Of all tubes power tubes are probably the least reliable.
My suggestion is start with a tube phono section if it is to be a stand-alone from the line stage (which IMO is a bad idea but that is a topic for another thread). This might sound a bit odd, but if you can audition them ahead of your purchase, listen for the ticks and pops and go with the one that has the least. Many ticks and pops are generated by the phono section although they might sound for all the world as if they are on the LP surface. Its far easier to design and build a tube phono section that does not have this problem than solid state. The other thing to keep in mind is that if the front end of your system does not deal with the signal correctly, you can have the best amps and speakers in the world and you won't be able to correct what the front end got wrong.
Of course if the phono section is integrated into a good line stage as a full function preamp, so much the better as you have less connectivity issues!
My suggestion is start with a tube phono section if it is to be a stand-alone from the line stage (which IMO is a bad idea but that is a topic for another thread). This might sound a bit odd, but if you can audition them ahead of your purchase, listen for the ticks and pops and go with the one that has the least. Many ticks and pops are generated by the phono section although they might sound for all the world as if they are on the LP surface. Its far easier to design and build a tube phono section that does not have this problem than solid state. The other thing to keep in mind is that if the front end of your system does not deal with the signal correctly, you can have the best amps and speakers in the world and you won't be able to correct what the front end got wrong.
Of course if the phono section is integrated into a good line stage as a full function preamp, so much the better as you have less connectivity issues!