I've seen 20 year old amps running on original tubes. Heck, I've seen 40 year old tube amps running on the original tubes. In any case, I wouldn't worry too much about tube costs as a miantenance issue, but if you're coming from the SS camp, it should be a consideration.
I've seen sytems with SS pre's and tube amps that were great. That being said, if you like tubes you will likely end up with a tube pre and tube amps as they have similar attributes. Tube pre with SS amps is both popular and helps with tougher speaker loads while adding some tube magic.
In any case, if you buy used to try, you can almost always get the same money back out that you have into the piece.
My persoanl preference is to have tubes everywhere, but also remember not all tube amps sound the same and some amp/speaker combinations will be a problem as mentioned earlier. But oh, the fun of the journey!
And, of course you can listen in the dark and enjoy the
tube glow.
RFG
I've seen sytems with SS pre's and tube amps that were great. That being said, if you like tubes you will likely end up with a tube pre and tube amps as they have similar attributes. Tube pre with SS amps is both popular and helps with tougher speaker loads while adding some tube magic.
In any case, if you buy used to try, you can almost always get the same money back out that you have into the piece.
My persoanl preference is to have tubes everywhere, but also remember not all tube amps sound the same and some amp/speaker combinations will be a problem as mentioned earlier. But oh, the fun of the journey!
And, of course you can listen in the dark and enjoy the
tube glow.
RFG