donniecrump
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I just bought a MarkIV so I have been reading up on tubes and have found a ton of posts about people changing their tubes on a regular basis. So I decided to share .. and question.
In the early/mid 90's I bought a Dual Rec, new, since my band was getting serious. FYI, high gain, loud, punk metal. I played hours a day, practiced several times a week, and had a gig at least once a week. Once we played 2 shows in one day. This lasted around 10 years. By the time I sold my DR it was so road worn that the transformer had started to rust from beer and humidity. I never did change the stock tubes. The amp never did quit, sound bad, fluctuate, or fail.
Story 2. A really, really old school local punk band, who have been around 25+ years, played recently and I had a chat with the guitarist. He plays a Fender combo of some kind he bought in the early 80's. He plays it constantly. He says he has changed the tubes once. Around 8 years ago. He thinks. Again it has never failed.
So the question I have is .. have tubes gotten really cheaply made? Did me and the other guy get lucky? Are people perceiving tubes getting "broken in" as tubes needing to be replaced? Or do amp companies who sell replacement tubes do ton a QA on tubes the others don't? Or another reason?
In the early/mid 90's I bought a Dual Rec, new, since my band was getting serious. FYI, high gain, loud, punk metal. I played hours a day, practiced several times a week, and had a gig at least once a week. Once we played 2 shows in one day. This lasted around 10 years. By the time I sold my DR it was so road worn that the transformer had started to rust from beer and humidity. I never did change the stock tubes. The amp never did quit, sound bad, fluctuate, or fail.
Story 2. A really, really old school local punk band, who have been around 25+ years, played recently and I had a chat with the guitarist. He plays a Fender combo of some kind he bought in the early 80's. He plays it constantly. He says he has changed the tubes once. Around 8 years ago. He thinks. Again it has never failed.
So the question I have is .. have tubes gotten really cheaply made? Did me and the other guy get lucky? Are people perceiving tubes getting "broken in" as tubes needing to be replaced? Or do amp companies who sell replacement tubes do ton a QA on tubes the others don't? Or another reason?