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Re: Modern Tube Amps - Reliable?

Posted by tvr2500m (A) on February 2, 2006 at 10:19:18

In Reply to: Modern Tube Amps - Reliable? posted by larrymach@hotmail.com on February 2, 2006 at 09:21:56:

I've found old tube amps to be reliable, at least the Dynacos I've use. My CJ MV-75s are about 30 years old now. In its original release it did have some reliability issues. The last iteration, the "A-1", is bulletproof. The CJ Prem 11 I owned, and 12s I own, have been similarly bulletproof. Prem 12s are my frontline amps right now. I just switch'em on in the morning and then off at night. I check the bias every few of months, mostly because I just want to fiddle with doing it.

Every rare once in a while an output tube will get out of sorts and decide to runaway. I've never had damage to an amp, or any associated gear, from this. Just blown fuses and blown tubes. I replace the fuse and the tube, re-bias, and I'm back in business. Sometimes an output tube even survives the trauma. It tests well on a tester and biases as it did before it ran away (I'm not making any claims about how the tube may be affected otherwise, but if they test as they should, bias properly, and sound okay...). In this case I only replace the fuse and check the bias. Easy.

In my experience, in my gear, which is used quite a lot, small tubes tubes last years. Output tubes generally last about year, perhaps typically a bit longer than a year.

If having to occasionally bias some tubes and running into a defective tube now and then looks like work, then tubes may be too much work. Like any gear, much tubed gear has a field history you can tap into to get a sense its reliability. And like any gear, while tubed gear does use parts that're constantly boiling away their usefulness, the surrounding bits aren't necessarily more or less reliable than any other type of gear.

Go for some tubes. If you don't like tubed gear ownership, you can just sell them and get something else.

- SJ

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