To Hot to Handle?

I disagree with Unclejeff; once you hear tubes you won't want to go back to that scrap-metal SS crap ;-)........Anchor's away! Why not learn to make the heat your friend!? Get an amp with a cage, add a skillet and some eggs and sausage and breakfast is only moments away! Then close the door and windows, roll out the mat and practice Bikram Yoga that's all the rage. Later on you can use the same technique for a nice sauna (I'd advise you skip the steam - those tube amps won't take very politely to a ladle of water being poured on them). So turn that frown upside down! Inside every dark cloud is a tube amplifier! If you've got a bunch of lemons, make some gin and tonics and get yourself stinkin'ass drunk, hurl all over the carpet, fall asleep in your own chunky monkey and wake up 36 hours later with a headache that'll make you wish you'd died in your sleep!

Marco

PS An even better solution that I recommend from personal experience: Head northwest young man! Where class A tube amps stay on all day and air conditioning is a foreign concept, and the sky is grey as far as the eye can see all winter long. (That last bit is to keep too many from taking me seriously and crowding our already overburdened highways - but you're welcome Bumpkin! Just clean that bit of puke off your shirt before you come out here!).

Now ye'r cookin' with tubes brother Bumpkin! I like my burgers medium rare please. A little heat never hurt anyone'eh. Set up some industrial sewing machines in your place, hire some imigrant children and maybe Nike'll give you some work assembling their shoes and athletic wear! Come next February you can finally validate your manhood in a ceremony similar to Qwai Chang Caine. Kneeling before the Cary Rocket (which you've kept piping hot for three days straight playing Swervedriver at 110db) with rolled up sleeves you'll grasp the amp by the tubes between your forearms and move it to your new amp stand ignoring your searing flesh. Then you'll stagger out into the freshly fallen snow and collapse, cooling your still sizzling brands. When they heal up, and that nasty infection goes away you will have the mark of a true audiophile and it will be time for you to leave.....as soon as you snatch those Shakti stones from my hand. After that you can wander from high-end boutique to high-end boutique seeking revenge upon the ones who sold you all that wretched SS gear. Oh, I pity those poor salepeople, they haven't got a chance when you ferrit them out of their holes in the ground! Let's all just have a moment of silence in anticipation of the hurtin' Bumpkin will be bringing on those folks in the industry! May god have mercy on them when they meet their maker and are told of the grave errors in their ways. They steered you wrong Bumpkin, you have no choice, it was malicious and cruel....they knew better and yet they sold you boat anchors and paper weights and took all your nickel while they all laughed inside. Ah Matty...they'll be telling stories to our children's children about you someday. How you helped rid the world of the evil purveyors of SS instruments of aural torture, and cleared a path for a rebirth of the wonders of the vacuum tube. I don't have any children Matty, but I'll tell my dog and hope he'll pass it on to the canine world. You're my hero Matty. I'm getting some tears in my eyes as I write this, and my upper lip is starting to quiver a bit. Excuse me while I have a breakdown over here in the corner. Just carry on my friend....make us all proud.

Marco

My folks live in the Nor'east in VT Matty, but I'm clear across the
continent in Seattle. Now if you're having a BBQ with two six packs that
may entice me to come out there on a whim. Those sixers oughta put
some nice KT88 burns so make sure to have twelve of'em on hand come
February. The EL34 option just doesn't get those top layers seared quite
enough. KT88's are easier to grip too and you'll get those nods of
recognition every time you roll up your sleaves.

Good on'ya Bumpkin. That Dennis Had knows which end of the
soldering iron is hot! Heard good things about AES. Let us all know how
it all sounds when you hook'em up and find out what music really
sounds like. Hope you got something tubearific to feed it with?! Yeah,
music really doesn't need to sound like nails on a chalkboard, and you
can stop buying that Costco-sized bottle of Advil every month for those
headaches you were wondering about. Why the savings alone oughta
start you on your way to saving up for those Bernings I see in your
future. Crimighty folks, my laptop battery is dying and my dog's asleep
at my elbow and it's bloody hot here in Seattle. I ougtta wrap this up
and get my silly ass to bed. Night all........

Marco