Well I understand the poster and know first hand that tubes are indeed MORE of a hassle than SS. We seasoned Aphiles know this. Yes, they do tend to have more hum, buzz, noise, ground issues etc... They just do. Yes, tubes age and the sound changes with time. Yes, tubes themselves can fail and make noise.
No, you can't leave them on 24/7. Yes, because of this one has to wait an hour or so for warm up and the best sound, Yes, tubes can be expensive and great sounding ones are becoming more and more expensive.
Sorry you had all those issues. Some are component matching issues as mentioned and some not. Tubes are not for everyone to be sure. They do require more attention and what is one person's hassle is another's joy. You just need to decide which person you are.
I tend to look for gear that has that tube magic without the tubes. I also look for tube gear with less tubes. I like SS rectification over tube rectification so that removes one tube from the equation. I like SET amps and they have fewer power tubes. I also like hybrid tube amps that only use two signal path tubes that can run trouble free for decades sometimes.
No, you can't leave them on 24/7. Yes, because of this one has to wait an hour or so for warm up and the best sound, Yes, tubes can be expensive and great sounding ones are becoming more and more expensive.
Sorry you had all those issues. Some are component matching issues as mentioned and some not. Tubes are not for everyone to be sure. They do require more attention and what is one person's hassle is another's joy. You just need to decide which person you are.
I tend to look for gear that has that tube magic without the tubes. I also look for tube gear with less tubes. I like SS rectification over tube rectification so that removes one tube from the equation. I like SET amps and they have fewer power tubes. I also like hybrid tube amps that only use two signal path tubes that can run trouble free for decades sometimes.