I also have never had a tube fail in My alpha and use a NOS Tesla ECC 803S a very nice tube but now use a NOS GE 5751 and think it sounds a little better. The GE tube is dated 1957 NOS 5751 a little less gain than a 12AX7 but the alpha has so much gain that I like the 5751 tube and it is a little sweet sounding a good thing with digital. Marc My alpha is about 11 years old with the 24/96 upgrade
