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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
krauti
mordante
511 posts
 
I have never owned any tube gear and I think I'll never will. Tube amps have to much much of a own sound signature. They may have sound beautiful and lush and warm. But when I play some ear bleeding trash metal I don't want a full bodied liquid warm sound. I want ear shattering screaming highs, window shattering lows. etc.

I know I am a bit over the top, but to my ears tube have a tendency to make music more listener friendly/warmer/more lush then the music really is. Maybe, just maybe a tube pre-amp would be acceptable but tubes to not belong in power amps.

Also tube gear of equal quality to ss gear is more expensive. You can buy a decent integrated ss amp for $1000 I don't know any decent tube integrated amp for $1000
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,198 posts
 
Mordante,

"Maybe, just maybe a tube pre-amp would be acceptable but tubes to not belong in power amps."

Given your musical tastes, to which I wander as well on occasion, I strongly recommend trying this approach based on my experiences in the land of tube audio gear thus far if you feel motivated to give some tube gear a try. You might also consider a tube DAC if digital is a main source for you.
irreay
3 posts
 
Please dont buy a tube amp, thus leaving more tubes for me...seriously though if you havent experience a tube (anything) particularly an amp then get yourself down to your local Hi-Fi shop and listen. After this all should be clear. I have been building and buying tube amps for some 40 years now and have not experienced any major issues (in fact it was a large major manufacturers SS that took out a pair of speaks. I have no idea what "unsound" is on, clearly some bad experiences but not all of us have these. Buy from a good manufacturer sit back and listen and enjoy the MUSIC
krauti OP
46 posts
 
I have a question for Spatialking now. What is the reason for the issue with you not being able to run the tube amp for 24h like you'd do with a SS amp? is it simply to get the most out of the lifetime of your tubes or some other reason.

As I don't think this has been mentioned before I'm quite interested to hear more about it.

Don't think the heat will be much of an issue as I don't listen all that much. It may become an issue though as we don't have central AC (just two of those AC cubes that go into the windows and neither one is where the amp will live and here in Grand Rapids/MI it does get rather humid and pretty warm in the summer. I'll find out either way.
unsound
7,329 posts
 
Irrey, I'm not on anything! Perhaps you should reread the title of this thread. If you've truly been into tubes for as long as you claim, then you should be well aware that the issues I've pointed out have been pointed out by others for just as long.
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