I have VTL 450MKII Mono Blocks. The amps have Auto Biasing and Fault Protection. Foibles: replacing tubes and heat. My previous amps were VTL 300 Deluxe Mono Blocks. Foibles: Biasing tubes once an month or more based on usage, the Wing "C" tubes I preferred went out of production, I had events where a tube flashed and the amp need repairs. Heat. The VTL 450MKII, over the years I own them have only needed a power tube replacement every once in a while or tube and fuse. Have the features of the 450 been worth the cost? For me Yes. Also, I tried to go back to SS a few times which turned out to be a costly mistake.
I had tube amps for nearly 20 years with minor foibles. I still have a tube guitar amp and bass amp - while my preferred bass amp has a tube preamp running 6SL7 and even a tube rectifier. I always use Deoxit gold on the pins to ensure good contact - helps reduce noise. Also good on interconnects. DeoxIT® Gold, #G100L-2DB (Brush) - CAIG I have found tubes to be quite robust, particularly in my bass amps which get transported around a lot yet are quite reliable. I have had the odd power tube give up - but not a big issue. I have recently swapped to Luxman class A in the Hifi and am enjoying that. May go back to tubes one day.
Never had that experience; been spinning only CD's since 1985. I only do digital (since 85) so I can't offer anything. My Technics deck was happy with SS.
I have had something "tubed" since my California Audio Labs Alpha DAC. My first amp was a used VTL , what a nightmare..... almost never went back to tubes after that amp. I was using a few different B&K amps to tide me over , then I bought a new Anthem Amp 1 . That was a great sounding EL34 amp that was pretty reliable. I had a few bad tubes here and there but it was a good amp and Chris from SF /Anthem was kind enough to send me a small supply of cathode resistors should a tube take another one out. It was easy and honestly the amp sounded great so it was a minor inconvenience Fast forward a decade or so and several different tube and SS amps later I am using a pair of Quicksilver Mid Monos. Incredible amps for the money, in fact I didn't realize how good they were until recently when I paired them with an incredible preamp. I have been lucky, I've had very few problems with tube amps and preamps. I always use the correct tube and if I hear any noise, I get to the root of the problem and that tube is gone..... I am having a 300b built , it will have new production Western Electric 300b's and some high quality NOS Amperex drivers and NOS rectifiers. I expect it to be every bit as reliable as the QS.....
Having tube gear is definitely worth the foibles that come along with it. I briefly went down the SS amp route and after 3 months ended up going back to having a tube amp. Both sounded great but there's more interaction with having a tube amp, the maintenance and care involved make me feel more connected to it and I end up loving the thing more.
Are those bugle boys d getters pretty quiet? Thinking of picking up a matched pair for a quicksilver phono pre.
I've owned tubes for many years with no desire to return to SS even as I undergo another system upgrade piece by piece. My Rhea has just rec'd the Eclipse upgrade and prior to that I had tube rush when I first bought it 10+ years ago. A quick return to Aesthetix solved that issue. I still own the ARC LS-15 and changed to Tungsram 6922's from the stock Sovteks years ago. My Manley Neo Classic Mono blocks blew a few of the GT EL-34's they were initially stocked with but they advised me to switch to EH 6Ca 7's and I have not had a problem since but there was a cost for 20 of those puppies. These amps now ship with Tung-Sol EL-34B's which I may swap out just to update but I am not familiar with their sonic signature. So like many before me understand that "foibles" come with the territory and as I look back I was not annoyed by any of it!
I've had my Berning power amp for over 20 years now, and no problems whatsoever outside of replacing an output tube a few times over that span. On and off on an almost daily basis -- it fires up and gives much pleasure each time without issues. I've had my tubed Tavish Design phono preamp for 5 years now with no problems at all.
4 tube amps here, 5 Class D's, 1 Class A SS with 3 more waiting assembly. I've had 2 issues in 20 years of owning tube amps. A KT88 red plated and I didn't recognize it in time and had a meltdown and has been since fixed. And we also had an ASL1006 give up the ghost after many years of service. It now sits in the barn. Tubes and SS get equal playtime. Class D is for those scorching hot summer days.
I'm always having minor problems with my tube amps, usually involving the bass. Before I went to SET amps, the bass always sounded mushy and would sometimes pop or thump, so I went to bi-amping with an SS amp on the bottom. That solved that problem, and the bass sounded tighter. When my active crossover started going nuts for the second time, I went back to passive crossovers and SET amps. The sound with SET amps, when everything is working right, is stunningly the cleanest with the most definition I've heard. But for whatever reason... maybe the vibration from playing the system loud or heat from tubes, eventually distortion seems to creep into the lower end. Usually I find a solder joint that has come loose and have to resolder it. Other than that, a tube can go bad, so I always keep spares on hand to be able to identify the culprit with swapping out one at a time. Only other problem I find, and it happens a lot, is that a cable/socket connection is not making perfect contact, and I have to move them around until they do. It's an absolute pleasure when everything is working right, but when you run tube gear, you know that will only happen in spurts, and you will have problems that need be identified and addressed.
I hope this doesn't require a new thread as this is another type of foible but I am investigating rolling the input/driver sections of my power amps which now ship with 2x Electro-Harmonix BH7 in the driver stage and 1x Tung-Sol 12AT7 large plate for the input stage. This potentially will be the first change for these stages in 15+ years. Not only do I not know the "sonic signature of the aforementioned tubes, I don't honestly know if changing these out will even have an impact. Most folks it seems roll pre-amp tubes or output tubes in power amps of which you already know I have done but I'd love some feedback on this "foible."
I agree. Countless reports of tube amp problems were the reason I stayed away from them for so many years. Not able to completely resist those glowing glass bottles, I dabbled a bit, first with a tubed CDP, followed by a hybrid amp, then tubed DAC. The transformer went bad in that amp after a few years, otherwise I had no trouble. About 4 years ago and after a great deal of consideration, I took a chance on a Decware SE84UFO. It was on my radar for a long time. Besides the reported sound quality, I liked the lifetime warranty, point-to-point wiring, auto-bias, and only 4 easy-to-source tubes to deal with. I’ve had 1 power tube go bad and, most recently, a rectifier (which took out an easily replaceable fuse). Otherwise it’s been a joy .. few foibles and fabulous sound quality.
Current foibles is due to my lack of knowledge, if someone says a tube measured 97/65 and 96.5/65 what does that actually mean?
The one thing I can share with some tube owners and owning them since the 80's, Not just biasing the tubes but they have to be within a close matched range of readings atleast 8% or lower,, especially if there are 2 or more tubes assigned per channel. Theyre really relying on each other to be a consistent. However the new adaptive auto-bias is a bit more better because it adjust itself per tubes "on the fly". I had my share of experience with blowing output tubes left and right and I was insisting more in manual biasing. Since when I went to auto-biased, my amp may not be in the maximum desirable settings but it definitely minimized all that tube wear. The second one is "heat". Proper ventilation is a must whether its a solid state or tube amp. Do what you can to make your amp breathe and run warm to just normal operating temperature. In my early days I always want the amp running hot because it sounds better. Might be true and it also compromises the life span of my amp. So it was an easy choice for me.. Try to get a tube amp that the tube is sitting on a ceramic base and fully external (out of the chassis) Think about first if you wan to get an amp that the tube is sitting on a PC board.
No offense meant, truly, but you arent afraid of a catastrophic failure of one or all of them and what it might do to the rest of the amp, let alone your living quarters?
I’ve been using tubes from the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s for the last 20+ years. If they are in good condition to begin with, they are probably more reliable than new tubes.
I ran a Fisher KX90 amp built in the mid 60s with what I assumed were the original Allied tubes in the output. I thought I'd replace the output tubes with some new Russian built Sovtek tubes. The new tubes were maybe a month old when one of them red plated; scared the crap out of me. I put the original tubes back in and everything was fine. So much for new tubes being better. I eventually bought a set of NOS RCA tubes and all was fine.
