Tubes becoming hard to get?

@fsonicsmith - are you really saying any tube amp is better than any solid state amp? Any direct drive is better than any belt drive TT? Just trying to show you how you logic is flawed.

I don’t want to be rude but are you on some serious meds? I ask because how could you possibly derive that from anything I did say? Last night and tonight are the two nights of Passover. For members of my Tribe, there is part of the dinner celebration where we recite the story of the four sons, the wise son, the simple son, the wicked son, and the son with no capacity to inquire. Are you son number 2, 3, or 4? If 2 or 4, the answer is "nope, I am not saying that". I am out of this discussion unless it is related to something about the supply of tubes. Assuming it applies, Happy Easter!

There are 3 major tube suppliers, one in russia (electro harmonix- now closed), 

I believe this to be wrong. The Shuguang factory in China closed. The New Sensor factory in Russia has not closed. The New Sensor factory instead has no good way to get it's tubes out of Russia and into supply channels. 

Simple - solid state is the way to go. No hassle, heat, turning on and off, worrying about tubes replacement, lots of power, etc.....You can get just as good SQ - it's not a technology issue, it is a design issue. If the SS design is good, it will sound just as good as a tube amp. They can last decades if treated right.

Do you have nothing better to do than troll here? You must be correct and correspondingly all of the revered companies and minds behind them devoted to building tubed amps and all of the consumers who prefer them must be wrong. Why not go over to the vinyl forum and tell everyone there who has a concern about cartridge set-up that the easy and correct solution is to ditch vinyl and go to digital because it is "design issue" whatever the heck that means. You sir, are not just a troll but also a buffoon and maroon. With all due respect and my kindest regards mind you. 

Someone should design an IC that can fit inside a tube enclosure, maybe with an LED to give off some faint orange light, including a power transistor - the whole nine yards.  It won't soft clip in an audio amplifier but down the road I think we'll need such a device.  You might be able to program it with rfid to emulate any tube at all with an equivalent pinout.  Then tube-amp owners would just to stock one or two of these devices per socket :-)

And you with all of six posts should also go back to whatever bridge you have been living under. Again, with nothing but respect and my kindest regards. 

@sokogear

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NYFq7ZJg4c

As to the rest of what you have to say, I appreciate your serious attempt at expressing your thoughts rather than counter-attacking and for that I thank you. But that said, you evidently have a very flawed mental construct embedded in your brain. Different but "equally good" alternatives is the flawed mental construct you have been afflicted with. The mere fact that you subjectively believe they exist does not mean that they exist for anyone else.

Just like belt vs. direct drive, and analogue vs. digital, there is no such thing as one technology is better than the other.

If only I knew where to begin with this gem. I know what you were trying to say but the statement itself is again terribly flawed. Let me first point out that there is far more advanced and complicated technology in digital than in analogue and likewise in direct drive than in belt drive. The beautifully intellectual aspect of the pursuit of audio reproduction is that advanced technology does not always result in better sound. Even many so-called "objectivists" would agree with that. I hope I don’t need to draw this on a napkin for you, but if I do, step back in time to 1984/85 when Sony and Philips jointly came out with "perfect sound forever". At the time it represented the most advanced technology in the history of home audio and yet....it sucked. And as yet another example, take a look at how many people remain happy with the first two or three generations of Class D amps on the market. And within a single type of technology there are versions that are better and more sophisticated than others, i.e. some DAC's are better designed and implemented than others. This is part of "technology" too. 

I am glad to hear you do love vinyl. And yes, no one is going to argue that many times the only way to get a good version of a recording is to get the digital version. But none of that has anything to do with your statement that I labeled a troll.