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

Showing 2 responses by dopogue

As Eve Anna says, tubes rule. The other stuff pales into insignificance, for me at least Good luck, Dave
About tube-rolling, I was always a fan of NOS tubes and am now having second thoughts. I was using xf1 Mullard EL34s as driver tubes in my SET monoblocks and tried some of the reissue Genalex/Gold Lion KT77s instead and was floored at the improvement. Since the KT77s, while not exactly cheap, are MUCH less costly than the Mullards, it was definitely a win-win. Dave