Viva Tubes, Easthampton supplier of vacuum tubes for vintage and high

David Mell is the owner of Viva Tubes in Easthampton, a vintage vacuum tube and audio parts business. (Don Treeger / The Republican) 1/11/2023

EASTHAMPTON — In a world ruled by the microchip, David Mell's customers at Viva Tubes crave the soft electric hum and warm audio tone of the old-fashioned analog vacuum tube.

Tubes — simple devices that control electric current flow in a high vacuum between two electrodes contained in glass — are 120-year-old technology that started fading from everyday use when translators came out in radios and televisions starting in the late 1950s.

But Mell, the 33-year-old founder and owner of Viva Tubes in Easthampton, said tubes still power most high- to moderate-end guitar amps.

"Walk into any guitar store, like Music Center, and any amplifier costing more than a few hundred dollars will have tubes," Mell, a musician himself, said. "Not a lot of people realize this who are not in the industry or the musician. The sound is better than solid-state electronics. The difference is night and day."

Prices on tubes range from less than $20 to $100 or more each.

Owners of other high-end audio gear, recording equipment and home stereo amplifiers where the retro circuitry earns the "hi-fi" name also use vacuum tubes.

"Anybody who is obsessed with sound and tone," he said, "will want something with tubes."

Mell also sells to collectors of vintage pre-1970s gear, including those big cathedral-style tabletop radios from the "Fibber McGee and Molly" era of the 1930s.

"We really do have everything," Mell said. " And we are truly one of the only tube companies in the country that does."

There are hundreds of brands and models, he said. That includes some with colorful names like the German brand Telefunken.

Those customers include famous names in music, or at least the guitar techs and sound engineers who work with big names.

"It wouldn't be right of me to name drop," he said.

A Wilbraham native, he started the business about 15 years ago as a teenager scrounging old tubes at estate sales and flea markets and selling them on eBay and Amazon.

The lightbulb moment — lightbulbs are similar to vacuum tubes after all — for Mell was when he realized he could source newly manufactured tubes and sell them online.

"I can order in bulk and not find tubes a few at a time," he said.

But Russia's war with Ukraine has complicated Mell's supply chain.

Electro-Harmonix is American-owned but its tubes are made in Russia. That factory supplies 80% of the world's tubes.

JJ Electronic tubes are made in Slovakia, totaling 15% of the supply. The Slovakian factory is now on a two-year back order due to disruptions in getting product out of Russia.

Psvane of China makes 5% of the supply but is growing, Mell said.

Viva Tube is more than just a reseller. Mell and his staff test and match tubes with each other.

"All these tubes are imperfect analog devices," he said. "The electrons are physically moving around and they all put out slightly different voltages and wattages."

Which means customers rely on Mell to sell them a matched set of tubes so their equipment sounds its best.

Matching and swapping out tubes is a hobby into itself, he said, with customers obsessively swapping out tubes and perfecting their setup.

"Some say ‘this is my set of tubes for jazz, this is my set of tubes for rock’, It's that obsessive," he said.

The process harkens back to the free tube testing machines that used to sit in hardware and appliance shops so folks could troubleshoot their own TVs and radios.

"I have one of those vintage testers in our little retail area," he said.

Viva now has five employees and Mell is eyeing a possible expansion to a building he just bought on Main Street in Greenfield. It's the former Heritage Bank for Savings building and most recently Greenfield Community College's downtown campus at 270 Main St.

The former Greenfield Community College building at 270 Main Street in Greenfield. (Hoang 'Leon' Nguyen / The Republican)

Mell bought the building from the Greenfield Community College Foundation, which sold it for $700,000 at the end of December. The college announced about a year ago its intention to move the conference center and workforce development initiatives from Main Street to its main campus a few miles west.

Proceeds will go to the foundation, finding scholarships and programming at Greenfield Community College.

"We are excited there are new owners," said MJ Adams, community and economic development director for Greenfield. "He's investing in a property that's vacant." It's also intriguing to have a buyer with such a unique business, she said.

Mell said he's not 100% sure he’ll move Viva from rented space at 142 Pleasant St. in Easthampton to Greenfield.

"My first priority is to find a tenant(s) and we will see if Viva fits in," Mell said. "The idea that I really want to get out there is that I’m starting at square one and therefore have many options. I am able to be extremely flexible with renovations, room sizes, lease terms etc. I can see this being leased to one large tenant or I could also see it becoming mixed-use with a variety of different businesses. With a focus on interesting small businesses, working professionals, artists, etc."

Mell's building is across Davis Street from the former Wilson's Department Store building. Wilson's will be redeveloped into housing and an expanded Green Fields Market co-op.

The Downtown Greenfield Alliance has been working with urban planning firm Innes Associates to refine downtown revitalization efforts. The Greenfield Planning Board is hosting the in-person workshop on Jan. 19 at 5:30 p.m. at the John Zon Community Center at 35 Pleasant St.

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