On the Volga, key to rock 'n' roll sound faces ax

SARATOV, Russia — A once-flourishing Soviet scientific hub, this decayed-but-reviving city perched on a wide stretch of the Volga River is an unlikely battleground for the future of rock and roll.

But battleground it has become, one electrifying rock guitarists — from the greats to the greenhorns — from around the world.

Leading the charge on one side is a 64-year-old bluesman turned businessman, Mike Matthews, the American creator of some of rock and roll’s most famous sound effects. On the other side is the sometimes shadowy world of Russian business.

The prize battle is a vacuum tube factory called ExpoPUL, located on a corner of a disused former military-industrial complex in Saratov.

For musicians, ExpoPUL represents the raw, reverberating sound of true rock and roll guitar.

For the Russian company targeting ExpoPUL for a takeover, the factory and its production capabilities constitute a prime piece of real estate.

“They picked a fight with the wrong group,” said Matthews, speaking by phone from his office in New York. “We’re going to fight, and we’re going to win.”

Rock and roll legend
The story begins with the solid state semiconductor (aka the transistor).

Many music companies, along with TV and radio manufacturers, long ago replaced tubes with the more reliable transistors. And though guitarists, who covet the broad range and “warmth” of tube amplifiers, were horrified by the new sound coming through their speakers, there was little they could do little to keep the vacuum tube industry from collapsing.

That's where the Bronx-born Matthews came in. Sensing business opportunity and a way to save classic rock and roll sounds from extinction, he bought ExpoPUL in 1999.

“All the companies that made vacuum tubes in the West had closed,” Matthews said. “It’s an archaic business. It’s a niche business.”

In seven years, Matthews quadrupled production and more than doubled the workforce at ExpoPUL. Today the factory supplies more than two-thirds of the world’s tubes used for music, sold to music giants like Fender, Peavey and Korg. Matthews’ $500,000 investment has paid off handsomely, with ExpoPUL selling $600,000 a month in tubes.

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