What are your go to LP's for evaluating new gear or new tubes?

Just a few but be sure to give tubes at least one hundred hours or so to burn-n and open up in order to appreciate the sq. 

Try Camille Saint-Saens Organ Symphony (wide frequency range including a 16 hz bass fundamental that only whales can hear but people can feel :)

As mentioned previously Steely Dan-Aja-great musicians in a tight band

Verdi-Requiem-allows your rig to show it ability to show it vocal chops from basso profondo to soprano along with transients from full orchestral passages.

Miles Davis-Kind of Blue- trumpet,tenor sax,bass,drums-piano, transients travel the full range.  One of the great assemblages of jazz musicians, Adderley, Chambers,Cobb,Coltrane,Evans and Kelly ever.

Bruckner Symphony #4-Zibin Mehta conducting ((Romantic version II)

Enjoy the music 

billpete, I choose then because they must sound as good as possible even if not recorded well.

Besides, true class of a system is defined by how well it can reproduce poor recordings.

inna

Interesting perspective. 

Dear @billpete  : Drums and percussion here it's:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/226291958534?_skw=sheffield+direct+to+disc+lp&itmmeta=01JPB3RAEKG3FH8A7BKC0RJDYC&hash=item34b00d4306:g:PTMAAOSwj-dmu6Y6&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA4FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1eqPlZ5WsB%2B2JgoXl6awM2HM1Aj2A2qqgd7JkJfG5Ap4FQtBB1UzmTZdpumbC846CDz4xKV%2Fbi4pPG8wvKMgzOBhZ2Uo6aJMEJdI3IAPp7E6utYpPvAJ%2FwP%2BoGCa43Ddpwev7pcuAMKNO3FAIGU9pjlE%2FIMMQ%2Bd9h5c7WLmKynrS1wQUqZlcv9iVCbw9JkkWamtXxNxs7YUvRDzI%2B%2FJpn0EIkR3oKFLgwqDcb3ya0w8pIDH9rXoxEilE6%2B8Eq%2B1XEk0rKOsSIvkkvE8nH%2FIl6%2Bm%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR7yn4eOyZQ

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

R.

I generally avoid "audiophile" records for evaluation and set up.

For arm/cartridge VTA, I use the time proven Dave Shreve favorite, flying fish HDS 701, Sauerkraut and Solar Energy track from this bluegrass album: https://www.discogs.com/release/8082236-Norman-Blake-2-Tut-Taylor-Sam-Bush-Butch-Robins-Vassar-Clements-David-Holland-Jethro-Burns-Norman-Bl

It can sound thin and you’ll know pretty quickly if the high frequencies get dull, there’s an article here about how to do it: https://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/vta_method_e.html

That track is also fun to listen to.

One of my go-to records for getting an overall sense of a system is a bone stock original issue of Janis Ian’s Between the Lines. It has real strings, some tympani, natural sounding vocals and is generally a very well recorded album without sounding "juiced" (Breaking Silence, to me, while a great sounding album with profound bass, can mislead you). I have an "approval" pressing (not exactly a "test pressing" and not a promo of Between the Lines that was released), and the original pressings that were commercially released sound the same as this early pressing.

Although it is good to use records you are familiar with as a reference, I also find that using a wide variety of different material helps to reveal shortcomings.

My general preference is for acoustic instruments, recorded simply, without a lot of multi-tracking or post-production. That may not be what one normally listens to, so I guess using a range of material is useful for that as well.