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
You become obsessed with tube rolling and spend way too much money doing it. "tongue-in-cheek" but also true.
MIke,

I think that can be true.

More toys to play with. That can be either good or bad.
I had fun tube rolling my Jolida 100. There weren't that many brands, and they were fairly cheap, including the best, the 5751 Sylvania black plate. That is until other folks found they liked them too. Within months, the price grew by 10 times.

Knowing what I found out about tube variety, I will not buy amps, and preamps. The cost is just too high. I watched a $600 tube get blown by a ham fisted listener spinning the bias knob. I could have cried for the owner, who just got finished telling us how long it took him to get the pair of big bottles.
I have been in and out from pretty serious SS gear to tubed designs and viceversa for the last 30 years, I learned to live with the mentioned tube disadvantages on behalf of the musicality and engagement they produce.

It happens to be that I got rid of SS amps at a faster rate than for tubed amps along the road.