The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain’s largest private employer with over 250,000 employees in the 1980s, and at its peak in the 1990s. In the audio world the KT66, KT88 and ECC-type vacuum tubes of GEC are highly regarded for their tonal qualities.
M-OV
The Marconi-Osram Valve Company (M-OV) was a British manufacturer of vacuum tubes. It was a subsidiary of the (British) General Electric Company (GEC). It was named after the Marconi Company and Osram, which were two major manufacturers of vacuum tubes.
The company was founded in 1919, when the valve making interests of GEC (Osram) and the Marconi Company were combined. In 1929, Marconi sold its interest in the company to the Gramophone Company , a predecessor of EMI. In 1939, M-OV acquired two disused cotton mills at Shaw, Oldham where it established a shadow factory to produce valves and cathode ray tubes. The two mills named Cape and Duke, were bought from the Lancashire Cotton Corporation. Cape mill was used as the main production facility at Shaw, with the adjacent Duke mill remaining mostly unused.
EMI sold its share of M-OV to GEC in 1956. The company continued to manufacture valves at the Brook Green Works, Hammersmith, London, until 1988. M-OV branded new old stock valves, continue to be highly prized by enthusiasts of the valve sound.
