clearly you are the exception. Please let us know the SS amps you had problems with and the tubes that are super reliable, long lasting and maintenance free (for decades without periodic tube replacement).
Hardly an exception. I have an Audionote SE that uses 6550. I have had the same power tubes in it for around 20 years. Before that I had a set a quads. The power tubes where the originals the amp came with - the amps were over 40 years old.
In over 40 years of owning tube amps, I have never ever had to replace a tube that wore out. I have only ever replaced for sound. I have bought a few I didn’t like, a few were noisy, but they arrived like that.
I have heard of a few folks who have had to replace worn out tubes, sure. I have heard of lot more folks who had to replace or repair transistor amps that failed.
