Signal tube versus power tube, sound impact?

Some tough supply chain decisions were made during the pandemic. NOS tubes are going to get harder to source every year. Hopefully CJ has a plan for that inevitability.

Start with the small tubes/preamp tubes. If you go with power tubes first, you will correctly wonder if you are hearing them for what they are...and the answer is no. Marginal signal tubes fed to exceptional power tubes stands a better chance of remaining marginal. An exceptional signal tube sent to marginal power tubes stands a better chance of improving things. If you feed your amplifier the best signal possible, then you will be hearing them at their optimal. My 2 cents and most likely...you will change both, otherwise, it will feel like a Larry David skit.

I guess "expensive" is relative. Brent's prices aren't out of line if you are willing to buy genuine vacuum tubes built to exacting standards from a time when the manufacturing of valves was at its apex....I believe a NOS Mullard or Bugle Boy 12ax7 is worth a significant premium over a JJ or Electroharmonix...

Manufacturers must spec a tube that is currently manufactured and readily available in bulk. In addition, with the uncertainty surrounding Russia and China trade channels, a European built tube like the JJ is both politically expedient and more reliable. Be thankful manufacturers dont go out and buy up what little remaining NOS tube stocks are in existence. If they did, then there would be multiple threads about greedy manufacturers “stockpiling” all the great tubes and driving the prices through the roof or better yet, company A has 1,000 NOS Mullards on the shelf and won’t sell me two backup quads.