Tube Lab  

Yup, if all you are running is a single mono channel, so long as the preamp tubes are reasonably close and testing good, you are good. BUT if you combine 2 mono preamps or power amps, now it's critical the tubes are matched across amps.

@@tubelab194 I do in fact have two monos, sorry if you thought I only had one. So it doesn't make sense that tube amps don't benefit from tubes not matched. Very strange the techie person at McIntosh would say this. Although he's opposed to swapping out his stock JJ tubes because he says it all tubes sound the same on his amplifiers so it doesn't matter which tubes you use.

@@iampuzzleman282 haha, well now you know how knowledgeable he is. Remember manufacturers, even higher end ones, rarely supply amps with matched sets or even good quality tubes. McIntosh typically brands the tubes they include in their amps with fancy logos, but do they test and match the tubes and provide testing data? Nope, and it doesn't take a genious to figure out why. Supplying quality tubes costs money and proper testing is expensive to do. I always tell customers who want to buy a new commercial amp to consider the supplied tubes as a throwaway set.

Hmmm, you mean show tubes that are commonly noisy? That would piss everyone off, as the vintage Mullards and Tungs are some of the worst offenders for some popular types. So best to leave that one alone!

@@tubelab194 that's exactly what I mean. I don't think I have a noisy tube problem but it would be interesting to hear what it's like on the other side of the fence for educational purposes. I don't think it will piss people off or maybe I just don't understand another aspect of being alive