Tired of Problems with Tube Equipment

That is just plain silly. :):):)

With your luck I wouldn't come near any kind of audio components (and definitly •NOT• mine).

I have owned a fair amount of tube equipment: preamps, amplifiers, and sources. None have had any problems other than normal tube issues.

Troubleshooting and finding quiet tubes can be a hassle, but it's worth the effort to many people.

The only amplifiers that I have owned that are worthy of replacing tube amps have Class A topology.

I have not owned a 100% solid state preamp that has been worthy of replacing a tube preamp, or in the case of what I presently own a solid state preamp with a tube power supply. However, my experience with solid state preamps has been limited and has not included any state-of-the-art units.

I will shortly be auditioning a SOTA solid state preamp, so we'll see...

Anyway, the answer to your question is that the tube equipment I have owned has been reliable: VAC, Lamm, Moscode, Atma-Sphere, Modwright.

Take a good look at Butler's tube/MOSFET hybrid amps - sweet tube sound coupled with the balls of the MOSFETs. And, because he is running the tubes at only 5% of their rated output, the tubes are supposed to last more than 20 years.

www.butleraudio.com

-RW-

Rhljazz, I don't disagree that sometimes things work owning are worth the hassle, as I've done for quite a few years with the equipment I've had (and some cars too!). But (and using your car analogy), how would you feel if your BMW left you stranded far from home a couple of times a year (I actually own a BMW for 10 years and fortunately was only stranded once!)?

Mrjstark, yeah, you probably don't want to get too close to me! I actually had one piece of tube gear that NEVER had a problem in many years of use: the very inexpensive Antique Sound Labs AV-20 that I used in an office system.

Tvad, I have not owned any of the brands you've mentioned; I have owned about 6 or 7 different brands of tube equipment and they all had problems except for the one mentioned above. I have been thinking about class A solid state, although my green side also has me looking at some of the class D stuff (my current class A tube amps consume about 5 amps).

One of the wags that manufactures tube gear said that solid state is like a stuffed dog, no mainenance, no grief. But a tube amp is like a real, live, dog. Once in a while it poops or pisses on the rug, needs to be taken to the vet and has to be walked, fed and loved. There's room in this world for real and stuffed dogs. I'm stickin' with the real ones for now.