Would you buy a tube amp if you were unable to use vintage tubes in it ?

Back in the late ’90s I was running a Cary SLP-90  with 12au7s in front of a pair of ARC VTM-120s that were configured with four 6550s a piece with some 6922s in front of them.  I talked to Andy in Michigan and he sold me some NOS Mullard 12au7s for the pre and some NOS Amperex 6922s for the amps. After those tubes broke in a bit, that combination sounded fantastic.  At the time I was running the amps with Svetlanta 6550s (either the 6550b or 6550C, I cannot remember) and I was so happy with the results of the other tubes Andy sold me that I called Andy back again and this time he sold me two quads of either NOS or vintage used Tung-Sol 6550s.  Those cost me what I thought was an arm and a leg back then and I honestly couldn’t hear improvement.

I am not using the Cary right now and the ARCs are long gone; the stereo amp I am using right now takes a dozen EL34s and there is no way I am going to lay out what it would cost to go vintage used or NOS in that. 

Vintage used could be $100 each, but if you wanted to match dozen EL34 tubes..that would be a problem. And, yes, you couldn't be sure in advance of significant improvement. Well, vintage tubes were not created equal.

Bill, I use them for sound too but vintage tubes make me feel more, well, vintage ! And I like that. It's tradition and connection to the roots. Like tape and vinyl.

As for the cost, I made very approximate calculations that in the case of my amp I will have to spend about $50 per month on vintage tubes. Not the very best tubes available but high enough. Is this a lot ? It's nothing.

If you bought it new with new tubes, you liked it with new tubes; if it turns out it sounds even better with old tubes, that is just a bonus.  Most of the time, I prefer carefully selected vintage tubes.  But, it can be quite a process auditioning various types and brands.  For the gear I own, my linestage and amp have very limited modern options; if I stick with the correct tube type—348, 349, 310–it is primarily Western Electric and scary expensive (so far, I haven’t had to replace a tube in about 15 years of operation.

I stumbled into NOS GE 6SN7GTB small tubes years ago and haven't looked back. They last REALLY long, use 'em in my Freya and Had Firebottle. Nothing sounds better to me (emphasis on "me"). Power tubes get changed around for fun and are all newish...Gold Lion KT whatever, Sovteks here and there, cool looking huge Chinese rectifiers, and sometimes weird transistors in my Pass XA-25...those things sound like tubes sort of so they get mentioned...sorry.