One of my output tubes flamed, welding itself to the socket and otherwise doing some damage to the amp. The amp's fuse blew, but not before a power surge blew out all the resistors in the crossover to one of the tweeters. The amp manufacturer repaired the amp, and the speaker manufacturer repaired the speaker. The speaker manufacturer maintained that the tolerances of the resistors would have withstood a surge from a solid state amp. My system is now all solid state. I like a quiet life.
What do you see as the downside of tubes?
I have decided on getting a tube amp and it will be the integrated Mastersound 300B driving a pair of Living Voice Avatars, so at least that decision has been taken.
My main question is what you see as downsides of having a tube amp. As I've decided on getting an integrated tube it's really about what the downsides are I might want to know about beforehand.
The ones I'm aware are the following.
-The tubes need to be replaced and in the case of a 300B this will be somewhat costly.
-Bias is another issue but I'm not sure how big an issue. Do you plug in your meter every so often or just when you roll tubes or replace a dead one? The meter as such isn't gonna be a big issue as I don't think it's that expensive.
-Heat won't be a big issue as we have no kids nor a nosy dog that could get burned. Hope my electricity bill isn't gonna go through the roof, but then again, I can't quite imagine that.
I'd appreciate if you could add whatever your experiences are regarding this question are as I'd like to know more before I buy it.
Thanks
My main question is what you see as downsides of having a tube amp. As I've decided on getting an integrated tube it's really about what the downsides are I might want to know about beforehand.
The ones I'm aware are the following.
-The tubes need to be replaced and in the case of a 300B this will be somewhat costly.
-Bias is another issue but I'm not sure how big an issue. Do you plug in your meter every so often or just when you roll tubes or replace a dead one? The meter as such isn't gonna be a big issue as I don't think it's that expensive.
-Heat won't be a big issue as we have no kids nor a nosy dog that could get burned. Hope my electricity bill isn't gonna go through the roof, but then again, I can't quite imagine that.
I'd appreciate if you could add whatever your experiences are regarding this question are as I'd like to know more before I buy it.
Thanks