efficiency/full range driver movements rolling here in the USA. The articles were mostly written by people one would recognize as influential today including my friend Arthur Loesch. (He died last year)
Charlie's death was a great tragedy, the reasons behind it are complex. I do not know the entire story and will NOT answer questions about it.
Following-up (although I know we're drifting OT here...), do you know anything about the Australian outfit "Black Art"? They seem to be advertising output transformers that are quite similar to the Lucas product, handwound, and requiring payment by credit card or Paypal up-front.
This disclaimer on their "Terms" page was especially interesting: "[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Black Art Audio accepts no responsibility whatsoever for the accuracy of data or descriptions of goods in the catalogue or other literature supplied by the Black Art Audio".
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]W.T.F?
In other words, if what you get doesn't perform per their catalog spec, then it's tough cookies??? Very curious...
[/FONT]
OTOH - they seem to have been around for a while (since at least 2002), possibly they are "clean as the driven slush". The pre-payment (and especially the disclaimer) was what raised my antennae - other similar vendors I've dealt with will take the charge-card number at order time but don't actually charge it until the product ships.
And of course, if the product doesn't perform per the catalog spec then other vendors are willing to accept responsibility or at least work with the customer...
Also curious that the URL is http://www.jeack.com.au/~lucas/opt.htm...
Dunno Kyle (read your post after posting this) - possibly not. Looks like Lucas might be an international operator, tho', if he's still in operation.
Last edited:
Does Black Art still exist? Their website is still there but hasn't been updated in over 10 years.
I seem to recall that it was issue 12.. Those amps now live in Maine where they get a lot of use I'm happy to say. 😀
It's not really fair to say "he alone made it so good" There are a number of us that put long hours and a lot of effort into making VTV what it was. Eric, John, Earl, Jack, Kent and others are responsible for each issue being as good as it was. There was the fortunate combination of talent, experience, and hard work that somehow made those issues come together. Charlie may be gone and we all miss him, but he was always the first to insist it was a group effort.
Here is a quick history of how VTV got its name.
Vacuum Tube Valley was formed by Charlie Kittleson, Eric Barbour and myself. I was living in San Jose at the time, Charlie was living in Belmont (on the S.F. penninsula), and Eric had just moved to Sunnyvale. Eric didn't have a car, so we rented office space which was within walking distance of his day job. This was on Duane Ave., near Lawrence Expressway and 101 in Sunnyvale. It turns out that the window in our office faced the (rather impressive) front of AMD's corporate headquarters. Since this was in the heart of Silicon Valley, we decided, as kind of a joke, to name the magazine Vacuum Tube Valley. This was in early 1995, and the web was young enough for us to get the URL Under Construction. I taught Charlie how to use Quark Express on the Mac, and he did the layout using it.
The main reason why the production values of Vacuum Tube Valley came out so well was that Steve Parr, a tube audio and radio collector, who also worked at a printing company in the East Bay, took the pictures and "baby-sat" each issue as it went through the printing process. He is a perfectionist, and it really showed.
In 1999 I moved to Nevada, and around the same time Charlie, then later, Eric moved to Lakeport, California. We still published VTV, but it became harder to get "synergy". I resigned my position as Technical Editor after a disagreement with Charlie on editorial independence, and Lynn Olson took over that job. I had no hard feelings towards Charlie, and was really saddened when I heard of his death. I don't know what eventually happened with his estate and who now owns the rights to VTV.
- John Atwood
Vacuum Tube Valley was formed by Charlie Kittleson, Eric Barbour and myself. I was living in San Jose at the time, Charlie was living in Belmont (on the S.F. penninsula), and Eric had just moved to Sunnyvale. Eric didn't have a car, so we rented office space which was within walking distance of his day job. This was on Duane Ave., near Lawrence Expressway and 101 in Sunnyvale. It turns out that the window in our office faced the (rather impressive) front of AMD's corporate headquarters. Since this was in the heart of Silicon Valley, we decided, as kind of a joke, to name the magazine Vacuum Tube Valley. This was in early 1995, and the web was young enough for us to get the URL Under Construction. I taught Charlie how to use Quark Express on the Mac, and he did the layout using it.
The main reason why the production values of Vacuum Tube Valley came out so well was that Steve Parr, a tube audio and radio collector, who also worked at a printing company in the East Bay, took the pictures and "baby-sat" each issue as it went through the printing process. He is a perfectionist, and it really showed.
In 1999 I moved to Nevada, and around the same time Charlie, then later, Eric moved to Lakeport, California. We still published VTV, but it became harder to get "synergy". I resigned my position as Technical Editor after a disagreement with Charlie on editorial independence, and Lynn Olson took over that job. I had no hard feelings towards Charlie, and was really saddened when I heard of his death. I don't know what eventually happened with his estate and who now owns the rights to VTV.
- John Atwood
I did a few tube cut-aways for Charlie; one was a 6BQ5, below. IIRC, done in the late 90's.
It was a real treat to draw something I have such a passion for. Still have the de-constructed tube; revealing it's dimensions for me to draw.
Big Kudos to Charlie; but also to John, Steve & Eric for starting such a great reference magazine.
Best- Kent
It was a real treat to draw something I have such a passion for. Still have the de-constructed tube; revealing it's dimensions for me to draw.
Big Kudos to Charlie; but also to John, Steve & Eric for starting such a great reference magazine.
Best- Kent
Attachments
Most of his estate was/is on Ebay under the " tube valley" seller name.Lots of really nice stuff
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...rcyShhy-lKJ4LVpXTYjBB6g&bvm=bv.54934254,d.dmg
Last edited: