Urgent ! Brent Jessee, Audiotubes, is closing on March 5th. Run buy something !

But then how do I do with my 50w2 when a tube lets go? And besides, how do you appreciate the 50w2?

I think Brent's lasting legacy will be his exhaustive description/impression of all the tubes he sells. I have to say his listings have been a real education to me on my valve journey. The fact you could then call him and discuss the relative merits of a given tube and compare and contrast based on budget and application will be very hard to replicate moving forward. Get those orders in before 3/5!

Darn....was hoping to get some NOS 6550 but they are all gone

It’s really sad to see Brent retiring and selling.  For many reasons!  Hate to lose him!  Brent’s site has been a wealth of information over the years.  I’m  retired now myself after working as a tube electronics tech for a well known audio company for almost 12 years (among other companies).  I used to refer customers to Brent’s site all the time for information about the different sound qualities of different tubes.  Saved me a lot of time from long phone calls explaining about the sound differences you could achieve with different tubes. Brent was always a huge help when I contacted him or referred customers to him. Good luck to him in his retirement!  He deserves it!

IME, some of the reissue tubes (like PS Vane) are darn good when compared to high-priced vintage NOS stuff. In many instances I have preferred small-signal Tung Sol and JJ reissues to $150+ Amperex and West Germany Telefunken units. If you approach tubes with the presumption that vintage is better, then that’s likely what you’ll hear. 

More than once I have paid a pretty penny to Brent Jesse only to end up with a defective tube upon arrival. I never had such issues ordering from VTS. 
 

That said, I went full solid state within the last year (inexpensive SS at that) and haven’t looked back. Most rooms are a far greater bottleneck than any decently powerful amp.