lg1
Few things in audio are noticed more but matter less than the position of the volume knob. Explained so beautifully in this underrated documentary here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xgx4k83zzc
With tubes, or anything else for that matter, if it sounds clean and its not overheating then relax and enjoy it. Will tubes wear out a little faster if they’re driven hard? Probably. But if you enjoy your music enough then I would hope its worth it. Will tubes wear out a little faster if you turn the amp on an hour or so to before listening to warm up? Probably. But if you enjoy good sound I would hope its worth it to you. It sure is to me. Will tubes wear out no matter what you do? Pretty sure that’s a yes.
But there’s plenty of crappy sounding SS amps you could have none of which will ever require new tubes.
Relax. Enjoy your tubes. At whatever volume you want. Then at some point before too long order a new set. I think you will find just having them sitting there ready to go alleviates a lot of tube anxiety. Besides then if you still worry you have a new set to pull out and compare any time your neurosis flares up. Just remember after you confirm yes indeed the ones you thought were about to explode are just fine after all to put the new set back in the box. Eventually, probably years from now, you’ll be glad to have them.
been a little disappointed at how much the volume control needs to be turned before they’ll "rock the house". I’m approaching straight up 12:00 on the volume on the PL and still wanting for a bit more but have backed it down to 9-10ish again as this is my first tube amp and I have no idea how hard these components/tubes should be pushed before usable life starts to drop off precipitously.
Few things in audio are noticed more but matter less than the position of the volume knob. Explained so beautifully in this underrated documentary here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xgx4k83zzc
With tubes, or anything else for that matter, if it sounds clean and its not overheating then relax and enjoy it. Will tubes wear out a little faster if they’re driven hard? Probably. But if you enjoy your music enough then I would hope its worth it. Will tubes wear out a little faster if you turn the amp on an hour or so to before listening to warm up? Probably. But if you enjoy good sound I would hope its worth it to you. It sure is to me. Will tubes wear out no matter what you do? Pretty sure that’s a yes.
But there’s plenty of crappy sounding SS amps you could have none of which will ever require new tubes.
Relax. Enjoy your tubes. At whatever volume you want. Then at some point before too long order a new set. I think you will find just having them sitting there ready to go alleviates a lot of tube anxiety. Besides then if you still worry you have a new set to pull out and compare any time your neurosis flares up. Just remember after you confirm yes indeed the ones you thought were about to explode are just fine after all to put the new set back in the box. Eventually, probably years from now, you’ll be glad to have them.